Allen Iverson is on the Memphis Grizzlies.
What do I say about this? This was the guy who revived interest in the Sixers for me - and a lot of other kids - at a point where they were dead. After a bunch of awful draft picks, they took Iverson first, and while he didn't win right away, we could see he was talented and passionate. He eventually got them in the playoffs consistently and to one Finals appearance. Now he's on the most disrespected team this side of the Clippers, and one that has been mostly terrible in its existence, and then traded away its only all-star ever to save money just when it had a decent team.
What happened?
The Pistons shut down Allen Iverson for the rest of the season just a few weeks before it was over. In danger of missing the playoffs, they had to cut him out for injuries, but also for nearly wrecking team spirit. He hadn't been happy coming off the bench or just being in Detroit in general. They thought they might just be better without him for the next few weeks. How could this happen to a guy who was always one of the better scorers in the league, right up until the time he arrived there?
There's a lot of irony in how badly the Iverson experiment failed in Detroit... irony for the people involved and irony for me. Every Philly fan remembers how close they were to trading Iverson to Detroit 9 years ago, right before his MVP / Finals season. That didn't happen because of trade kickers and contract minutia, but everyone can think about what could have been. If I remember right, the Sixers would have gotten back Glen Rice and Eddie Jones, two good shooters... but without much time left. Rice was finished shortly after he won the first of the Shaq-Kobe titles, and Jones never regained his late 90's all-star form. Iverson came back and the Sixers made the finals, while the Pistons looked lost. GM Joe Dumars would have to work magic to get that team in shape. It seemed Philly had dodged a major bullet.
But did they? The next year, the Pistons looked a lot better, and the Sixers began to slip. In 2003, they met in the second round of the playoffs. Despite having the lead in most games, the Sixers had some rough late moments and lost in 6 games. Larry Brown then left - for Detroit - and the Sixers fell even further into a hole that resulted in them eventually trading Iverson away. Detroit won a title under Brown and came close to repeating.
When Detroit and Denver made that big deal, it was like things had come full circle. Chauncey Billups, signed as a forgotten free agent after the botched Iverson deal, had made himself into one of the top guards in the league. But he was always in Iverson's shadow for popularity, and the Pistons figured they could try something different after a few years of very good regular seasons but no Finals. It didn't work.
The personal irony for me is that I still thought Detroit would be a contender after the trade and I liked the combination of him and their players, especially Rasheed Wallace. I updated my season preview to say that I thought this was a good roster for him. Specifically, I liked him with 'Sheed. In my old columns, back in the mid part of the decade, I always rooted for the Sixers to acquire Rasheed Wallace. I thought he was the perfect complement to Iverson. He could shoot and had offensive moves, but didn't mind being a second option. He was great on defense. I figured the best complement to Iverson would be a big guy that could shoot, so they could run the pick and roll. The Sixers actually did try to do this with Derrick Coleman and Keith Van Horn, but those guys were awful on D. Just awful. 'Sheed played D hard and made open shots, and again, he was much happier than other guys deferring. He ran into trouble in Portland once he became the go-to guy there. He didn't want to carry a franchise. He was better in Detroit because the guards carried the offense. To top it off, 'Sheed is a Philly native.
So, as much as I don't care for the Pistons, I was a little happy to see that Iverson and 'Sheed would come together. I also liked their roster to fit Iverson's game. The Sixers did well to match Iverson with a taller point in Eric Snow, who could defend the big guards, and the Pistons had Stuckey as a big point guard who could also shoot threes. Tayshuan Prince was a shooter and defender. They had McDyess as another big man to make shots, and Amir Johnson for rebounding and D. It seemed like the best roster for his talents. I knew it would be tough to mix him and Richard Hamilton, who also likes to come off screens, but that was the only problem I foresaw.
Well, you know how it went. His scoring plummeted, he didn't fit into the system at all, and they basically dumped him. They were happy to get rid of him and get the cap space. It wasn't just Hamilton that clashed with him; no one seemed to like him being there. I really misread that. Looking back, I'm not sure anything I predicted about him was accurate. I don't know if anyone really could have succeeded with him. Melo scored with him around, and their numbers were both good, but they never really meshed. My reflection of his career is entirely different. I thought he was a certain hall-of-famer and franchise player. Now he's scrubbing for a lottery team that I have grown to hate.
I guess I don't know what to think of Iverson anymore.
Showing posts with label iverson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iverson. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
NBA tales of trouble
I've been quiet so far, even though I have much to say about the offseason. I'm holding my breath until everything is done, because there have been some bizarre things going on and I've changed my mind many times already. I will wait until I make final judgement.
In the meantime, I'd like to share a lighter excerpt to make these rough times better. One of my friends asked me about some of the biggest scandals to happen to NBA players, and I had to share some of my favorites.
The good doctor writes: What are the most famous examples of NBA guys getting in trouble? Something along the lines of Kobe Bryant accused of rape, or Magic Johnson getting HIV... what are the most famous incidents of notoriety?
Another friend replies: Those are the two most famous. There's also Michael Jordan getting secretly suspended from the NBA for gambling. There's the Kermit Washington punch. The Ron Artest melee. And I know Shawn Kemp had a lot of kids out of wedlock. Oh, I forget the exact details, but something happened with the NY Knicks and the stipclub called the "Gold Club", where basically wholesale prostitution was going on. I think Patrick Ewing was involved. Oh, and the Isaiah Thomas thing, but he was done his playing days when that happened.
Me: Well said. I had to give them my long list of faves....
HAHA, well sir, the Jordan thing has never been confirmed, but a lot of people (I'm guessing you got that from reading Simmons) think that's why he disappeared. You covered a lot of the big ones. There are a lot of rumors and old stories out there, but they aren't as famous. A lot of crazy shite went down in the late 70s and early 80s, when a lot of guys were on coke. The hidden story behind Magic getting AIDS is that he and a lot of other guys had some crazy sex parties and f----d a lot of girls. A LOT. Then there's stories like how Michael Ray Richardson threw away a great career cause of drugs. But those stories are kinda obscure.
There's a lot of stories behind our old pal Mr. Iverson. In high school, he was put in jail for a long time because he was at this fight in a bowling alley where some people got killed. Eventually, the governor of Virginia thought it was a harsh sentence and pardoned him, but some people believe that the reason they gave him a big sentence in the first place is because they were sure he killed a guy but they didn't have any proof. It was a big deal when he got a scholarship to Georgetown. He had a lot of smaller incidents in Philly, and this kid I know who used to work as a valet in Old City claimed that the reason he got shot at one time is because he never paid for anything when he went out to fancy restaurants and expected everyone to just give him stuff because he was the big star. I don't know if that's true or not.
My personal favorite is Isiah Rider (also known as J.R.), who was like a living version of the Chappelle Show's "When Keeping it Real Goes Bad" skit. Even after he got a huge contract, he kept getting in trouble for mischief on the mean streets of Oakland. One time he was arrested for a dice game that got violent. There were incidents all thorughout his career and he nearly ruined the Hawks franchise. But my favorite story of any NBA player is when he got arrested for smoking weed out of a soda can on a street corner. Dude was making ten million dollars a year - he could've gotten some fancy hydroponic waterbong system or something and done it in his house without anyone bothering him, but no, he's on the corner doing something that broke college freshmen MIGHT do if they're desperate. That's keeping it real.
His team in Portland was riveted with bad guys, hence the nickname Jail Blazers. One of them allegedly had another player call up his baby mama and give death threats. Ruben Patterson was arrested for sexual assault on his kid's nanny and had to register in every NBA city as a sex offender. That was fun. Qyntel Woods pulled a Michael Vick before Vick did, but his dog ring wasn't as extensive and he was a no name, so it didn't get nearly as much press.
The Knicks have had misery off the court to match the losses. Stephon Marbury was in trouble a few years ago for some kind of sexual thing known as the Truck Party, which included him either raping or assaulting some girl in a SUV. I don't know the details of that, but he's pretty much been declared insane now, so it's hard to take anything he says seriously. There was almost a juicy story involving Eddy Curry in that a man claimed to be his secret gay lover, and wanted to sue for sexual harassment, but there was no evidence and it died. That would have been huge, but nothing came of it.
I guess, though, the biggest story of the past 10 years, besides the Artest fight, is the Jayson Williams case. He had some good years with the Nets, got hurt, and then was a big studio host. One day he was showing off some antique guns he owned and accidentally shot a guy in the face. The guy died and allegedly he tried to cover it up. I don't know if this case has even been concluded yet, but he's been in and out of court for the past decade.
In the meantime, I'd like to share a lighter excerpt to make these rough times better. One of my friends asked me about some of the biggest scandals to happen to NBA players, and I had to share some of my favorites.
The good doctor writes: What are the most famous examples of NBA guys getting in trouble? Something along the lines of Kobe Bryant accused of rape, or Magic Johnson getting HIV... what are the most famous incidents of notoriety?
Another friend replies: Those are the two most famous. There's also Michael Jordan getting secretly suspended from the NBA for gambling. There's the Kermit Washington punch. The Ron Artest melee. And I know Shawn Kemp had a lot of kids out of wedlock. Oh, I forget the exact details, but something happened with the NY Knicks and the stipclub called the "Gold Club", where basically wholesale prostitution was going on. I think Patrick Ewing was involved. Oh, and the Isaiah Thomas thing, but he was done his playing days when that happened.
Me: Well said. I had to give them my long list of faves....
HAHA, well sir, the Jordan thing has never been confirmed, but a lot of people (I'm guessing you got that from reading Simmons) think that's why he disappeared. You covered a lot of the big ones. There are a lot of rumors and old stories out there, but they aren't as famous. A lot of crazy shite went down in the late 70s and early 80s, when a lot of guys were on coke. The hidden story behind Magic getting AIDS is that he and a lot of other guys had some crazy sex parties and f----d a lot of girls. A LOT. Then there's stories like how Michael Ray Richardson threw away a great career cause of drugs. But those stories are kinda obscure.
There's a lot of stories behind our old pal Mr. Iverson. In high school, he was put in jail for a long time because he was at this fight in a bowling alley where some people got killed. Eventually, the governor of Virginia thought it was a harsh sentence and pardoned him, but some people believe that the reason they gave him a big sentence in the first place is because they were sure he killed a guy but they didn't have any proof. It was a big deal when he got a scholarship to Georgetown. He had a lot of smaller incidents in Philly, and this kid I know who used to work as a valet in Old City claimed that the reason he got shot at one time is because he never paid for anything when he went out to fancy restaurants and expected everyone to just give him stuff because he was the big star. I don't know if that's true or not.
My personal favorite is Isiah Rider (also known as J.R.), who was like a living version of the Chappelle Show's "When Keeping it Real Goes Bad" skit. Even after he got a huge contract, he kept getting in trouble for mischief on the mean streets of Oakland. One time he was arrested for a dice game that got violent. There were incidents all thorughout his career and he nearly ruined the Hawks franchise. But my favorite story of any NBA player is when he got arrested for smoking weed out of a soda can on a street corner. Dude was making ten million dollars a year - he could've gotten some fancy hydroponic waterbong system or something and done it in his house without anyone bothering him, but no, he's on the corner doing something that broke college freshmen MIGHT do if they're desperate. That's keeping it real.
His team in Portland was riveted with bad guys, hence the nickname Jail Blazers. One of them allegedly had another player call up his baby mama and give death threats. Ruben Patterson was arrested for sexual assault on his kid's nanny and had to register in every NBA city as a sex offender. That was fun. Qyntel Woods pulled a Michael Vick before Vick did, but his dog ring wasn't as extensive and he was a no name, so it didn't get nearly as much press.
The Knicks have had misery off the court to match the losses. Stephon Marbury was in trouble a few years ago for some kind of sexual thing known as the Truck Party, which included him either raping or assaulting some girl in a SUV. I don't know the details of that, but he's pretty much been declared insane now, so it's hard to take anything he says seriously. There was almost a juicy story involving Eddy Curry in that a man claimed to be his secret gay lover, and wanted to sue for sexual harassment, but there was no evidence and it died. That would have been huge, but nothing came of it.
I guess, though, the biggest story of the past 10 years, besides the Artest fight, is the Jayson Williams case. He had some good years with the Nets, got hurt, and then was a big studio host. One day he was showing off some antique guns he owned and accidentally shot a guy in the face. The guy died and allegedly he tried to cover it up. I don't know if this case has even been concluded yet, but he's been in and out of court for the past decade.
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