During Iverson’s tenure as a Sixer every year I would hear, "Iverson has never played with anyone" and "Give Iverson another scorer and you’ll see him win." Alright, well he’s surrounded with legitimate players now in Denver and now what? His team stinks. They got embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs by the Los Angeles Lakers who swept them back to their ‘And One’ style lives. I don’t want to hear anymore Iverson B.S. He’s a heck of a talent, but his style of basketball will never win anything more than a scoring title.
Iverson is not a natural number one or a natural number two. He’s a tweener. Name the last team that won an NBA Championship with a tweener being their star player? It’s never happened. Look it up. Furthermore, he can’t defend. Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, and Jordan Farmar had their way with Iverson. Allen is very undersized and can be out-muscled anywhere on the court in a one-on-one match up. He also gambles way too much on defense. Off-the-ball he gets steals, but most of the time he creates a five on four situation that leads to an easy basket, because he misses the steal.
I’m a Sixers fan and I was thrilled when we traded Iverson last year. I think the development of the young Sixers’ players (who are still in the playoffs) in the past year speaks volumes on how important it was to get this plague off the team. During Iverson’s years as a Sixer there was not one player that was able to develop because Iverson was a ballhog and played basketball in an unconventional way. A way that never equates to winning. Iverson has a career losing record as an NBA player. It’s not a coincidence.
In conclusion, if the Lakers win last night doesn’t convince you that Iverson is a horrible player to have on your team, then you are clueless about the sport. The Denver Nuggets arguably had one of the best starting fives in basketball as far as talent, but if you can’t play basketball the correct way (i.e. like the San Antonio Spurs), you’ll never win.
If I learned one thing about Iverson during his years as a Sixer, it’s that he won’t change and he’ll always be a loser (I guess that’s two things). And if I learned one thing about Andre Miller during his current stint in Philadelphia, it’s that he is 100 times better than Iverson and more important to have as a teammate.
A Perry note: I didn’t boo him when he came back to Philly last month, because I appreciated his love for Philadelphia. However, this rant is how I really feel about him.
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