I don't think he will ever win an NBA title, he is way too selfish a ball player. He goes off for 58 points and says he is "feeling it" What? He shot 21-42, so "FEELING IT" is shooting 50%.....man have times changed. He is shooting less then 40% for the whole season. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teamstats?team=phi He won't win consistently because he does not trust his teamates. Remind you of anyone on the Rockets? Maturity is a wonderful thing, we are VERY lucky that Eddie has more of it at 19, then our entire starting lineup. DaDakota
A lot of superstars in the past have had the same label of 'selfish' put on them. Those that got a better supporting cast than Iverson has now started sharing and won championships. I say the onus is on the Sixers. Jordan, Isiah, Dream, Shaq, Dr. J, Wilt, Elvin Hayes. I think Iverson's doing ok for the crap he's got around him.
Hayes, I would argue that Dream won a championship with less then what AI has on his team. The only difference is that Dream passed it to the other players and thus TRUSTED them. AI is not all that....40% shooting? I would say he is clearly OVERATED !! DD
IMO if Cuttino or Steve or Eddie for that matter took that amount of shots in a game they would end up with 50+ points as well.
Cuttino scored 25 pts on 16 shots. In theory if he took 42 shots he would end up with somewhere around 65-70 pts! I dont like Iverson because he is the whinniest b**** in the history of the NBA and no one will even come close in the future.
Just to put things into perspective: (this is the current season, thus far, according to nba.com) Allan Iverson 5.9 assists/game Kobe Bryant 5.8 assists/game Eric Snow 5.9 assists/game Steve Francis 5.9 assists/game Cuttino Mobley 2.9 assists/game Moochie Norris 5.5 assists/game Considering that Iverson's job is to shoot, shoot, shoot, I think it's pretty darned UN-selfish that he gets as many dimes as our starting PG. Ditto for Kobe. Both Iverson and Kobe, who are scorers, also lead thier teams in assists (at least this season, so far). I personally don't like Kobe all that much, but I think both players are more likely to hit the open man when they are double teamed than Mobley. Also, IMHO, without Iverson jacking up all those shots, the Sixers are lottery winners. Who is their next best option? McKie? Harping? Matt Bullard would be a #2 option on that team. I don't think its fair to characterize Iverson as a whiner either. I think the guy has developed a great deal of heart and intensity. What may seem obnoxious to some, is intensity and competitiveness to others. I've never seen Iverson quit on a game. Yeah, he argues almost every call against him. But I'd be a hypocrite to call him out for it because he's got that same crybaby face that Barkley had when he used to do it, and it never bothered me THAT when Chuck (Or Mario even) did it. It's not like all refs love him or anything. Iverson had plenty of crappy calls in last years Finals. When I think whiney b****, I think Karl Malone. It doesn't seem fair to put Iverson in the same page. But I guess 58 points isn't going to win many friends around here. But I'll leave this with a question. In the closing minute, when Cat was fouling AI, I noticed he kept talking to Iverson. It didn't look like trash talk (looked fairly friendly). Are they friends? Or is Cat just tantalized by the prospect of taking 42 shots a game? --Deji
selfishness can be very hard to judge with assist numbers, especially when used with our team. we run way to many isos to have high assists and that's the only reason francis doesn't have more. iverson gets some because occasionaly he'll pass out of a triple team and a teammate will get a wide open shot - see speedy claxton. it's that simple, in no possible way is iverson more a team player then steve. we all no that one of steve's flaws is his unselfishness. kobe gets 5 assists simply by dumping it to shaq. this is also why guy's like marbury and cassell can have high assist numbers despite being quite selfish themselves.
Is Iverson one of the Most Valuable Players in the NBA? Of course. Is he one of the best? Not even close.
If he's so bad and taking 42 shots is so detrimental to his team's success, then why did they win? Noone else on that team did a thing last night.
Even if that's true, that's 1 out of 7 champions I named. Not a good percentage for your argument. And I remember quite a few Cassell points that had nothing to do with Dream passing out, more likely Cassell running down and shooting. And when he did pass it out it was only because he was getting triple teamed. I don't remember Rudy tripling him last game...Clyde was top 50 All Time. AND there aren't any other offensive players on the Sixers? Derrick McKey? Aaron McKie? Snow? Mutumbo? Bell? Claxton? Cummings? Dalembert? Which scorer do you recommend he share the ball with?
AI is one of the elite basketball players, arguably the best guard in the NBA. You may not like him, but we only wish we had a player that good. Francis has the potential to, but he has to step it up. Francis could learn from AI how to put persistent pressure on the other teams D (the former never disappears from the offensive flow) and be more economical (good shots:TO ratio). When someone only looks at AI's 40% shooting they are forgetting to factor in 3's, points scored at the line, and easy baskets created for others because the whole other team is trying to limit his shots. In fact having AI allows Phily to have a very good team by filling out the team with marginal role players and great defensive players. Normally such a line-up would shoot down your offense, but with AI you at least can get off some kind of decent percentage shot from him. In this way he is the closest thing to Jordan since Jordan (for many of the Bulls later title runs Jordan didn’t shoot so great in the playoffs, but nobody said anything because of the end result). I don't like AI court antics and really don't like some of his public comments, but dam* that guys game deserves enormous respect.
Anyone remember Jerry Stackhouse? Toni Kukoc? Larry Hughes? All legit 2nd options. Iverson wouldn't share the ball then, either. The team doesn't have many 2nd options because that's not the way Iverson wants the team and it's not the way Larry Brown likes the team. He has a history of coaching/building 1 weapon teams. With Iverson, this team has a ceiling and without him (current roster), it has no prayer. They need to trade Iverson for 2 solid contributors who will give the team a better balance and a chance to go further than one man can take them shooting 40%. Just my opinion.
A sidekick is exactly that, a #2 scoring option. Hughes and Stack wanted to be the MAIN shooter, and both had attitude problems (Hughes because he was immature, Stack cause he was a jerk). Not the same thing. Kukoc? There are a lot of reasons he didn't work out in Philly. Iverson not sharing the ball isn't one of them. Re: Larry Brown - in Indy wasn't it Smits and Miller? When he has options, he uses them.
AI led his team to the championship last year. I'd trade anyone on the Rocks for him in a heartbeat. Steve, Eddie, Cuttino, ANYONE. I guess you missed when he had those crazy duels with Vince Carter in the playoffs. Magical. Such haters on this board. Iverson is better than anyone on the Rocks now and is better than Eddie will ever be.
He led his team to the championship series. Quit hatin'! If any player could do it than Moochie would be taking 30 shots a game. Only difference is we'd be losing every game.
You're out of you're #$@%&^$ mind!!! Better than Eddie. Give the kid a chance. He hasn't even played a full year and already he's shooting better than iverson. We can discuss this in a few years. If he's a bust than you're right, but if he turns out like Garnett or better I have to disagree. Steve?.....Really? Seriously if you put Steve on the sixers and iverson on the Rockets you'd see the same thing happening in 1 or 2 years, except Steve would shoot better and probably make his teammates better. As for why they won against us. It wasn't because of allen. If you look back at players scoring 50+ points their teams don't usually win. The reason they won is because The Rockets lost. That may sound like common sense, but it was The Rockets game to lose and they blew it, (Mooch dribbling out the game, Cat dribbling fancy around 3 defenders when he's not even a good ball-handler.) Iverson's good, but the best? Me thinks not. Truth be told there are a lot of guys who can do what he does and do it better. I admire his heart, but he's still not the best player in the league. Best guard? Is he better than kobe, McGrady, Francis, Carter, Marbury or even Kidd. With all the talk of carrying a team where does his team stand. Also do you mean to tell me that Dikembe did nothing? Cat made a point when he said "He has the ultimate greenlight."
He was MVP last year! He carried the team on his back all year! A team of damn roleplayers! I don't care how good Eddie might be, Iverson is arguably the top SG in the league right now and will be for years barring injury. It's either him, Kobe or Tracy for top guard and I'd take Ivy over both of them, counting Vince as a SF. Eddie might be great but I can't see him singlehandedly leading his team to the championship series like AI did. AI is a player who can hit any shot at any time regardless of coverage. I'd say both he and Vince Carter are the only players in the league who can hit impossible shots that no one else should even come close to. Again, Eddie could be great but you're sacrificing a maybe for a superstar sure thing. AI DOES make his teammates better. Steve is great but still not close to AI. Whether they beat us is irrelevant, really. Yes, he is better than Kobe, Tracy, Francis, Kidd and Marbury. I dunno about Carter because I think he has the most dynamic offensive game in the NBA. Deke did something but Iverson pretty much carried them all year before that trade. Cat wishes he had half Iverson's talent. Cat needs to worry about not getting blocked by Vince Carter and then crammed on or learning not to dribble into double-teams.
If I remember correctly, in last year's playoffs Vince had a block party on Iverson. Also the point that most make is that if a coach gives his star player the greenlight to shoot, and all the other players have to do is play defense and get the ball to that player, there players out there who could be considered MVP. As far as Eddie goes. IMO Dream is a similar blueprint to the future Eddie. If Dream single handedly won a championship for his team with much more resistance than hopefully Eddie could do the same.
