Outside The NBA

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Apologies if this is a bit jumbled – I’m not going to pretend I have all the answers (no pun intended, seriously) here. This is me trying to make sense of where Allen Iverson’s career is right now. It’s a bit difficult, as I’ve been watching the guy since I was 10. His draft class is a special one to me – I’m a part of the generation that grew up while these guys were maturing as professionals. For most of my life as a basketball fan, Iverson was a lock to be an All-Star and he was respected as one of the best players in the game. He was polarizing at first, as the old guard wasn’t fond of, um, I don’t know what exactly. The crossovers, the tattoos, the shot attempts? All I know is that my dad didn’t like him. But after a few years, things changed. He won the MVP, he led his team to the finals, and people like my dad changed their minds. My theory: when you watched the man play at his peak, it was downright impossible to hate him. To see a guy that small take that many hits, play through that many injuries, hit that many big shots… You had no choice but to love his game.

Now, though, things have changed. Drastically. One of my heroes growing up is now being called an “insufferable twit” by one of my heroes today. I’m reading well-written articles from immensely-respected reporters where Allen comes off like a self-important jerk, unwilling to accept that he’s not in his prime anymore and completely unaware of the perception he has around the league. This hurts. I’m not in denial here; I can’t say that Iverson has impressed me with his behaviour since he was traded to Detroit. I watched him play the worst basketball of his career last season, hoisting low-percentage jumpers and failing to stay in front of people on D. I didn’t really expect this Memphis thing to work out and, with everything I’ve read, I can’t say it’s surprising that contenders are scared of taking him on.

Still, I don’t think he’s done. And I think some of our memories are way, way too short. Quick question: What was your reaction to the AI/Billups trade? Was it the same as your reaction to Pau going to LA for Kwame Brown? I doubt it – some people bashed Dumars for the swap, but it wasn’t the same. It turned out to be a salary dump, yes, but Iverson at the time was no Kwame. The previous season, he had made the All-Star team for the 9th straight season, averaging 26.4 points and 7.2 assists per game (I know they were the fastest team in the league; it’s still impressive) on a team that won 51 games in the regular season. Chauncey was still a better defender, but he had, for a few consecutive seasons as a Piston, turned in playoff performances that were inferior to his regular season play. My take, then: the Pistons were starting over (sort of), so they may as well take a chance with a future HoFer for one year and see what happens. AI was a questionable fit, but still a fantastic player, and with him they’d have a guy to create shots easily at the end of games. It made some sense. This was just a year ago.

The way AI is seen now, he’s apparently worse than a limited role player like Kwame. People I respect are saying that he’s not even worth the veteran’s minimum and that team executives are laughing when his name is brought up. I’m hearing that he’ll be a distraction, make his team worse at both ends of the floor, and stunt the development of younger players. Full disclosure: this upsets me and I want to defend him. But, honestly, after the last 12 months, I don’t have a lot of ammunition. In Detroit, he complained about playing time, couldn’t fit into their offense, hurt them on defense, and ended up banished from the team. In Memphis, when he was eased back into the lineup after missing all of the pre-season, he complained again. This started after his very first game. There might be more to his departure from the Grizz than we know, as both he and the organization have made reference to “personal issues” that he had to attend to, but we do know that he made his last appearance as a Grizzly during the first week of November. Not good, any way you spin it.

Here’s the thing about the last year of Iverson’s career, though: I have no idea what, if anything, we can learn from it. Yeah, he played poor D and took bad shots. But did you watch Rasheed Wallace last year? I’d argue he was a worse offender. That Pistons team was a mess, doomed from the start, AI or no AI. It was a group of hard-headed veterans with a rookie head coach that truly never stood a chance. It would, of course, have helped if Curry hadn’t repeatedly lied to both Iverson and Richard Hamilton about how they would be utilized. Look at Wallace this year – on a team that makes him play hard, one that preaches defense and has a defined leadership structure, he’s been pretty good. Still hoisting threes, mind you, but far from the lazy, no-defense Sheed we unfortunately had to watch last year. And if you’re saying, “that’s great, but AI isn’t going to the Celtics,” fine. If he ends up on the Knicks, it’s not at all the same as going to a team with KG, Pierce, and Ray Allen there to keep you in check. But the Knicks could provide him a chance to be himself. They can hand him the ball and let him create shots for himself and others, (hopefully) free from the locker-room turmoil of Detroit and the role confusion in Memphis. Take a look at Channing Frye, who has turned heads in Phoenix this year with his sudden jump from bench-warmer to quality starter. He’s a strange case – after a very promising rookie season with the Knicks, he fell off. With more minutes in his second year, he couldn’t sustain his production, and after that he was traded to Portland where he wallowed on the bench and didn’t produce much of anything. I heard reports that he was working hard on his three-point shot, but in games he couldn’t so much as hit the mid-range shots he was knocking down as a rook. This season, though, he’s found a situation that works. He’s been given minutes and the green light to shoot when he’s open. His confidence is higher than ever and GM Steve Kerr looks like a genius. Perhaps AI will find a similar situation, one that lets him use the skills that made him one of the most respected and feared players in the game. Perhaps that will be in New York. I hope it is.

The annoying thing about all this? I know there are plenty of people who are with me, long-time AI fans praying that he gets a chance to redeem himself and that he takes advantage of it… but there are also a ton of people who seem to be enjoying Iverson’s (possible) demise. It pisses me off when I see people laughing at his predicament and calling him “The Canswer”, like some still-not-over-it Vince Carter hater in Toronto. At least with Vince, there’s an obvious reason for the hatred. With AI, I’m left scratching my head as to what exactly he’s done to deserve such scorn. This is exactly how I felt when I was 10 and my dad called AI a loser. An example: I was watching the Raptors play the Nuggets a few days ago, and, after a beautiful display of ball movement on Denver’s part, colour commentator Jack Armstrong (one of my favourites) felt the need to say that this play would not have happened with Allen Iverson on the floor. Huh? How is this necessary, at all? Can’t we just appreciate a great play? This type of cheap shot drove me nuts when I heard (and saw) it last year, when the Iverson/Billups trade was still fresh. Now, right as the man is released from the Grizzlies? Harsh.

There has been a clear shift in the way Allen Iverson is perceived now, both in the media and inside of NBA organizations. I’m not arguing here that it’s entirely undeserved, just that it MIGHT be wrong. It seems as if some people have collectively decided that he’s done and he’s a bad guy, but I’m not sure that he’s changed much in the past couple of years. Even watching him on that dysfunctional Pistons team, I thought he was still much more than capable of being a useful NBA player. He was surely the quickest 33-year old I’d ever seen, hadn’t lost any of his ball-handling ability, and could get his shot off whenever he wanted to. There are legitimate questions about how to properly utilize him offensively and how to minimize his weaknesses defensively – the difference between me and his loud detractors is that I don’t think they’ve been conclusively answered yet. Worst-case scenario, we never see him play NBA ball again. Best-case, though – he’ll get a chance to become the first name on the scouting report again and he’ll remind everybody why people like me fell in love with his game over a decade ago. It’s all too easy to rip on AI right now now, but why not join me and hope for the best?