“This year is personal for me. It’s so personal.”
I definitely believe that Iverson is taking this season with a much more emotional approach and that he is going out with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove. At least, I can understand how he may think that …. but REALLY … let’s analyze this. He’s 34 years old and has played in the NBA for 13 years. He has made hundreds of millions of dollars, been on highlight reels, scored scads of points, caused and quelled controversies, brought people in and forced people out of his franchises … he’s had a FULL career. Really, he has nothing to prove individually. Guys like Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, Grant Hill, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Karl Malone … those guys have led great careers without winning a chip and yet their accomplishments are not diminished!
I think that he needs to realize this and understand that every player has a window of opportunity to make things happen. After that window closes or diminishes in size, it does NOT take away from your legacy or make you a chump. Everyone gets old. Bottom line. And we all need to be okay with that.
“I don’t think like everybody thinks. You know, maybe I’m just different. I look at the roster we have and I think we can win. I feel confident in myself and the roster that we can make things happen”
And this is where SO many people have issues with AI. My friend Allan said it best …
“I wouldn’t mind his mentality as much if he AT LEAST changed his playing style to benefit the team, now that he’s older …like passing once in a while. Not just passing while in the air and having nowhere to go, like, passing in the flow of the game or making the extra pass to an open teammate. I like that type of basketball.”
I hear ya, man. His time has come and gone and he needs to (for his own legacy) be able to bow out with grace and give way to the crop of new players coming in.
“It’s basically going to be my rookie season again. It hurts, but I turn the TV on, I read the paper, I listen to some of the things people say about me having the season that I had last year and me losing a step, things like that. They’re trying to put me in a rocking chair already.”
I mean, remember back when Iverson started his career? He crossed over Jordan and everyone flipped! It was on YouTube and got national headlines and weeks and weeks of ESPN replays. Jordan, refusing to give way and admit that he had lost a step against a younger (but not necessarily better) player called Iverson a punk and started a HUGE public discussion about basketball and the influence that hip hop had on the coming generation. Dress Codes were implemented and AI was tagged before he even had a chance to prove himself!
Now Iverson is in Jordan’s shoes and he needs to see how CLOSE he is to repeating the cycle he went through for someone else. It’s not about rocking chairs or egos, it’s about the SPEED of the sport and the fact that you can’t play like that forever! Eventually you lose a step. It’s life! You start by losing a quarter step. Then a half step and then before you know it, you’ve lost a full step and you’re retiring from the game!
People aren’t saying that he sucks.
People are saying that he’s an older player now and that to get to the next level he has to change the way he plays the game now. He’s not the 21 year old Georgetown Draft Pick anymore.
“This guy has many years of basketball left in him … and he is eager. He expressed it to us to get going with the task of helping our team reach a whole other level of success,”
So says a deluded Chris Wallace, GM of Memphis Operations.
In the Western Conference we have (among others) the LA Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers and Utah Jazz.
This isn’t even mentioning the members of the Division they reside in – the SouthWest Division! San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Hornets ….
Is Chris Wallace saying that by signing Allen Iverson, he’s gonna be able to take his 24 win team and win an EXTRA 30 games and get into the playoffs and compete with perennial powerhouses like the Spurs and Lakers for an NBA Finals berth?!?!?
Chris Wallace! Put Down The HASH Pipe!
AT BEST, you may be an 11th or 12th seed, ahead of Minnesota, Sacramento and the Clippers …. MAYBE! And in the end, you STILL miss the playoffs!
“I’m excited. It’s a guy I always watched growing up, and having him as a teammate is going to be a great opportunity for me.”
So says Mike Conley. And I believe that too. But box office ticket sales and team excitement will BARELY hide the fact that Allen Iverson went to the Grizzlies ONLY because they were the only team in the NBA that were willing to offer him more than the veteran’s minimum. At $3.5Million dollars, that’s pricey for one season. And I wonder what he will expect NEXT year during the free-agent bonanza of 2010! He can’t seriously expect to command the type of money that LeBr0n, Bosh or Wade are gonna be getting … can he?
EVEN if he has a glimmering, shimmering All-Star season, he’ll be 35 years old which is OLD for a professional point guard.
Bottom line, I am happy for AI, but I really wonder what is going on in his head and why it’s always about the money and never about practice!
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Here’s how I think his season will go:
His first game – against the Pistons – he’ll score about 25-30. He’ll average this and more over the first few weeks and then teams will clamp down on him. He’ll finish the year averaging 17 points on 23 shots a night with barely 5 assists and barely 4 rebounds a night. He’ll miss the playoffs and he will NOT be an all-star.
I LOVE AI, but truth is truth.
You heard it here first.