Ryan Desmarais is a senior at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, where he will receive his BA in English in December 2009. Ryan is also a writer at The Bleacher Report. He currently resides in Manchester, NH.
Sometimes, I think the Los Angeles Clippers do it on purpose.
And it looked like they were starting to turn things around, too. They had the first pick in the NBA Draft and took Blake Griffin, which only surprised some people because they didn’t screw it up. They even traded Zach Randolph, a professional morale killer, to make room for Griffin in the lineup. Add him to a roster that has other good, young talent including Al Thornton and Eric Gordon and you could see the Clippers building towards becoming – dare I say it – winners.
Then they go back to being the Clippers we all know and love by going after Allen Iverson.
I knew it was too good to be true.
I tried to find something positive that would come from L.A. and A.I. joining forces. I really did. I sat down for a little while and thought about it.
And thought.
And thought some more.
I came up with only one good conclusion: It gets butts in the seats.
As a financial move, it’ll probably work. It’s a gimmick. Not only would they sell more tickets, but merchandise sales would skyrocket with the sale of Iverson jerseys. The Clippers would make more money and that would probably be enough to make them happy.
But as basketball move, this is a terrible idea. It would’ve been a terrible move if the Clippers wanted to bring him in as their starting shooting guard. Then I heard a report that almost gave me chills.
The Clippers want Iverson to come off the bench.
Now, have you ever had a friend who was dating a girl who you knew was going to hurt him and you knew that there wouldn’t be any positives coming out of the situation, but there was nothing you could do except watch as she emotionally tortured and tormented him until all that was left was a shell of himself? This is the basketball equivalent of that.
Iverson is a guy who’s been unhappy throughout most of his NBA career for one reason or another, whether it was problems with playing time or Larry Brown or the management in Detroit. He’s demanded trades on numerous occasions and has been a distraction more often than not. Iverson’s even said in the past that he’d rather retire than come off the bench.
And the Clippers want to bring all of this to Staples Center?
Granted, Iverson’s going to be a Hall of Famer when he’s done playing. Back when he was with Philly, he was arguably one of the most dangerous scorers in the league. He had the ability to hit from outside and wasn’t afraid to go to the hole and take a hard hit. There was no questioning his heart, either. He was tough as nails and carried his team on his back, which he put on display in 2001 when he was named MVP and led the Sixers to the Finals.
I’m not sure if the Clippers think they’re getting the A.I. of 2001, but that guy’s long gone. He’s slowing down and breaking down. He’s 34 years old and missed the stretch run this past season for Detroit because of a back injury. He’s no longer the fastest guy on the court, making it more difficult for him to drive past his defender. This means Iverson will be taking more outside jumpers, where he’s definitely been a little inconsistent throughout his career.
And how happy do you think Iverson’s going to be about coming off the bench? And not just any bench, but the Clippers’ bench? He’d say all the right things at the introductory press conference about how it’s all about the team and how winning’s the most important thing, but how long would it be before Iverson starts griping and moaning about not getting enough playing time? December? January?
Would he even last that long?
And what about the young guys? Do the Clippers really want them around all this drama for an entire season? Especially Griffin, the guy who’s supposed to lead them to places they’ve never been before. They’ve already gotten rid of one malcontent. Why bring in a guy who could do the same thing?
After reading this article, you’d probably think I was a Clippers fan. For the record, I’m not. But I think a lot of people want to see them succeed at some point. They really are on the right path and could be pretty competitive within the next couple of years. But picking up Iverson is not the way to do it. Not for this team.
