Not only that, but he plays harder than just about everyone else in the NBA. You’d be hard pressed to find a bench warmer who hustles more than Iverson, let alone a super-star who averages 30 a game…

That said, I do not agree with everything that he wrote but I do think he was considerably closer to truth than the original article here. Very good post by huh?

Some areas that I take issue with: First off Whitlock never even insinuates that they have similar skills sets (Though In hindsight I do think huh? did a pretty good job of coming up with some similarities) – all he says is that AI could have been the second greatest point guard of all time behind Magic. So your longwinded diatribe on how clueless Whitlock is becomes of some perceived likeness between the 2 players is in response to something that isn’t even there.

Next, I think the primary reason that Whitlock brings race into the equation (as he always will) is simply to show that Iverson throughout his (in my opinion unsuccessful) career has insulated himself from any criticism from the general public because of his hip-hop thug image. For reasons unknown the NBA audience has embraced this whole-heartedly and refuses to see Iverson’s game/career for what it is.

Here’s the bottom line for me – Iverson has been praised his entire career for a number of things but ANYTHING you get from him comes with a trade-off. There are no absolute positives that come with his game. You get a great scorer – that’s great but now that means you have to find an unselfish point who is big enough defend 2 guards. You get someone who is a ball hawk on D – that’s great but now your D is left exposed on the 4 times out of 5 he misses that steal attempt. You get 30 pts/game – again, this is great but it came over the course of 25 posessions.

One thing you are right about is that GM’s ought to be put to task for taking on this loser. No two ways about it – it is a terrible idea to build your team around this guy. But here’s the deal, while in Philly he had a roster tailor made to fit his skill set and it never amounted to anything. The guy is a loser.

As for the assumptions Whitlock (and even you) just made about Iverson’s playing style being a result of his upbringing, I cannot bring myself to make, since i’m not a licensed psychologist. Although I am well aware of Iverson’s upbringing that I have researched or been fed through media, movies, and books, I certainly would not venture to make any assumptions about those as being fact, since I don’t know Iverson personally. About all we do know for sure, is that he was raised in a home by his mother with very little money.

Having very little money has nothing to do with a tough upbringing that breeds selfishness. In fact I would challenge you in that assumption, in my opinion that many low income families have better than average ‘team’ skills as they need to work together as a family to get by and even in some cases survive.

Either way, since I don’t know Iverson personally, and i’d venture to guess that you don’t either, let’s leave our analysis to his on-court play and not his personal life or upbringing which we know very little about from the outside looking in.

I will say that at G-Town he was a “point guard” due to size only. Everyone knew he was a scorer. He’s had a remarkable career in many ways and may be the pound-for-pound toughest guy that I have ever seen play. (Next to MJ of course)

He shoots 42% from the field, 31% from 3, 78% from the line. To be fair, most guys wouldn’t get anywhere near those numbers if they had the workload that AI has. But I think for the single main scorer model to work, that main scorer has to have much higher percentages than even AI has shown. That’s why the single scorer model hasn’t worked very much. Think about Jordan shooting 50% from the field. That’s a big difference from 42%.

Clearly, Iverson is one of the most talented players we have ever seen. But I think he can only function peacefully in the single scorer model, and I just don’t think he is efficient enough for the model to succeed. It’s not the AI isn’t supremely talented. It’s just that the single scorer model literally requires legendary, god-like talent. Most guys in the hall-of-fame don’t even have that.

He actually called the 6-foot Iverson an underachiever. Dude, AI’s playing in the freaking league, used to throw down on people in transition, was an MVP, averaged 27 ppg in his career, and only two players in NBA history ever averaged better than 30 in a career, Jordan and Wilt, so I think it’s safe to say he “overachieved” on the court at 6 foot, even if he is a headcase.

http://www.wcbias.com/2009/04/10/allen-iverson-is-dead-nope-but-quality-sportswriting-is/

ai and magic with “polar opposite” skill-set? really? let’s see, they both are outstanding ball handlers, neither of them ever had a truly dependable long-ball even though they loved to jack it up, they are both great passers, and so on. but you’re missing the point jason was making- he was saying that iverson had the ability to be another magic, but he never developed the trust in others to share the ball. iverson could have avg 12 assists a game if he ever believed the people around him were good enough to win with. furthermore, he is not insinuating they play the same game, just the same position, so that is an error of your own reading comprehension.

i love ai and i wish he would get a ring before he packs it in. but something i’ve learned the last few years, and especially after the chauncey trade, is that he only serves to diminish the performance of those surrounding him. whitlock’s point, which you too hastily dismiss, is that diminishing of others’ abilities (and thus his team’s success) is a product of iverson’s youth and the lessons he learned growing up in the environment he did. allen never had the opportunity to learn that when you trust in and share with others, the rewards you receive in return are greater.

this is why even when philly built that team around him, they only had one shot at the finals, and they got clobbered. do you even remember how crappy the east was in those years? making the finals wasn’t all that great of an accomplishment. and yes, larry brow-beat him. perhaps you forgot all the dust-ups they had during those years? perhaps you don’t know larry brown has a rep for brow-beating his pgs? i don’t know, but i think you’re grossly over-reacting to this piece. and now, i have apparently grossly over commented about yours.

I’m sure he will hide behind Fox’s name and not respond to any of this. That’s what I don’t like aobut big sports news agencies like Fox. He says all sorts of b.s. then if anyone calls him on it, he will just go on to his next piece of b.s.

well said. i can’t stand him