What To Do With A.I.
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by user BigPPup
The rumor mill is in full motion yet again, and this time the man at the center of the storm is Allen Iverson. It’s hard to imagine a Philly team without the little warrior running the show for them, but according to all indications from within 76’ers camp that is exactly what they want to do. According to sources the 76’ers front office has mentioned they want are ready to move the All-Star.
Now moving Iverson seems like a strange idea, just the thought of seeing him in a different jersey. A.I. is one of those players who are synonymous with his team. When people think of Philadelphia sports, Allen Iverson often times is the first image that comes to peoples mind. There is not questioning how good of an athlete, and what a tenacious player A.I. is. However, the NBA is business and as with any experiment those in charge must take inventory at the end of the day and see where they stand.
Currently the A.I. experiment in Philly is looking bleak. Iverson has been in the league for 10 seasons now, and he has yielded mixed results. On an individual level he has been one of the best players in the NBA over the past decade. A career average of 28.1 ppg, 2.34 steals, and 6.1 assist are all numbers to be proud of. With those numbers alone any team would be happy to have A.I. play as a member of their squad but there is more to A.I. than just numbers.
Iverson is a shoot first pass second point guard, if not for a lack of size (6’1 with shoes, and 165 pnds soaking wet with his old high school shoulder pads on) he could move to the 2 guard position. This is actually where Iverson was most effect when he moved to the 2 and Eric Snow ran the point, the 76’ers made it to the 2001 NBA Finals before bowing out to the Lakers in 5. However, Iverson has routinely shunned the idea of playing off the ball, preferring to keep the ball in hand where he has the ability to make a play at will.
This trigger happy mentality shown by A.I. has turned him into a very difficult teammate. The 76’ers have been rebuilt three times since the arrival of A.I. with the same results and the same constant. There was a time when Allen Iverson and Jerry Stackhouse roamed the backcourt together. The potential of a 50 plus pt a game backcourt yet there were not enough balls to go around and so Stackhouse had to leave town. Then there were the Larry Brown years. Mutombo in the middle, Snow at the point and a plethora of role players working to make Iverson. This group of men made it to the NBA Finals, but it was too much for Brown to keep Iverson in check and they had to part ways and when Brown left so did the supporting cast. Finally we found the current Philadelphia squad under the leadership of Maurice Cheeks. This was Chris Webber resurrecting his career and joining A.I. That duo couldn’t even make the playoffs this past season.
So here we stand now and its time to reconstruct the 76’ers and this time management realizes that The Answer isn’t the right solution to every problem. So dealing a superstar point guard should be easy right? Wrong. Shipping A.I. will prove to be a more difficult task for Philadelphia than holding on to him till his contract is up.
Due to the way A.I. plays the game he becomes a difficult trade. A.I. is not the answer for a team who is just 1 player away from a championship team. A mater of fact any team that has an established based of scoring players or a superstar cannot possibly bring in A.I. he would become an instant cancer on that squad.
Plus there is the price that Iverson garners on a trade market. Any team that wants to take him on has to be willing to ship out there top player. This means we are talking about deals such as Iverson to Minnesota for K.G. A.I. to Indiana for Jermaine O’Neal, or something of that nature nonetheless we are talking a massive deal. Plus for a team to take on those trades it means a complete change in their offensive philosophy as they shift from a big man team to small ball.
Any team who is bad enough that they are willing to shift the team philosophy to pick up Iverson, does not have enough in their coffers to offer to Philly to make it a viable deal.
Perhaps the best move for Philly to make if they are so set on shipping Iverson, is call up New York. I am sure Thomas is willing to make a deal to put A.I. Starbury and Franchise in the same court.
Chew on that for a while.
Date
Mon 06/19/06, 7:28 pm EST
