Has Allen Iverson's career been underrated?

[nimfh]

As AI's career is fading away the media have again found a way to hate on the man for any and every thing he does, I've started to think that many fansdo not realize the full scope of his impact on the game. He was the face of the League while Stern desperately searched for someone else to take Jordan'storch. He scored 30 every night for the better part of a decade, won an MVP award and led an awful team to the Finals. And now, just like that people want toeither bash him or act like he never existed. I found this nugget from MagicRockets pretty interesting;

To illustrate the League's desire to get rid of anything related to AI, his player page is no longer in the NBA's official website while Vladimir Lucic's (who?) is still up and running.


Anyway, I just wanted to air this topic out and get a feel for what people think of this. It might be a stretch, but I truly believe people aren't aware ofthe significance of AI's career.

 

[clutchshooter]

stupid question.

 

[jeuce]

There will never be another player like him. His size and scoring ability. He really was fun to watch.

 

[MVP]

Best little man scorer ever, played with passion and heart every game...that's about it.

If someone comes in here and calls him a winner though, I'll lose it.

 

[JLD1523]

People know how good he was but all these off the court crybaby problems he has is casting a shadow over it all.

 

[pdouly33]

Originally Posted by Mamba MVP

If someone comes in here and calls him a winner though, I'll lose it.

And watch out, because this man knows winners!

 

[bigmike23]

LOL

 

[airmaxpenny1]

People go out of there way to condemn him. Iverson was everything White America feared, the tattoos, the braids, the swagger, everything. Having there littlewhite children idolize someone who they saw embodying the "thug image," was his greatest downfall. He was the sign of culture changing in adifferent generation, the merger of Hip-Hop and the NBA. He has been misunderstood since High-School period.

He has been unfortunate because he played awful talent around him on those Philadelphia squads. I laugh when people really say Aaron McKie as an example of agood player Ivo played with. The dude was the definition of a warrior he went out there every %*%$%#! night, and put his body on the line. He was a ****** ina game of monster's but routinely made dudes look foolish.

Dude is pound for pound the greatest player that ever threw on a jersey

 

[p mac one]

Originally Posted by jdizzle75

People know how good he was but all these off the court crybaby problems he has is casting a shadow over it all.

 

[extraordinary swag]

It's only underrated because of his attitude, if he was a better teammate he would have gotten a lot more praise. No doubt he's a first ballotHOF'er though.

 

[doublejs07]

Iverson is, and always will be amazing. All these issues came to surface after he was dealt to Detroit. He will go down as one of the greatest talents to everplay in the NBA, regardless of the sideshow his career has become. If you follow hoops, you know how amazing his career is. It's a shame that due to the"what have you done for me lately" nature folks have, AI is being looked at as a delusional joke. Look at the whole picture when discussing AI...notjust the past 2-3 years that have crippled his legacy in many folks' eyes...

 

[rudy]

hes missing that ring

 

[airmaxpenny1]

Can I ask a question...What other hall of famer, someone who clearly has something left in the tank, has been treated the way Ai had? Stockton was never askedto come off the bench, nor Malone, nor Robinson, nor Pippen. The only guys you really saw doing that were Ewing, Payton and Olajuwon, and they wereconsiderably older and more washed up than Iverson is. Considering last season was a mockery, Iverson last real season was 07-08, a season where he averaged26.4 ppg while shooting 46% from the field, on a 50 win team. And people want this guy to come off the bench...I would feel disrespected if I was Ivo as well.

 

[CP1708]

 

[DownByLaw]

Originally Posted by pdouly33

Originally Posted by Mamba MVP

If someone comes in here and calls him a winner though, I'll lose it.

And watch out, because this man knows winners!

 

[bigmike23]

Originally Posted by pdouly33

Originally Posted by Mamba MVP

If someone comes in here and calls him a winner though, I'll lose it.

And watch out, because this man knows winners!

*DEAD*


yall be going hard at mamba the last few weeks

 

[CP1708]

airmaxpenny1 wrote:

---

Iverson last real season was 07-08, a season where he averaged 26.4 ppg while shooting 46% from the field, on a 50 win team. And people want this guy to come off the bench...I would feel disrespected if I was Ivo as well.
I will say this one time only, then I'm leavin this thread. I took the heat in the last one Dirk and Mike, ya'll's turn.

Teams want him to come off the bench because AI's game is not conducive to winning in the NBA.

Clearly, he is a lot better then many many other guards out there. But he dominates the ball so incredibly much and takes so many off balance 21 footers thata typical offense can not succeed.

It is NOT that the league hates him. It is NOT that there is some vendetta against him, teams just simply realize what his fanboys do not, pounding the ballinto the floor for 20 seconds and then throwing up a contested jumper against a bigger defender is not a good look. At all. It does not work. Period.

If he came off the bench, he could run around out there in spurts and get buckets, which he of course can still do, but the coach would be able to bring himout and put the starters back in and not mess up their rhythm or the total goal of the offense. As an example, Sasha Vujacic comes in and just shoots. Hedoesn't do anything else, he just shoots for 3-4 minutes and then goes back to the bench. AI is a billion times better player then Sasha, but thatis what teams want from AI, a specified role for him to deliver in. And he won't abide by it. He won't accept it. He wants a team to give him thereins and let him run around and do whatever he wants for 40 minutes a night. No team, coach, or GM is going to do that. None

The second AI says publicly that he would relish the chance to come off the bench and score at will for short stretches like a Vinnie Johnson did,10-12 teams would line up and call him.

It's really that simple.

 

[illmatic34]

More like overrated.

 

[eeibaby]

^

Truth, now only if someone would get that through Iversons thick head (nh)

 

[im not you]

Originally Posted by airmaxpenny1

Can I ask a question...What other hall of famer, someone who clearly has something left in the tank, has been treated the way Ai had? Stockton was never asked to come off the bench, nor Malone, nor Robinson, nor Pippen. The only guys you really saw doing that were Ewing, Payton and Olajuwon, and they were considerably older and more washed up than Iverson is. Considering last season was a mockery, Iverson last real season was 07-08, a season where he averaged 26.4 ppg while shooting 46% from the field, on a 50 win team. And people want this guy to come off the bench...I would feel disrespected if I was Ivo as well.

For Iverson...him being asked to come off the bench isn't necessarily conducive to his level of play...but moreso his style of play.They're not asking him to come off the bench because he's lost his ability...but because nobody wants to feature a 34 year old 6' shooting guard asone of their team's premier player. If Iverson was a big time distributor...he probably would be starting on most teams. But to ask a 34 year old to comein and take 20 shots a game? Not likely...

 

[westcoastsfinest]

Originally Posted by airmaxpenny1

Dude is pound for pound the greatest player that ever threw on a jersey

i dont know about greatest pound for pound ever...id say zeke can make a run at that for sure...but a.i is not underrated everyone knew iversonwas a beast in the early 2000s...he just needs to stop being selfish and realize he really wanted win then go for what is best for the team youre playing on

 

[RyGuy45]

Underrated? Not to me.

One of the best talents of our generation. Made a huge dent in the NBA and future HOFer.

But also had enough characteristics with his career that I don't think overall you could say he wasn't rated enough. And let's also face it....yougenerally get the praise heaped on you when you win and that hasn't changed. The greats of all time and faces of the league all pretty much have rings allover their hands.

 

[cedric ceballos 1995 lakers]

Originally Posted by NIMFH

As AI's career is fading away the media have again found a way to hate on the man for any and every thing he does, I've started to think that many fans do not realize the full scope of his impact on the game. He was the face of the League while Stern desperately searched for someone else to take Jordan's torch. He scored 30 every night for the better part of a decade, won an MVP award and led an awful team to the Finals. And now, just like that people want to either bash him or act like he never existed. I found this nugget from MagicRockets pretty interesting;

To illustrate the League's desire to get rid of anything related to AI, his player page is no longer in the NBA's official website while Vladimir Lucic's (who?) is still up and running.

Anyway, I just wanted to air this topic out and get a feel for what people think of this. It might be a stretch, but I truly believe people aren't aware of the significance of AI's career.

So because the media is doing their job and reporting that he's acting like an idiot, thats hating. maybe if iverson didn't make so many stupidcomments over the past year that ended up hurting him, nobody would be "hating" on him.

Theres a reason that so many teams have passed up one of the best NBA players of our time.

 

[bigmike23]

For Iverson...him being asked to come off the bench isn't necessarily conducive to his level of play...but moreso his style of play. They're not asking him to come off the bench because he's lost his ability...but because nobody wants to feature a 34 year old 6' shooting guard as one of their team's premier player. If Iverson was a big time distributor...he probably would be starting on most teams. But to ask a 34 year old to come in and take 20 shots a game? Not likely...




in ever AI thread that comes up from now on this needs to be posted in there

 

[airmaxpenny1]

Originally Posted by CP1708

airmaxpenny1 wrote:

---

Iverson last real season was 07-08, a season where he averaged 26.4 ppg while shooting 46% from the field, on a 50 win team. And people want this guy to come off the bench...I would feel disrespected if I was Ivo as well.

I will say this one time only, then I'm leavin this thread. I took the heat in the last one Dirk and Mike, ya'll's turn.

Teams want him to come off the bench because AI's game is not conducive to winning in the NBA.

Clearly, he is a lot better then many many other guards out there. But he dominates the ball so incredibly much and takes so many off balance 21 footers that a typical offense can not succeed.

It is NOT that the league hates him. It is NOT that there is some vendetta against him, teams just simply realize what his fanboys do not, pounding the ball into the floor for 20 seconds and then throwing up a contested jumper against a bigger defender is not a good look. At all. It does not work. Period.

If he came off the bench, he could run around out there in spurts and get buckets, which he of course can still do, but the coach would be able to bring him out and put the starters back in and not mess up their rhythm or the total goal of the offense. As an example, Sasha Vujacic comes in and just shoots. He doesn't do anything else, he just shoots for 3-4 minutes and then goes back to the bench. AI is a billion times better player then Sasha, but that is what teams want from AI, a specified role for him to deliver in. And he won't abide by it. He won't accept it. He wants a team to give him the reins and let him run around and do whatever he wants for 40 minutes a night. No team, coach, or GM is going to do that. None

The second AI says publicly that he would relish the chance to come off the bench and score at will for short stretches like a Vinnie Johnson did, 10-12 teams would line up and call him.

It's really that simple.


I agree with most of what you said...but the thing is there are too many crappy teams and players in the league where Iverson could be startingon. 76ers, Charlotte, Knicks, Nets, Cleveland Heat, Rockets, Pacers...there is no reason AI couldn't be putting work in on one of those squads. I'mnot saying he should be the main player on a elite team, but the dude can still go out there and single handedly win a game for you. Not many dudes in theleague that can do that.