This is from 2006.
Great ... but overrated
Allen Iverson and Steve Nash
In an odd way, these two are really similar. Though they have very different games, each is able to grab fans at an emotional level. People appreciate Tim Duncan, but they love Iverson and Nash.
That's partly because they look like us -- tiny guys who look like they could be playing the lunchtime game at the Y -- while they're embarrassing the giants with their amazing skill and creativity. It's partly because each plays with such exceptional speed and reckless abandon -- cheering for them is a way of thumbing our noses at every control-freak coach who thinks there should be a huddle before every possession. It helps, too, that each is among the best at the game's two most visible feats -- Nash with passing, Iverson with scoring -- and that each player's biggest weakness, defense, tends to be the hardest for fans to identify.
So how can I call these guys overrated? Because their appeal to our inner basketball karma has caused us to massively overstate their impact on the game. Both are almost universally considered among the top five or so players in the league, forming last year's All-NBA first team backcourt. Nash won last year's MVP award and might win it again, while Iverson finished a close fifth a year ago and has four top-nine finishes in the voting. And as luck would have it, each has an MVP trophy that many feel should be sitting on Shaquille O'Neal's mantel.
Allen Iverson
Player Efficiency Rating
26.33
vs. NBA Avg.: +11.33
Iverson profile
Steve Nash
Player Efficiency Rating
23.87
vs. NBA Avg.: +8.87
Nash profile
But let's get back to that top-five thing, because there's no way either can make that claim stand up. For instance, neither has ever finished a season in the top five in the league in player efficiency rating -- not only this year, but ever. Right now Iverson is seventh and Nash is ninth, and each is having the best season of his career. Some will argue that PER underrates them, but if anything it does the opposite, because it excludes defense except steals and blocks.
How do they fall short? When we compare them to the elite players, the best of the best, each has two shortcomings. One of them is obvious: rebounding. The other, in Nash's case, is that he doesn't create nearly as many shots as his peers, even when we factor in all the assists. His usage rate is on par with Mike Bibby and Sam Cassell, and ranks 24th overall. For Iverson, the problem isn't creating shots but converting them -- he's a poor outside shooter who's a 42.1 percent career marksman.
If you still don't believe me, try this exercise. Suppose the league broke up all the teams tomorrow and did a redraft, and everybody could keep their new players for exactly one season. Who would the top picks be? Not Iverson and Nash. Even the most ardent Suns and Sixers fans would have to admit that the first six would, in some order, be LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki.
After that, Nash or Iverson might get picked, but teams would also be looking at players like Shaquille O'Neal, Yao Ming, Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups and Elton Brand. It's possible that Nash wouldn't be the first Sun off the board, or even the second. And as for Iverson, Jerry Colangelo had 20 picks for Team USA and still didn't choose him.
So as great as they are, and as much as we enjoy watching them ... yes, it would seem they're overrated.
Good ... but overrated
