RapsFan

Yes he does have to rely on that because he is so much smaller than the other players on the floor. Do you not want him to use his speed? That is his main advantage. It is like telling Shaq to only take fadeaway jumpshots and not dunk on anyone.

For anyone who has played basketball you would know it is very hard to get a clear shot when everyone else has at least a couple inches on you. You almost never get a clear shot which affects your shooting percentage. He also does not have anyone to get him space to get open shots for him. Thus, his shooting percentages are so low. If he did not have to rush his shot so that it would not get blocked and had more time to get himself set, I'm sure he would shoot a better percentage.

Like other people have said, Iverson is a player who you have to watch to see how he affects the game, you can not just look at boxscores.

mysterio

Though I hate to say it, Iverson is not nearly as overrated as Vince Carter. ASG votes prove it. I mean, when you get more votes than Garnett by by being statistically worse than almost all the other all-stars and leading your team to a sub-500 record, thats overrated.

mo76

YOU HAVE NO ****ING IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!

JuniorNoboa

You gotta love people that use this statement to show they are right. Brilliant!!

Nevus

That's probably true. Vince is a good player, a very exciting player who tries to take the responsibility of being a great player that people want to put on him, but people do take it too far.

futuristxen

He did it as much alone as anybody else has in NBA history. Did you watch the playoffs that year? He was amazing. A couple 50 point games against Vince and the Raptors.

But for me the defining moment was game 6 against the Bucks with Philly down by 25 in the 4th quarter and AI single-handedly, yes single-handledly, almost brought them all the way back, just on sheer will power. Because of that they got the momentum to take game 7 otherwise it would have been Milwaukee vs. LA in the Finals.

And AI's performance in game 1 of the finals, the only game they won was one of the better performances in Finals history. His stepping over of Tyronn Lue in Overtime was one of the more iconic moments of the NBA finals that we've had since Jordan retired.

As far as Iverson being overrated. Yeah okay. Just because he shoots a bad field goal percentage, that means that he is overrated. Let's not take one thing and blow it out of proportion or anything.

Iverson's poor shooting percentage is easily the most overrated statistic this side of Shaq's free throw shooting. It's not a reflection upon him being a terrible shooter, it's a reflection upon the fact that he has had to go for 40-50 for the Sixers to have a chance most games, so hot or not he takes impossible shots...usually with the shot clock going down, over defenders much taller than him...if you had the pleasure of watching him on the Olympic Qualifying team, then you would have a better apprecition, not just for him, but for all of the stars that supposedly can't shoot. These guys never miss open J's...well except for Jason Kidd...

If Iverson was playing on the Lakers or Spurs where Shaq or Duncan could get him better quality shots I think he'd shoot a much better percentage. But then you might complain that his scoring average was only about 25...so whatever.


It's easy to kick a man when he's down. Which is what a lot of people are doing with Iverson right now. He's not at the end of his career. The olympic qualifying, like many players before him, has really hurt his durability in the season(are there any players off that team who haven't been injured this year at this point? A lot of them have had knee problems too).

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"Matt!"

That's what I've been saying since I've posted here.

Also, please don't get me started on Shaq. The man is possibly the most underrated person on these boards.

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jvanbusk

[sarcasm]That's fine and dandy, but he didn't carry a team of junior high players to the playoffs.[/sarcasm]

If you had a rating system turned on, that would be a 5-star post. Kudos.

Minstrel

Yup, he was quite excellent in the playoffs. As I said, the best player on a team of good pieces.

But if he could even remotely do it by himself, the Sixers would be at least a playoff team in the East.

Just like McGrady or any great player, he can't do it alone, and his not even sniffing the Finals ever since proves that conclusively.

Not even Jordan, a player many, many times better than Iverson, ever got near a Finals by himself. There's no question at all that Iverson didn't take the Sixers to the Finals by himself, or even come close to doing so. McKie, Snow, Mutombo...they were all very large parts.

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Max Payne

People like therealdeal and ripped110 should be banned from the forum. If you guys ever made those comments here in Philadelphia, you would first be lynched, then flogged and then stoned to death. That's how much Iverson means to this city. The possibility of a man barefully 6 feet tall winning three scoring titles seemed ludicrous unless the guy was a three shooting demon.....Allen Iverson changed all that. I don't think there has EVER been a player like AI and there will probably never be another like him.
Iverson carries the team every night, playing through one injury after the other. Pound for pound in terms of pure endurance he is the MOST athletic player in the league because of the terrible pounding his body takes every year and yet he plays through those injuries and puts up stellar displays. Though age is catching up with him and that's why he's had problems this season, he is still among the most exciting, the most atheletic, the most clutch and the most jaw-dropping players this league has to offer. Because he is so unconventional, Iverson will never make the All-NBA First team with guys like Kobe and TMAC being the more orthodox backcourt players. Yet if you gauge making the First Team as your scale for judging a player, then think about this : KG has only made that team twice, whilst Tim Duncan has made it apparently every season of his career. Does that necessarilly make Duncan 3 times better than KG ? Of course not !
Iverson brings to the game a sense of excitement that perhaps has been unseen since Isaiah Thomas's glory days. Iverson for years has put the fear of God into 7 foot centers looking around and watching a comet like Iverson sprinting down the court and unleashing a killer move, making the basket and drawing the foul and getting to the line. For all the haters who think Iverson just jacks up too many shots, I say , this is true, his shot selection at times has been very sketchy, but here's an interesting fact. Kobe in a game once attempted 47 field goals...Iverson's highest is 42. The fact of the matter is that Iverson's very presence on either end of the court is just invaluable to any side's cause. He's a defensive stalwart with his hustle earning him almost 2.5 steals a game and no one can ever place enough accolades on his offensive prowess. He may take significantly more shots than the other elite guards but he's also head and shoulders above the rest in terms of career scoring averages. He's had some great support over the years in and especially when Philly went on their playoff run, but when the clock was winding down and his team was down, everyone always looked to Iverson and more often than not he answered the call.
So I leave the doubters with this. Before making such comments, take a minute and say the words "Allen Iverson" out loud and think about everything that the man represents on the court. I doubt you will feel like making such comments in the future if you truly allow yourself to see from an unbiased viewpoint what the man has brought to the game. If you're still not convinced, go out and get his book "Only the Strong Survive" . You might just gain the insight necessary to make you turn to the light and see the truth..the man is a legend and will always be so in the hearts of true basketball lovers....a legend cannot be overrated.

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Spriggan

iverson strengths:

1) best ball handling ability in the league, bar none. he's been the best in this category since he came into the league.

2) a TERRIFIC finisher at the rim, one of the best in the L.

3) terrific at playing passing lanes. has always been either the league leader in steals, or top 5 (iirc).

4) very good on the ball defender. he is quick and can keep up with any PG in the league, and can guard most SG's as well, if need be.

5) one of, if not the fastest player with the ball in the league. tied with jason kidd in this category, i'd say. iverson just may be the fastest player in the league, period.

6) durability. the kid would play with a missing limb if he had to.

7) heart. you can count on iverson to bring his all EVERY SINGLE GAME, no matter how meaningful or meaningless that game might be.

8) leadership. ok, this part is debatable. iverson has definitely not shown great leadership in the past couple years off the court with his tirades against the coach and management. but on the court, iverson is still one of the best leaders in terms of getting teammates involved (call him selfish all you want, iverson DOES dish it off a good deal) and being vocal and very into the game. you can't tell me watching iverson constantly hustling on the court, grabbing loose balls and playing with his heart doesn't affect his teammates.


iverson weaknesses:

1) above-average shooter, but not great. i know he's had to take most of the shots for his team every year he's been in the league, but even taking that into account, iverson is not a great shooter by any stretch. he's a great penetrator and finisher, but shooting is not one of his strengths. he tends to get on hot streaks in games where starts sinking jumpers, but he is far too inconsistent in that area to be considered nearly as great a shooter as kobe or t-mac. or even vince carter, for that matter.

2) ego. normally, i'd never bring this up. i'm a huge kobe fan, and it always annoys me when someone brings up his "ego". every superstar has an ego, that's a fact. whether they choose to exhibit it or not, and how, is the difference. but when iverson famously listed off all his career accomplishments after he refused to come off the bench, i couldn't help but think: "damn, that was pretty cocky." i mean it doesn't really bother me all that much personally, i thought his tirade was great. i just thought i'd bring it up because i know a lot of people now consider iverson an egomaniac.

3) off-the-court issues. iverson simply does not get along with authority. he drove larry brown out of philly, and now he and chris ford are at each other's throats. iverson may never play another game for philly again. iverson's also managed to lose some of his fanbase, too.


as you can see, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. at least for me. iverson's issues with his coach and management is a big deal, but the fact of the matter is, iverson isn't the only one in the wrong here. chris ford is, for lack of a better word, an idiot. philly management also doesn't seem to appreciate what iverson's meant to their organization over the years.

sportsfan

Um, you do realize that Philly plays 28 games every year against the West?

"Matt!"

No, Kobe and T-Mac don't make All-NBA Teams because they're conventional, they're better players.

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