Has Allen Iverson's career been underrated?

stupid question.

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

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.

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

And watch out, because this man knows winners!

LOL

People go out of there way to condemn him. Iverson was everything White America feared, the tattoos, the braids, the swagger, everything. Having there little white children idolize someone who they saw embodying the "thug image," was his greatest downfall. He was the sign of culture changing in a different 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 a good 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 midget in a game of monster's but routinely made dudes look foolish.

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

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 ballot HOF'er though.

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 ever play 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...not just the past 2-3 years that have crippled his legacy in many folks' eyes...

hes missing that ring

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.

*DEAD*


yall be going hard at mamba the last few weeks

airmaxpenny1 wrote:

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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.

More like overrated.

^

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

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...

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 iverson was 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

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....you generally 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 all over their hands.

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 stupid comments 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.

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

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 starting on. 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'm not 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 the league that can do that.

76ers, Charlotte, Knicks, Nets, Cleveland Heat, Rockets, Pacers...there is no reason AI couldn't be putting work in on one of those squads.


See this is a common misconception.

Is AI a better player than Lou Williams, Raymond Felton, Chris Duhon, Mo Williams, Mario Chalmers, Aaron Brooks, and TJ Ford? Is he better than Mike Conley? He sure is....even at 34. hell...honestly if you tell Iverson and OJ Mayo they both can have 25+ shots per game...their #s probably would look very identical. Again...that never was the issue. The problem is...why feature him in your starting lineup? He's not going to put ANY of those teams over the hump...so why hinder those young guys development and mess with chemistry? If I'm the GM of the Sixers...I know AI might give me more than Lou Williams...but why am I going to *+%@ up a 20 something year olds development when the 34 year old isn't going to give me anything substantially better in the win/loss column?

The only team that had absolutely nothing to lose in acquiring Allen Iverson was the Knicks...to everyone else he was a huge risk.

I agree once again, but in a league where teams are almost half of the teams are losing money, including many that I just listed, why not bring in AI, someone who is going to undeniably put people in the stands. Maybe I'm the only one, but I believe AI could help someone like Lou Williams develop in the long run. If Lou Williams is AI lite, why not have him learn from the guy who did it best. You aren't contending for anything this year anyway.

And I know people say look at Denver without AI but JR Smith was a guy who was traded twice until he got to Denver. While he definitly picked up a couple of AI's bad habits as well, he picked up a few good one too.

I think he's greatly overrated.

Edit: Actually, now that I think about it he's the most overrated player of this era.

Iverson did not teach JR how to pull up from 5 feet behind the 3 point line, how to jump extremely high, or be athletic. If I saw JR constantly doing Iverson like crossovers I'd be able to see where ur coming from.

And CP said everything that I came in here to say about the current situtation with AI. I think at the moment his career is being underrated because of all of the recent problems he's had, but once its all said and done and he officially retires we'll remember his greatness more than we remember the detroit/memphis situation and rate him right where he belongs as a hall of famer, one of the greatest scorers, and a player who was unlike any we had seen before he came into the league and might never see again in our lifetime.

who yall comparing his career to?

Less than Isiah Thomas more than Gary Payton...fair enough to me...and both of them got rings