Loading ...Oh how the mighty have fallen…
I can remember it like it was yesterday: me and my friends arguing over who was going to order/pick up wings and try and locate alcohol as we wrapped up a 2-on-2 basketball tournament…our usual Sixers playoff pregame. Each of us emulating Dikembe Mutombo, Aaron Mckie, Eric Snow, George Lynch, and of course, Allen Iverson as we played. Iverson was the backbone of that team, carrying them all season long to the NBA Finals – a series that would eventually feature the Sixers falling short to the L.A. Lakers (Shaq, Kobe and the officials were just too much for our boys, even though Iverson did give it to Tyronn Lue and stare down the Lakers bench as he stepped over Lue’s “corpse”).
A.I. stepping over Tyronn Lue after he buries a jumper - might be the greatest jumper ever.
Fast forward eight years and all of those players have fallen off the map. Eric Snow’s career died in Cleveland, Georgey Lynch was never the same after that season (probably because of that massive ankle injury he played through), and Aaron, the Sixth Man of the Year that season, tried to keep going, but came up short. Matt Geiger never did anything productive after that season (not that he did too much during that season) and Tyrone Hill is probably in a museum, or on a farm scaring animals and children away (he might be the ugliest man ever).
Mutombo and Iverson were different. Mutombo bounced around for a while until his career was rejuvenated in Houston – backing up the injury-prone Yao Ming. But Allen, he was a different story altogether. Iverson never played in an atmosphere like he had in Philly (shoot the ball constantly and have everyone else play D and rebound for him) and he suffered because of it. The day that my favorite Sixer left was the beginning of the end for A.I. He went to Denver in a trade that brought us Andre Miller (great point guard) and immediately showed signs of hitting the wall. He ended the year with 24.8 points per game – his lowest since his ’97-’98 season when he was still “The Question” – and he just couldn’t handle sharing the spotlight with Carmelo Anthony.
After two years, Denver had enough and traded Iverson to Detroit where he would struggle accepting his new role as a bench player. The ten-time NBA All-star ended the year averaging just 17.4 points a game and having the proverbial finger pointed at him as the reason the Pistons didn’t make the playoffs. Now, for the first time in his career, Iverson is a free agent and it seems nobody wants him. There have been rumors of Iverson playing with Dwayne Wade in Miami, taking his show to Memphis, or to the New York Knicks, or – the most realistic rumor – playing for the L.A. Clippers.
Things have gotten so bad for Iverson (and I use bad loosely because he still is a pro athlete playing a sport that guarantees money regardless of performance) that he may be taking his act overseas. The Greek basketball team, the Olympiakos, have offered A.I. a two-year, $10 million contract.
"Please don't make me play in Greece! I'll be a team player! Please NO!"
“The Answer” has yet to comment on if he will sign, but many think it’s the best deal he is going to get. I never thought I’d see the day where ole #3’s best offer was going to be from a team in the Balkan Peninsula.
The same reasons Philly fans fell in love with him – his heart, his grit, his toughness and his talent – is now being overshadowed by his selfishness, his inability to be a team player and his desire to have the ball in any situation (which I still admire). I just pray that a team makes an offer to him and he cleans up his act for just one more season, just to save his career. It pains me to imagine some kid in Greece gathering all of his friends at his house to eat hummus and baklava during an Olympiakos championship game.
i remember those days sir, i remember them well. brings a tear to think how long ago it was, feels like only yesterday we caught morgan trying to swallow the the last stromboli without chewing only to start choking with nothing to help but an outburst of laughter and finger pointing.
I like hummus and i still practice my dikembe voice while i shave waving my pointer finger
iverson will never be more then a bench player at this point in his career. he is a one trick pony and everyone in the NBA has caught on to his act. like you i was a big fan, but as i got older i realized he was the T.O. of basketball and will never win a championship. if only the sixers had realized this earlier, we might not still be in the rebuilding process of the post A.I. era.