The Allen Iverson Saga

[candiasis]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

A.I. is overrated. There I said it.

Kobe wasn't doign much team wise before he had two 7 footers drop in his lap, a multitude of shooters and long and strong defenders who also picked up their games (ariza, odom etc), ie untill he had a frigging stacked team. Granted he played well last season, the best he's ever played imo, but took him long enough to figure out he needs to STAY in the low to mid post in that triangle offense, and not settle for long contested 3 pointers all the time.

Also ai has smoked kobe a lot in head to head matchups. Also iverson has a higher post season scoring average to kobe, who before the last 2 seasons (in which he has had awesomely stacked teams to play with, veven moreso now with artest coming), had performed pretty terribly in the post season statistically.

[TMagic]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Kobe wasn't doign much team wise before he had two 7 footers drop in his lap, a multitude of shooters and long and strong defenders who also picked up their games (ariza, odom etc), ie untill he had a frigging stacked team. Granted he played well last season, the best he's ever played imo, but took him long enough to figure out he needs to STAY in the low to mid post in that triangle offense, and not settle for long contested 3 pointers all the time.

Also ai has smoked kobe a lot in head to head matchups. Also iverson has a higher post season scoring average to kobe, who before the last 2 seasons, had performed pretty terribly in the post season statistically.

So what are you getting at here?

A.I. > Kobe?

[candiasis]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Hey look im a kobe fan, i love wathcing the guy perform, but people need to realise he needed an awesome team to do well, ai has never had an awesome team, so kobe might also be overrated.

[TMagic]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Hey look im a kobe fan, i love wathcing the guy perform, but people need to realise he needed an awesome team to do well, ai has never had an awesome team, so kobe might also be overrated.

Ok.

Gotcha.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Hey look im a kobe fan, i love wathcing the guy perform, but people need to realise he needed an awesome team to do well, ai has never had an awesome team, so kobe might also be overrated.

What? So, because AI never had an awesome team, Kobe is overrated?

[candiasis]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Let's not forget kobe has had the privilige of playing under the greatest coach of all time for almost his entire career, yet it took him untill last season (imo) to really know how to dominate a game as a leader the way a guard with his athleticism and coordination should. I think he looped old mj tapes after theat boston finals loss to remind himself what he needed to do lol.

Edit- to the above i was directing that to the kobe fan who said ai was overrated, turning the tables if you will.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Edit- to the above i was directing that to the kobe fan who said ai was overrated, turning the tables if you will.

Still doesn't make sense. Kobe led those awful Lakers teams to the playoffs, and AI was a second banana on a talented team that barely made the playoffs. If Kobe is overrated, then AI is really overrated.

[candiasis]

Re: Iverson to Bobcats in 2009-2010?

Yeh man stuckey really ruined that rotation, the guy dropped forty in one meaningless game early into the season and (now fired) rookie idiot coach curry champions him as the new point guard to lead the team, problem was the guy jsut wasn't all that good, period. He played starting pg for a good 35mins a game, and almost average more turnovers than assists in some long stretches it was unbelievalbe. Yet joe dumars and curry still wanted to develop him yet he wasn't simply good enough or anywhere near ready, in the mean time the team was killed with rotation problems all season. And it sucked cuz they played well in some early games, i remeber they beat a full strength lakers team not long after the trade before all this stuckey nonsense, hell will bynum turned out the better player than stuckey.

[candiasis]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Kobe lead awful teams to the playoffs, but so did ai for more seasons than kobe since he had god dam shaq in his prime. Kobe did his best to stfile the lakers in those three title years (he shot what in the 30's% wise in those 3 finals series?) Shaq was just that good to take up the slack (hell he made the slack dissapear). Those are some dismal shooting %'s considering he played with the most dominate big man in the history of the game at the top of his game. Nor can you forget the awesome 2004 finals where he shot them out of a championsip. So i have my reasons for thinking kobe has been overrated over the years, last few seasons though i can't really fault him, especially last season, but took him long enough man.

[tehova]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Petition again to turn this into the Official A.I. Career Discussion Thread


Because now everytime I see this thread has new posts, i get prematurely excited (ll) thinking he accepted the Grizzlies offer.

[TMagic]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

LOL @ bringing up Fg% in trying to make a case for Allen Iverson over another player.

Don't bother with it OSU.

Walk away....Walk...away...

[Cebby]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

Anyways ai gets an unfair rap far too often, tell me which mvp caliber player he's played with in his career? What dominating big man (man if he had one awesome center would have been mayhem)?

I don't think great teammates would have helped AI.

AI reminds me of Vick in the sense that both are "bad team" players (not bad "team players"). To get the best out of either, they have to be the undisputed man and essentially be able to do whatever they want. I don't think either would have been all that great in a highly structured team, especially AI.

I don't even know why there are even comparisons between AI and Kobe, but Kobe's game is much more suited to playing with a great big man than AI's.

And relative to their competition, I'm not so sure the 2008 and 2009 Lakers were quite as stacked as you make them out to be in relation to the 2001 Sixers. They were certainly better, but they were also playing far, far better teams. I'd go as far to say that all 8 of the Lakers' opponents the last two years have been significantly better than any of the Sixers' Eastern Conference opponents.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Iverson to Bobcats in 2009-2010?

Stuckey wouldn't have been as much of a problem if Ivey wasn't too nutty to play PG. Iverson needs to smarten up his game, or his legacy will be that of a nut. He still has loads of talent, and Iverson is physically gifted enough to play until he's forty. He just has to smarten up his game and rededicate himself to defense. That's the bottom line. All of these excuses and looking at his teammates is besides the point. It's not like AI was "almost there". Except for one fluke year, he's been a non-factor in the playoffs all his life, and with that squad in Denver there is no excuse for that.

He has his mind made up that he's a scorer, but until he turns his attention to making his teammates better at all costs, he won't win.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

These AI/Kobe comparisons need to stop. Classic case of people letting terms go too far. If you took the 2008 Denver and Laker teams and traded Kobe for Iverson straight up, does anyone think the results would have been the same? Kobe, Kenyon, Camby, Melo? Really?

Damn nonsense.

Iverson was a point guard all his life before Larry Brown got to him. The fact that he can't go back to playing the 1 and help a team is absurd. If he could play any PG at all, he could be so dangerous right now, but instead he's still a card carrying nut.

[zfinley]

Re: Iverson wants to go to Memphis?

I don't know we all really just have to wait and see what happens. There's something weird going on with the whole memphis/AI thing though i know if i was them i'd take him in a heartbeat... So i have no idea whats going on.