Detroit was garbage with Chauncey on the team before the trade, had nothing to do with Iverson! When you are starting Kwame Brown at center, you have BIG problems. Chauncey was more motivated to play in front of his hometown fans than he was in Detroit at the end. He had gotten stale as did the whole team in Detroit. And that is why Dumars blew up the team.
Kind of an aside, but how far has AI's legacy fallen in the last few years? This guy was one of the biggest stars in the league for a long time, and still is to some degree (popularity-wise). Now, he's a free agent, surefire HOFer who's still relatively healthy, but is a free agent afterthought for most teams and it looks like only the Clippers will even give him the MLE. He's gonna be maybe the most forgotten great player of his generation, and the sad thing is, the personality that drove him to play so hard is exactly what's hurting him now.
Iverson would be stockless with any team that cared about winning.
However, if a team is disinterested in winning but still hopeful of putting people who know nothing about basketball beyond the name on the back of the jersey, Iverson will inexplicably put people in arenas.
Hey, A.I. won for quite awhile, including a conference championship as the only superstar on his team - more than guys like T-Mac, Steve Nash, or any of the Big 3 individually can say. As others have said, he was a great player who was capable of carrying a team built around him.
But he was never quite good enough to carry such a team to a title, or to adapt his game once his skills started to decline. I'm as down on A.I. being able to contribute to a good team these days as anyone, but that's personality and pride, not talent. What I was saying was his prior accomplishments are being forgotten quickly now that the holes in his game have become enormous and he refuses to change his mindset to adjust.
There was one great year, with arguably the best defensive center of this era, arguably the best coach of this era, and a team specifically built to cover for his (
) defense while allowing him a zillion shots a game. Obviously, to some, that makes up for alienating every coach and organization he's ever played for and for a career of hard, but selfish play?
It's sad a that stat hound and career malcontent on and off the court will probably be a hall of famer while a career winner and champion like Dennis Johnson never lived to see induction.
What kind of rational GM gets rid of a malcontent and considers bringing on a bigger one?
Topic: Iverson - Best Thing that Didn't Happen to the Celts? (Read 7065 times)