Moments to Iverson's return: wish we'd have taken a chance

[Mencius]

Now that the Sixers have Iverson, they will continue to lose... and lose... and lose.  The only difference is, more deluded Philadelphians will buy tickets to watch them lose.

Iverson is not what the Celtics need.  A player like Steve Blake or JJ Barea is what the Celtics need.  I'd even take the crazy, bipolar, gun totin' Delonte West long before I'd take Iverson.

I like all three of those guys too.  Iverson was just a dirt cheap option and better than anything we're presently using as backup PGs.

Anyhow, fun tossing it back and forth with you guys.  He ain't an option now, so on to speculating on who we might actually get.

[Roy Hobbs]

I don't understand the Iverson fascination.  He literally quit on two teams in a row, and even before that, he's never been seen as a guy to put his team first.  Why do people think he'd suddenly act contrarily to how he has his entire career?

Obviously, Danny didn't think he was worth the gamble, since a contract was never offered.  I'm completely fine with that choice.

[Bahku]

Maybe you like the guy, maybe you don't ... there is no shortage here of either, but I see a lot of people ready to judge the rest of the guy's career by his return game. Keep in mind: AI has not played for a long time, he's in his old town but with a completely new team, he's under an amazing amount of pressure and scrutiny, both internally and out, (and that comes with the territory, understandably), along with the other pressures that all NBA players have to deal with.

Is this going to work? Is he going to be the player he once was and turn this team into a winner again? A lot of questions being asked, and many people already answering them ... all I can say is, whether you're a supporter/fan or not, (and I'm mixed, at this point), give the guy a break ... none of those questions can be answered now. Let him get acclimated to this team, let some time pass before you're ready to put a laurel around his head or throw him under the bus ... it's going to be a while before we really know how this experiment turns out.

(From previous thread)

[Brickowski]

Why should I give Iverson a break?  He's a career "me first" player and epitomizes most of what I dislike about the NBA.

[Bahku]

Why should I give Iverson a break?  He's a career "me first" player and epitomizes most of what I dislike about the NBA.

Ah, number one, because people change ... the guy loves to play basketball more than anything else, and the risk of being separated from it again may be enough to bring him back down to reality ... number two, despite your obviouss loathing of him, he's an amazing basketball player, without a doubt HOF-bound, and he was solely responsible for keeping the excitement of the NBA in Philly and bringing a great deal of money to that city, (and the NBA in general), for many years. If we cut loose every career "me-first" player in the NBA and assessed everyone with the same criteria you're using with AI, we'd have no NBA left.

[CelticG1]

Yeah I said I wouldn't want them on my team if they were like that. I love my players to have ego's but if management has to worry about a small signing like this would have been than I don't want those players on my team.

I think signing Allen Iverson would be a big deal. It certainly would be to the media and Celtics fans!

By small signing I meant money and year wise. It's not like Rondo would have to deal with him for 5 more years. In any major signing (money and year wise) I can see management being very cautious with how other players would perceive and react to the signing where I just don't see that being the case with AI. He would have been a 1 year non-guaranteed contract to come off the bench.

We're in win now mode, if AI's signing in any way hurt our chances of putting up Banner 18 that'd be a very big deal. Rondo may have a 5 year deal but KG/Pierce/Allen aren't going to be a high level trio for much longer.

Yeah if we signed AI and it hurt our chances of putting up banner 18, yes it would be a big deal. It would also be a big deal if we didn't win banner 18 and we could have maybe improved ourselves by picking him up along the way. I'm just saying that I don't think there was any way that he would actually "hurt" our chances for a banner. Maybe he wouldn't help a ton but I think that the risk was so minimal that it could possibly have been worth it. The only reason I don't want AI is because I don't think he address's a huge need (such as a back up pg, or sf). It's not because I think he is a bad player and couldn't help out our team though which seems to be what most people here think.

[dlpin]

However good or bad AI is right now, the fact is that he wouldn't fit in this celtics team. And that is what some here are ignoring: fit is at least as important as skill.

We don't need a short 2/ shoot first 1 who plays little defense.