Iverson dealing with alcohol and gambling issues (Merged)

[KungPoweChicken]

It looks like Iverson may be dealing with some tough problems.

Here is a clip from the article from ESPN, "According to multiple NBA sources, there is widespread concern that the four-time NBA scoring champion, who left the Philadelphia 76ers in February to deal with his daughter's illness and will not return this season, "will either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away," Smith reported."




Here is the full article http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4975922

[Cman]

Sad story.
Let's hope it doesn't have a sad ending.

[Brickowski]

His wife has also filed for divorce.  They have 5 children, I believe, so she's going to get a big chunk of what's left and will probably try to freeze his assets so he can't gamble them away.

[moiso]

Too bad.  But the guy is still a jerk.

[Finkelskyhook]

A lifetime of me-itis.

Should have caught up to this jerk a long time ago.

[PLamb]

I am more saddened by the story of good guy Joel Przybilla slipping in the shower and blowing out the patella tendon he ruptured in December and had surgery on before Christmas than that of Iverson

Przybilla now needs to have surgery all over again and start from scratch

If he never plays again it's not like Przybilla has a huge name or endorsements and years of wealth making the max to fall back on, though clearly he has done alright for himself

Stephen A Smith has always been personally invested in the Allen Iverson "story" and this looks clearly like a friend trying to put out word that his friend needs help

Sorry Steven, because of the way Iverson has been over the years both in his personal and professional life, most people aren't going to give a hoot

[Andy Jick]

"Practice?!?!"

[ToppersBsktball10]

Poor AI 

[Thruthelookingglass]

Sad story.
Let's hope it doesn't have a sad ending.

That's it in a nutshell.  I thought a lot of his behavior over the years was counterproductive, but I also admired his sheer will to win when the time came. 

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

A lifetime of me-itis.

Should have caught up to this jerk a long time ago.

can't disagree more. i think the rap iverson gets a lot of the time is absurd. he is one of the last players, and people, i would ever claim to be suffering from a case of me-itis. oh well, this has been debated ad nauseum before and one side never seems to sway the other so let me simply say i'm look forward to the forthcoming 30 for 30 on the iverson fight/trial by steve james, director of hoop dreams:

http://30for30.espn.com/film/no-crossover-the-trial-of-allen-iverson.html

the next run of 30 for 30's are looking excellent. a bunch of films i am psyched to see. winning time, which i have heard is excellent, the iverson above, westhead/gathers/loyola, the founding of fantasy (or rotissere) baseball, ice cube on the raiders in l.a. looking forward to a bunch of these.

[cons]

Shocking!!

[celticsclay]

First off let me preface this by saying I hope we can avoid having this turn into a thread bashing Iverson as a player or person. I realize some people have strong negative feelings about him for various reasons, but this is a thread I was hoping to just offer some support to him. It seems like things are going downhill for him pretty quickly. In addition to the well reported serious problems with his daughters health he now has his wife filing for divorce and custody for all of his kids. On top of that there are now all these reports of him having gambling and drinking issues.

Today on sportscenter Steven A Smith kind of backed off his comments saying that he never said Allen Iverson was an alcoholic and that he has heard Iverson has not been to casinos in months. If this is the fact, it seems like Steven Smith chose a really poor time to float out his rating and people are trying to sensationalize a guy having trouble in his life.

I always enjoyed watching Iverson play and thought he was a really tough guy that inspired a lot of people. Regardless of whether he plays basketball again or not, which sadly is probably a no, I wish him the best and hope things work out for him.

[Fafnir]

Stephen A Smith's article seemed sketchy to me. I wouldn't be surprised if the allegations are true but it appears to be just rumor and other chatter.

Not the sort of thing you want to just "float" about a person, Stephen A wanted the attention and got it....

[wdleehi]

I can't feel bad for a rich guy that spent his nights clubing and partying having a drinking and gambling problem. 


He made the choices. 

[celticsclay]

Stephen A Smith's article seemed sketchy to me. I wouldn't be surprised if the allegations are true but it appears to be just rumor and other chatter.

Not the sort of thing you want to just "float" about a person, Stephen A wanted the attention and got it....

Yea while i realize this is not some uncommon thing to happen. It seems a little heartless with some of the other stuff that is going on in his life right now. Further ridiculous is the fact that he claimed he wrote the story so people would reach out to Iverson. If there are rumors one of my friends is having serious problems with their life, should I hop on celtics blog or facebook and throw them out there? Then they could get the help they need!