The hits just keep on comin' for Allen Iverson.
Sure, when you are a generous 6-foot, 165 pounds playing against 6-foot-5, 220-pound guards and 7-foot, 300 plus pound big men, you are bound for some bumps and bruises. That's just to be expected.
Those aren't the hits that hurt, however. What does hurt is how Iverson has been arguably the best guard in the game over the last decade, and yet continues to find himself on the short end of the team success stick.
After looking like a flawed, but playoff-bound team for most of the season, the Philadelphia 76ers took a late season nosedive, at one point losing 10 of 12 games, and now find themselves out of postseason contention for the second time in three years. Iverson will have to wait yet another year for a shot at NBA gold, and it's just the most recent in a series of seemingly endless body blows and pot shots taken at "The Answer."
I'm not an avid NBA fan; in fact, I despise much of what the league stands for, as style, flash and individuals too often overshadow the beautiful game that basketball truly is. Needless to say, I believe that the college game is superior.
However, within the NBA, I cannot help but be hopelessly addicted to the one player that seems to epitomize everything that I love about basketball: Allen Iverson.
You want to talk about leaving it all on the court? Iverson plays an NBA-high 43 minutes a night (career average: 41 minutes a game), tirelessly streaking for loose balls, fast-break opportunities and taking the ball to the rim. At times on offense, he can resemble an electron, as he circles around the perimeter to under the basket, back out to the top of the key running through two or three screens just trying to get open.
The only time you might be lucky enough to catch Iverson at rest is at the free throw line, a place where he spends so much time that he should probably pay rent, as he could very well be the best drawer of fouls the sport has ever known.
Iverson's size makes it impossible for him to ever be an all-world defender, as he is commonly matched up against 6-foot-5 guards who can shoot over A.I. any time they choose. However, that hasn't made Iverson relax on defense. Instead, he has become a certified thief, leading the NBA in steals three times, snatching a career average of almost two and a half per contest.
Simply put, Iverson plays with a passion and intensity that is, from my perspective, too often lacking in the NBA.
Mystifying to me is how Iverson's style of play that commonly comes under fire.
Iverson is most often discredited as being a "ball hog". Yes, it's true that Iverson has taken his fair share of shots, as only the Lakers' Kobe Bryant takes more a game. Truth is that Iverson has to shoot as much as he does, to keep his team in the game and open up the floor for his teammates, just like Bryant does. Therein lies the problem.
Iverson has never been given an adequate supporting cast. The one time he carried the Sixers to the NBA Finals, the team was a rag-tag group of role players who didn't have an ego about passing the ball off to Iverson.
Otherwise, the Sixers' have surrounded A.I. with high-priced players who weren't interested in team play (Glenn Robinson, Jerry Stackhouse), former stars who were past their prime (Chris Webber, Dikembe Mutombo) or simply just nothing at all (Keith Van Horn).
It is sad to watch greatness wasted. I had to watch my hero, Dan Marino, miss out on a Super Bowl ring simply because the Dolphins never managed to build either an adequate defense or running game around him.
Brewers fans can think of Robin Yount, who got to one Fall Classic, but otherwise spent his career on mediocre teams, while those few true Yankees fans will always remember Don Mattingly as the best pinstriper never to win it all.
To add insult to injury is how Iverson was not even on the list of 23 players asked to try out for the USA National Team, which will compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Officials claimed the team was going for a youth movement and Iverson was too old, however Iverson (who would be 33 for the '08 games) would only be months older than Chauncey Billups and Antawn Jamison, both predicted to make the cut. Hell, he's still in diapers when compared to defensive-whiz Bruce Bowen (whom, by the way had 42 points dropped on him by Iverson in the last meeting between the Spurs and Sixers).
No, Iverson was most likely left off the list because of his image of being "what's wrong" with the game today. According to USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski, however, the team will be built around Bryant, who is just as much a "ball hog" as Iverson, if you want to call them that.
Iverson also suffers because he was the most notable player on the 2004 bronze medal-winning Olympic team that was considered a major disappointment. Never mind that Iverson and a very moody LeBron James were the only top-tier players to participate in those games.
Yet again, Iverson is victimized by his supporting cast.
Among the NBA's top ten all-time leaders in minutes played, only Wilt Chamberlain (45 minutes a game) averaged more minutes a game than Iverson. This is nothing short of amazing considering Iverson is legitimately about half Wilt's size and plays like a battering ram with a killer crossover. That move has contributed to over 30 injuries that have forced him to miss games over his ten-year career, though he's only had three seasons has he played under 70 games.
That's why Iverson was named the No. 2 Toughest Athlete in all of sports by the USA Today in 2003. If they had factored in the notion that Iverson has twice had opportunities to leave Philly and both times not even tested the free agent market — despite never being surrounded with enough talent to perennially challenge for an NBA title — then he would have won in a landslide.
Chamberlain was like Iverson once, the best player in the league playing for Philadelphia, but no title to show for it. That was until the team finally made some moves in 1967 and picked up a title.
Let's hope history repeats itself for Iverson.
