Saying Allen Iverson’s 2008-09 season was a bad one falls short of explaining how many things went wrong for A.I. He got traded, hurt, and exiled. He had to watch his former team make it to the Western Conference finals while taking the blame for his new squad’s failures.
Iverson signed with the Memphis Grizzlies last month in a move that signals to many the end is near for one of the league’s greatest little men. He might have some game left but NBA GMs obviously feel the entire A.I. package is too much for their team to take on.
Scoop Jackson sat down with Allen Iverson for a two-part conversation and gave Allen the chance to talk about last season. Of course he goes in:
And they told me, straight up, “Allen, we would never disrespect you or your career like that,” by making me come off the bench. That’s what they told me to my face. And after that, I never thought about it again. I just went back to playing. Then [not long after that] they came to me saying that they felt it would be in the best interest of the team if I came off of the bench behind Rip.
if you are a head coach and you feel strongly about this, what would make you think that I want to be around these guys — especially if you are telling me that they don’t want to be around me like that? (Pauses.) Like when I got hurt, I was like, I’ll come in and get my treatment every day when they are not around and I’ll get outta there. I’d never been on a team where a coach told me the guys gave up on me. You know what I mean? And I kept this under wraps the whole time. I never said anything. Because I didn’t want to bad-mouth any of those guys.
Man, people have been waiting for me to fall off my whole career. From the first time I stepped on the court. It probably made people sick to their stomachs watching my whole career, watching the things that I’ve done in my career. “And the first time that he goes backwards, that’s the time we attack his a–.” That’s the way it is, and I understand fully what it is and how it is being Allen Iverson. I know when people get their chances to take their shots at me they’re going to do it. And I don’t expect them not to. I’ve accomplished too many things in the league that the people that criticize me in the league didn’t think I could do. Especially at my size. Everybody thought that eventually I would break down. Well, I haven’t broken down.
Now, when I was there, we won 50 games and got beat by San Antonio [in the playoffs] the first year. The next year we win 50 games, and start off in the playoffs against the Lakers. Kobe has a monster series, and we get beat by them. Now last year, when I’m not there, they win, what, 54 games? — four more games during the regular season — and who did they face in the first round? Dallas. With a healthy Nene. Now, I’m not taking away anything from what they did, because they did a great job and they had a great playoff run. I mean, they were excellent. But the situation was different, totally different. It was more than just a difference in one player. But no one is going to look at it that way. No one is going to look at it that way when it comes to me. Because it’s easy to point the finger at this dude right here.
You really need to read the entire interview to see where Allen’s coming from. He makes some good points, but there are others that I can’t walk with him on.. Like the “Coming off the bench” situation in Detroit. Whether the Pistons did or didn’t tell him he was gonna come off the bench, they’re allowed to do whatever they want. Phil Jackson could bring Kobe Bryant off the bench, (If he wanted to risk being strangled to death.) and everyone in the world would say it’s a dumb idea, but he’s the head coach. The Pistons were trying to do what was best for their franchise, not Allen Iverson.
The part Iverson nailed is when he talks about the media looking to play up the negative in any situation Allen’s involved. The “Practice” soundbite has been turned into Allen hating practice instead of what he was actually saying “A press conference about practice is stupid.” The idea that Allen’s departure from Denver is the reason the Nuggets got better was lazy reasoning. As he said there were other circumstances that led to the Nuggets’ success and in the end, they lost to the Lakers again.
Overall A.I. reads like a guy that is hurt by the way he was portrayed in the media last year. Whether the coverage was fair or not, Allen believes it was wrong all together and he’s out to prove something this season.
Allen Iverson speaks out about Pistons [ESPN]
Allen Iverson on his basketball future [ESPN]
