Iverson NOT retiring??

[Pistons < Spurs]

However, ESPN 980 in Washington D.C. reports Iverson's college coach at Georgetown, John Thompson, says Iverson is not retiring.

Iverson has agreed to meet with Thompson, after speaking with him on Wednesday night, according to the report. Thompson, who hosts a talk show on ESPN 980, is opposed to Iverson ending his 14-year career. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4690266

[Kobe Molested Me]

:bang:bang:bang

[duncan228]

Is Iverson Having a Change of Heart? (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-isiversonhavingachan&prov=tsn&type=lgns)
SportingNews

Allen Iverson announced that he’s retiring from the NBA. But is that really the last we’ve seen from him?

Iverson sent a statement to Stephen A. Smith of FOX Sports Radio on Wednesday about his retirement. But, according to Smith, sources close to Iverson are saying he’s already having a change of heart after seeing some of the reaction around the league.

"I think he just wants to feel wanted again," one of the sources said.

A couple of the notable reactions from around the league included the Heat’s Dwyane Wade and the Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony.

"I’m No. 3. He made No. 3 cool,” Wade told NBA.com “He made crossovers cool. He did so much for the game as a pioneer. It’s sad to see him think about retirement."

"It’s tough — just a messed-up way to go out like that,” Anthony told The Denver Post. “Especially knowing you can still play, knowing you still got it.”

Iverson played just three games in Memphis this season, leaving the team after complaining about his lack of playing time. In his retirement announcement, he said, “I still have tremendous love for the game, the desire to play, and a whole lot left in my tank. I feel strongly that I can still compete at the highest level.”

[Culburn369]

Thank Christ this motherf'er never rang.

[iggypop123]

here comes the tnt interview from thompson.

[lefty]

I told you he woud pull a Brett Favre

[duncan228]

http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/2009/news/11/25/iverson.retirement/iverson608.jpg

'Little' Iverson earns praise from NBA peers for influence (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/11/25/iverson.retirement/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1)
By Art Garcia, NBA.com

Allen Iverson announced his intention to retire Wednesday, closing the door, for now, on a career marked by incredible personal highs and headline-grabbing controversies.

Iverson clearly believes he can still compete at a high level and contribute in a league where he spent 13 full seasons. The former MVP and 10-time All-Star played three games for Memphis this season, his first with the Grizzlies, before leaving the team amid questions of playing time and eventually being released.

Iverson fell into career limbo as several teams debated whether to sign perhaps the most talented "little" man in league history. Rumors in New York and Boston and elsewhere never materialized into substance, and A.I. delivered his goodbye via an open letter on Stephen A. Smith's Web site.

Iverson thanked his many fans, players that inspired him, former coaches and teammates, and the Grizzlies and Sixers, his first NBA team. But there was also a sense of remorse right off the top of the statement:

"I always thought that when I left the game, it would be because I couldn't help my team the way that I was accustomed to. However, that is not the case."

Iverson isn't required to file retirement paperwork with the league office as a free agent. Since he's not under contract, Iverson isn't forfeiting any money by retiring. He remains free to sign with any team this season or in the future.

News of Iverson's retirement sent shock waves across the league. Players were quick to praise the contributions of the four-time scoring champ, who many credit for helping introduce a hip-hop element to the NBA.

"His legacy would be huge," said Cavaliers star LeBron James, a teammate of Iverson on the 2004 USA Olympic team. "He's one of the best guys, when you're talking guys 6-foot and under, to play the game of basketball. What he's done individually -- he played injured, he played hard every single night -- I don't think it should end this way if he's done.

"But at the same time if he does, he's left some great games behind. His name will live forever in the game of basketball."

Even without a title.

"It's not even the ring situation because lots of greats -- Charles Barkley doesn't have a ring, Patrick Ewing -- there's a lot of great NBA players who never got a ring," James continued. "But the way he's going out, I don't think it should be like that for him."

There's a strong belief Iverson can still play. Teams wanting him became the roadblock.

"It's sad, man, especially coming from a guy that's close to me, a friend," Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. "To see him go out the way he's going out right now is not how he'd want to go out. It's almost like he's being forced to retire. It's a bad situation right now for him."

Heat guard and former Olympic teammate Dwyane Wade: "I'm No. 3. He made No. 3 cool. He made crossovers cool. He did so much for the game as a pioneer. It's sad to see him think about retirement."

Mavericks guard Jason Kidd was glad Iverson made the decision on his terms.

"He has the right to do what he wants and if it's time for him to step aside, then that's his choice," Kidd said. "Everybody's gonna have their opinion these days and as long as he's happy, that's the most important thing."

Nuggets coach George Karl was shocked by the retirement announcement. Iverson was traded to Denver in 2006 and moved to Detroit last year.

"Yeah, I am surprised," Karl said. "I think he has something left to give some team out there, but if that's his decision he'll go down in history as the best little guard ever to play the game of basketball. I was happy to have him for a couple of years. Hopefully, our paths will cross."

Anthony said, "He got dealt a bad hand from when he went to Detroit up until right now. Everything's just been kind of spiraling downhill. I don't ever want to see anybody go through something like that, especially a guy with his talent. And somebody who can still go out there and be productive."

Spurs backup center Theo Ratliff played with Iverson in Philadelphia from 1997-01.

"While we were all there we basically grew up together with that team," Ratliff said. "We were at the bottom of the league, but by that third or fourth year we were at the top. It was just a growing up process. He was a young guy who had his issues, but he was a very giving and very understanding guy of his family, which was his teammates and his immediate family.

"It was no secret that he was a guy who had his entourage, his people that he grew up with and he felt that he needed to take care of them. He was at the top of the league at the time. He was the No. 1 star, the face of the league. Of course you're going to have everyone with their hand out ready and willing to ask for anything. And he was a guy who most of the time gave. That was the kind of guy he was."

Whatever issues he had off the court, Iverson was almost universally respected by his peers on the hardwood.

"I hope he doesn't retire because I know there's still a lot of basketball left," Bobcats guard Stephen Jackson said. "I know he really wants to play the game and still has love for the game, but if he does much love and respect to him always.

"He's always been a big brother. He showed me that I can be myself in this league regardless of what people say as long as I go out there and respect the game. That's the type of person that he was. He laid the foundation for a lot of guys like me. I have nothing but respect for him and wish him the best."

Warriors guard Corey Maggette said: "He's been one the faces of the NBA. Everybody respects A.I. A lot of people in the league started getting braids because of him. He's influenced the league so much. That's just the real talk."

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said: "He's been so much fun to watch. At the size that he is and the way he performed over so many years, he'll definitely be missed in the league if he retires."

Iverson's competiveness and toughness are legendary.

"Everybody talked about competing pound-for-pound," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, an assistant on the 2004 USA Olympic team. "He was just one hell of a competitor. I don't care what he weighed or how tall he was, he sacrificed his body a lot and took a pounding and played hurt a lot."

Ratliff said: "That [retirement] has to be rough for him, because I know the type of competitor he is. I wished it wouldn't have gone the way it went toward the end of his career. You can never predict how you end your career. I just hope he has his life in order and keeps on moving forward."

[NBA Junkie]

He can come out of retirement all he wants. No contending team in their right mind will take a flyer on him.

Not that it matters. He wants a starting job and wants to remain the focal point of the offense. Name a contending team that will give him that?

Even the pathetic Knicks decided against him.

[Fabbs]

http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/2009/news/11/25/iverson.retirement/iverson608.jpg


"It's sad, man, especially coming from a guy that's close to me, a friend," Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. "To see him go out the way he's going out right now is not how he'd want to go out. It's almost like he's being forced to retire. It's a bad situation right now for him."
:blah one pouty little punk to another.

All the Grizzleys did is give Iverson 20 minutes a game platform which he could have surely parlayed into a midseason trade if he really did want to play for a contender.

The "i be viktimized" line by so many....
What a couple of punks!

[spursfan1000]

Brett Iverson ? or Allen Farve?

[Culburn369]

Brett Iverson ? or Allen Farve?

GD rights.

[Bob Lanier]

He's probably the best point guard the Lakers could get their paws on, and everyone knows Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmer won't win them a title.

[JustBlaze]

Surprise, surprise. You really think he's going down like that? The man knows he can still play and put up big numbers. He'll be back, if not this season, then next season.

[Culburn369]

He's probably the best point guard the Lakers could get their paws on, and everyone knows Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmer won't win them a title.

Agreed on Farmar, but, Jameer Nelson has a story to tell you about the crown of his head, last June & Fisher.

[SenorSpur]

For the last time people, forget about his size and stature. Iverson IS NOT a point guard.

[Allanon]

Swallow your EGO AI and you'll be in the NBA for at least 3 more years.

[SenorSpur]

Its amazing how James and Wade have no sense of history of the sport they claim to love. How in the hell did AI make the cross over cool when Tim Hardaway coined the phrase "The Killer Crossover." AI a pioneer!!! Only thing that guy pioneered was corn-rolls.

:tu

[MiamiHeat]

the cross over was popularized first by Tim Hardaway, yeah, BUT!

Hardaway copied another NBA player he watched, who would do that a lot. I forgot the name of the player right now though

[lefty]

the cross over was popularized first by Tim Hardaway, yeah, BUT!

Hardaway copied another NBA player he watched, who would do that a lot. I forgot the name of the player right now though
Charlie Scott, the true inventor of the crossover dribble

[duhoh]

He's probably the best point guard the Lakers could get their paws on, and everyone knows Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmer won't win them a title.

Fish has 4 though. his clutch 3s were the daggers to Houston and if I remember correctly, Denver.

oh and his steals against D12 as well.

[pauls931]

I told you he woud pull a Brett Favre

Not a Farve, Brett was honestly having trouble figuring out if he wanted to retire. Iverson is just bitching until he gets on a team he likes.

[SenorSpur]

I hear now that Bobcats coach, Larry Brown and former Georgetown HC, John Thompson will be talking to Iverson in an attempt to convince him NOT to retire. Huh? You've got to be kidding me! What is AI? A blue-chip high-school recruit? It doesn't matter what the opinions are of those two guys, if no team is calling for his services, then perhaps he has no other alternative but to retire.

Seriously, both these coaches need to stay out of it. The decision on whether AI plays or not is not up to them. Dude can't play if no team is calling.

If they want to talk to him about anything, they should talk about how his selfishness, his state of denial about his abilities, and his lockerroom lawyering and negative behavior have combined to force him into this "early" retirement.

Enough with the sucking of AI's kneecaps. Iverson did this to himself. Therefore, if he's "not feeling the love" or "doesn't feel wanted" because the phone is not ringing, he's only got himself to blame. Perhaps some time away and some self-reflection is what this guy needs to get his head on straight.

If I were a Bobcats GM, I'd be pissed that my head coach was taking more of an interest in a retiring basketball player that isn't a part of very team he coaches.

[duncan228]

Larry Brown: Allen Iverson shouldn’t retire (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-iversonretirement-brown&prov=ap&type=lgns)
By Mike Cranston

Larry Brown has a message for Allen Iverson: don’t give up.

Iverson’s former coach said Friday he thinks the 10-time All-Star “still has a passion to play” and shouldn’t retire. An online report this week indicated Iverson had decided to end his career after receiving little interest from NBA teams.

Brown, who coached Iverson in Philadelphia when he was voted league MVP in 2001 while leading the 76ers to the NBA finals, said he’s been trying to get in touch with him.

“Anybody that knows him understands how much he loves to play,” said Brown, now coaching the Charlotte Bobcats.

Commentator Stephen A. Smith published a statement on his Web site Wednesday attributed to the 34-year-old Iverson that said he planned to retire. It comes after the Memphis Grizzlies waived Iverson on Nov. 17 amid a dispute over Iverson’s role with the team. There was also friction between Iverson and the Detroit Pistons last year because he didn’t want to come off the bench.

The New York Knicks briefly discussed signing the 6-foot Iverson, but decided against it. Brown said he wouldn’t be a good fit in Charlotte because of the team’s abundance of guards.

Brown believes Iverson is “a little embarrassed” and the retirement talk may come from frustration.

“Think about it: You’re an MVP in the All-Star game and an MVP in the league, scored over 20,000 points,” Brown said. “You still know you can play, and to not have everybody jump up, it’s a pretty humbling thing. But he can play.”

Brown says Iverson could get opportunities later in the season. He pointed to Jan. 10, the date contracts are no longer guaranteed for the season, and the trade deadline a month later when several teams may reshape their rosters.

“Some teams might think they aren’t as good as they thought,” Brown said.

Brown has maintained a close relationship with Iverson despite their famous disputes in Philadelphia, including Iverson’s “We’re talking about practice!” rant after the 76ers’ exit from the 2002 playoffs.

[Kori Ellis]

Not a Farve, Brett was honestly having trouble figuring out if he wanted to retire. Iverson is just bitching until he gets on a team he likes.

:lol That's hilarious. Favre was drama queening for the last few years about retiring. It had nothing to do with trouble figuring it out. It was all about the drama.

[dallaskd]

Charlie Scott, the true inventor of the crossover dribble

Pete Maravich?

[Culburn369]

Not a Farve, Brett was honestly having trouble figuring out if he wanted to retire.

My ass. He didn't want to endure the rigors of training camp. Like MJ. Both figured they'd skip the hard work & commitment to the team and cop a ring on the sly. MJ failed miserably. I'm hoping that f'k Favre gets the exact same comeuppance.

[duncan228]

Time for Iverson to pass to Jennings (http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/11035/time-for-iverson-to-pass-to-jennings)
By J.A. Adande
ESPN

Allen Iverson’s retirement announcement didn’t unleash a powerful emotional reaction from me because I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him and because, as it dawned on me Wednesday night, we’ve already seen the next of him: Brandon Jennings. And in order for Jennings to truly grow into that role, Iverson has to go. It’s the natural order of things.

I tuned in to Milwaukee’s game in New Orleans (that I’d even consider watching a Bucks-Hornets game knowing full well Chris Paul wasn’t playing is a testament in itself to Jennings) and there was the Iverson phenomenon all over again. The most compelling player on the court was a scrawny little guard wearing No. 3.

Perhaps I’ve been watching too much “Lost” or other time-traveling science fiction shows, but I believe you can’t have the past and future versions of the same person actually meet. It disrupts the space-time continuum. Ok, perhaps that’s speculation based on imaginary issues. On a more practical level we do know that two objects can’t occupy the same space at the same time. And we’ve seen the evolution of basketball is based upon building off a precedent, not simultaneous interaction.

Michael Jordan wouldn’t have developed into the player he became without watching Dr. J and David Thompson. And clearly Kobe Bryant is who he is because he had the MJ template to follow. Jordan’s career only overlapped with Julius Erving’s for three years. Kobe only had two years in the league with the real Jordan (Jordan’s time in a Washington Wizards uniform isn’t a part of the official Jordan canon), and it’s not a coincidence that he’s the closest approximation to Jordan that we’ve seen. Notice how none of the so-called Next Jordans who played against him in his prime actually fulfilled that promise? That’s in part because Jordan wasn’t having any of it, and still had a way to stomp them back down into their place. But they also bore the burden of being compared directly to him, rather than merely being reminiscent of him.

Kobe has the benefit of space. Enough details about No. 23 have slipped from our minds, enough people new to the game have popped up for some to suggest Kobe is better than Jordan. It’s the same mistake people make in picking Iverson over Isiah Thomas as the game’s greatest small player. Never would have happened if Iverson played in the 80s. But the passage of time allows the new generation of players to have their moment, to blossom in our view. No harm in it. Do we really want to go forward thinking the game’s greatest days are locked in the past, that we can never have someone better come along?

If Jennings is to have his own legend, sooner or later Iverson had to make way for him. It might as well be now.

Iverson could be an injured point guard or two away from returning to the NBA. But Iverson as we knew him is done. Even if he comes back he won’t be a 30-per-game scorer anymore. He won’t be the all-star game Most Valuable Player again (as a two-time winner of the award he’s on a short list with Dr. J, Magic, Isiah Thomas, MJ, Karl Malone , Shaq, Kobe and LeBron as the multiple winners in the past 40 years).

Maybe that’s why I’m not choking up at the prospect of Iverson actually retiring. It’s like the difference between Johnny Carson’s death and Michael Jackson’s. When Carson passed away we mourned, but we didn’t feel a sense of loss because he had been gone from our lives for years, disappearing from public view after he stepped off the Tonight Show set. Michael Jackson’s death hurt us because he was on the verge of performing a series of comeback concerts. We were denied another look at the greatest entertainer of our time.

Iverson retiring at 34 doesn’t deprive us the way Jordan’s first retirement at 30 did. We knew Jordan had more championships in him. Does anyone think Iverson can re-do his 2001 MVP season and drag another team into the NBA Finals?

One of the reason’s Jordan’s 1993 retirement was so jarring is because the succession plan wasn’t in place. There wasn’t another star capable of taking over for him. He upset the natural order, and the league suffered as a result. But by the time Jordan took off the Bulls jersey for good in 1999, Shaq was established, Kobe was emerging and Vince Carter was on the scene to bring in the next level of dunking.

Now the small man lineage that went from Nate Archibald to Isiah Thomas to Iverson is in place and splitting into branches, giving us Chris Paul and apparently Jennings to carry it forward. Wednesday was a night of rookie learning lessons for Jennings, but also provided a glimpse of what he can become. New Orleans’ Darren Collison, filling in for the injured Paul, swiped the ball from Jennings in the backcourt and was fouled for go-ahead free throws, and drove past Jennings for the game-winning basket in overtime. In between Jennings had his moment, a slow-motion version of Tyus Edney’s end-to-end dash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHceOvR464s) in which Jennings started with the inbounds pass 90 feet from the basket, paused just past midcourt to survey the floor, then exploded down the middle of the lane, splitting David West and Darius Songalia and making a layup to tie the score.

It’s like that already with Jennings. Anytime he has the ball in his hands you think he can make something incredible happen. Even his hair is fascinating. In the short time he’s been on the scene he’s given us everything from high-top fade (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f4Fo_GlfJs8/R-vpMi0SPzI/AAAAAAAAAhk/pIRb-wea27Y/s400/brandon%2Bjennings) to twists (http://www.brandonjennings.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/brandon-jennings-rookie.jpg), from early Kenny Walker (http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0902/nba.dunk.contest.winners/images/1989-kenny-walker.jpg) to late Charles Oakley (http://theassociation.blogs.com/the_association/oakley.jpg). And if he keeps growing his hair out and braids it, you know who that would be, right?

Exactly (http://www.nba.com/media/allstar2007/a_iverson.jpg).

[Culburn369]

10 games in and this Jennings kid is already pregnant with legend, Iverson's no less.

I God's.

[BlackBellamy]

10 games in and this Jennings kid is already pregnant with legend, Iverson's no less.

I God's.

When you're an undersized guard that doesn't pass, that's made a living through slashing (and over-all quickness) your entire career, you lose a step and refuse to take a lessened role, it's over. Jennings might end up the same way, but the upside is so bright for the kid that any team in this league (obviously) would love to have Jennings, while A.I. still seeks employment.

[Culburn369]

The kicker? Adande has probably been walking around with that story on his laptop for over a week.

[duncan228]

Iverson truly was one of a kind (http://www.probasketballnews.com/story/?storyid=813)
By Chris Bernucca

"Hey, man, where you goin'?"

The voice was firm, but not as firm as the grip on my wrist.

"Nah, man, let him go. He all right, man, he all right. What's up, man. How you doin'?"

This scene took place in the lobby bar of the Caribe Hilton in San Juan in August 2003. The FIBA Tournament of the Americas was under way, and just about everyone affiliated with it - from players to coaches to referees to writers - was staying at the hotel.

The first voice belonged to someone I did not know at the time but got to know slightly better over the next two weeks.

His name was Wes, better known as Worldwide Wes (http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/200706/william-wesley-worldwide-wes-nba-basketball).

The second voice belonged to the guy Wes was protecting. We had spoken dozens of times over the previous five years, knew each other's faces and had a tacit level of mutual respect and trust, even though we had never been formally introduced.

His name was Allen Iverson.

We talked for no more than five minutes. I asked him about the flying lariat across the neck that Anderson Varejao had given him that night. I told him that the Hilton used to have a casino years ago but not anymore. I asked him if his kids were havin g a good time.

Over the next two weeks, I saw his kids play in the pool and a guy who claimed to be his uncle knock back scotches and his wife poke around in the gift shop. I saw him and his boys close the lobby bar by playing spades. One afternoon, I came out of my hotel room and he was standing in the hallway, talking to his mom.

"What's up, baby?" he said as I walked by.

That's the Allen Iverson I will remember.

Do you want to remember Iverson as stubborn, selfish, self-absorbed? Do you want to believe his abbreviated stints in Detroit and Memphis revealed his true character? Do you want to use his persona as a permanent logo for how the NBA has gone wrong in the post-Jordan era? Go right ahead.

I see that side of Iverson. I almost get it, too, especially as a coach of youth basketball. Trying to rationalize Iverson's unique style as a base model for preteens still learning the game is disingenuous.

But it is that singular talent that will make me miss Iverson more than any player who has come and gone during my lifetime. More than Wilt, more than Doc, more than Magic, more than Jordan.

Whenever I spoke with Iverson after a game, it was always evident that I was looking him in the eye. He was slightly taller than my 5-9, but he was not the 6 feet the roster listed him at, either. And it never got old that someone barely bigger than me could totally control an NBA game.

Someday 30 years from now, Iverson will be relaxing somewhere and someone unaware of who he is will ask him what he did before he retired. And he will say, "I played in the NBA."

And that someone will express disbelief. "Really? You don't look big enough to be a basketball player. How many points did you score?"

And Iverson will say, "In 14 seasons, I scored more than 24,000 points, and I averaged 27 points per game."

And that someone will walk away, certain they are being taken for a ride. What that someone should have done was just sit back and enjoy the ride, as I have done for the last 14 years.

Allen Iverson rescued the Philadelphia 76ers, the only team I still have a passion for in 20 years of sportswriting. Along with frenemy Larry Brown, he pulled the franchise out of the abyss and made it relevant again. And he did it in his own stubborn, selfish, self-absorbed and remarkably effective way.

Iverson's detractors point to his low field-goal percentage. I prefer to point to the countless times he drove into the teeth of a defense, drew a handful of defenders and put up a layup that was hammered home by Tyrone Hill or Dikembe Mutombo or some other offensively challenged teammate who couldn't score in a brothel on Sadie Hawkins Day. Now I ask the numbers wonks: Is that a missed shot? Or is it an adjusted assist?

Iverson's detractors like to say he didn't make his teammates any better. Really? I guess Theo Ratliff would have gotten than lone All-Star berth by himself. And I guess Aaron McKie would have won the Sixth Man Award sooner or later. And I guess Kyle Korver didn't appreciate the extra space he had when lining up a 3-pointer. Please.

Iverson's detractors recall the infamous "Practice!" rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I) as an example of his lack of respect for the game. In fact, Iverson gave that interview in the days after an embarrassing Game Five loss in Boston in which he was the only member of the Sixers who came to play in an elimination game (http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200205030BOS.html). He was there to clean out his locker and meet with Billy King, not do a Q and A with the media. But he did it anyway, raw and unplugged.

And Iverson's detractors use his stops in Detroit and Memphis as evidence of his intransigence and inflated opinion of himself as a player. In your workplace, if you were clearly more skilled and driven than other co-workers to the same degree that Iverson was clearly more skilled and driven than Rodney Stuckey or Mike Conley, how long would you sit idly by and simply accept it? Just askin'.

But beyond the polarizing arguments is this obvious fact: Like no other player I have ever seen, Iverson compelled me to watch. In addition to the insane skill and unprecedented speed and incomprehensible lack of size was an insatiable desire to compete that we had never seen before and might not ever see again. You didn't dare look away or change the channel, because if you did, you might miss something like this:

KwFxHiuS6-M

Watch the clip again and look at Iverson's teammates. These are NBA players who are so flabbergasted by what a fellow NBA player just did that they can barely contain themselves from rushing the court in unbridled glee.

Remember Iverson any way you'd like. Remember him as a purist's nightmare. Remember him as a beacon of basketball culture. Remember him as an iconoclast. Remember him as the greatest small man to ever play the game.

But when you remember Allen Iverson, ask yourself this.

Were you not entertained (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfm2iABxl_A)?

[pauls931]

:lol That's hilarious. Favre was drama queening for the last few years about retiring. It had nothing to do with trouble figuring it out. It was all about the drama.

Then why couldn't he stay retired?

[Agloco]

I've never seen anyone who's needed their ego stroked more than Iverson. How much emotional head does Thompson plan on giving him I wonder?

[Chomag]

Its amazing how James and Wade have no sense of history of the sport they claim to love. How in the hell did AI make the cross over cool when Tim Hardaway coined the phrase "The Killer Crossover." AI a pioneer!!! Only thing that guy pioneered was corn-rolls.

Good Post. This has allways bothered me. He may not been as popular but Tim Hardaway was the master and inventor of that move before AI was even out of Highschool.

As for AI.What a freaking attention whore! He just needs to GTFO!

[Chieflion]

When you're an undersized guard that doesn't pass, that's made a living through slashing (and over-all quickness) your entire career, you lose a step and refuse to take a lessened role, it's over. Jennings might end up the same way, but the upside is so bright for the kid that any team in this league (obviously) would love to have Jennings, while A.I. still seeks employment.
I am sorry but this is a wrong misconception of Brandon Jennings. Who could he pass to on a regular basis? Only Bogut and Ilyasova at best. If Milwaukee had more firepower, Jennings would gladly take more assists than points.