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El Salvador Commando's needs a PG. I think AI can help bring the city of Pupusas a le or two if he plays his cards right.
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El Salvador Commando's needs a PG. I think AI can help bring the city of Pupusas a le or two if he plays his cards right.
Suns, its just a run and gun offence and I guess he can run with Steve Nash and Lerondo Barbosa.
Bobcats I think. Lots of good defenders/role players but lacking a true scorer. I think their leading shot taker was Raymond ing Felton.
Olympiacos
Easily Charlotte, no about that..strange that they haven't shown any interest..
Cleveland Cavaliers. at least AI brings it come the playoffs. Shaq, AI, Lebron. nice.
hmmm wow never thought of that! Than Cavs will be favorite to win a Championship!
can u imagine a.i. in charlotte jersey??
they already got Ellis and Curry though...
Few Teams Seem Interested in What Iverson Offers
By Jonathan Abrams
New York Times
LAS VEGAS — It is uncomfortably deep into the N.B.A.’s free agency period and Allen Iverson, the player who for more than a decade depicted heart, heartache and cornrows, is a man without a destination.
The summer’s top crop of free agents found new teams quickly, while a couple of notable exceptions — Lamar Odom and David Lee — are still sifting through possible changes of address. As has been the case throughout his N.B.A. tenure, Iverson is in another category.
For more than a decade, Iverson reinvented the crossover dribble. Now, at 34, his career is at a crossroads. He has received feelers from several teams, although none are serious le contenders. At this point, the clubs that are intrigued seem to value Iverson more for his ability to lure fans into seats than for his remaining prowess as a player.
Along with Shaquille O’Neal and Grant Hill, Iverson is part of a group of players who defined the N.B.A. in the late 1990s and the early part of this decade. Now those players find themselves at the twilight of their careers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers dealt for O’Neal to serve as LeBron James’s bodyguard and help deliver them a le. Hill received interest from the Boston Celtics and the Knicks before deciding to remain in Phoenix. Although they are now both elder statesman, O’Neal and Hill are still regarded as players who can make a difference for an already talented team. Iverson, who is 16th on the N.B.A.’s career scoring list with 23,983 points, does not seem to be in that category.
Several general managers on hand to watch the summer league, for instance, expressed doubts that Iverson would be willing to accept a secondary role on a new team, citing his need to dominate the ball. All of them, it was clear, were mindful of the opposite directions the Detroit Pistons and the Denver Nuggets went after swapping Iverson and Chauncey Billups in November.
Still, amid those comments was also the recognition that Iverson was not washed up.
“He’s still a good player,” Nets General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe said.
Nevertheless, the fall for Iverson — whose scoring, speed and toughness made him a marquee attraction — is fairly drastic. So are the events that led to it. After last season’s trade, the reinvigorated Nuggets, who had been all flash and tattoos before Billups’s arrival, reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1985.
Meanwhile, the Pistons, who had been to the conference finals for six consecutive seasons before Iverson’s arrival, finished under .500 but managed to qualify for the postseason before being swept in the first round by the Cavaliers.
Soon after his arrival in Detroit, he missed a practice on Thanksgiving, rekindling concerns about his commitment.
As the season wore on, Iverson bristled at the possibility of coming off the bench, saying in early April that he would rather retire. Soon after that comment, Joe Dumars, the Pistons’ president of basketball operations, announced that Iverson would miss the remainder of the season with a bad back that had already caused him to miss 16 games.
The sequence of events raised more questions about Iverson, but in his first public comments since then, in an interview this month with The Detroit Free Press, Iverson disputed any notion that he had quit on the Pistons by claiming to be hurt.
“I played all those years and became known for toughness, and suddenly I’m faking?” Iverson said.
Last month, the Pistons fired their coach, Michael Curry. But they never discussed the possibility of retaining Iverson. Instead, they used the salary-cap space gained from his expiring contract to sign the free agents Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva.
Wherever Iverson winds up, it will be for far less than the $20.8 million he made last season. The Miami Heat has debated pairing Iverson with Dwyane Wade, but is unwilling to offer Iverson more than $2 million for next season. Other interest has come from the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers, each looking to rebound from sour seasons and to spur ticket sales.
The Grizzlies offered Iverson $5 million for one year. The Clippers can use their full midlevel exception and offer Iverson $5.85 million.
The Clippers’ owner, Donald Sterling, is enamored at the prospect of using Iverson to draw fans to the Staples Center. According to Yahoo! Sports, the Clippers’ ticket sales are lagging compared with a year ago and an N.B.A. analysis predicted a 29.3 percent decline in ticket revenue next season for the team. But Mike Dunleavy, the Clippers’ coach and general manager, is more interested in point guard Ramon Sessions.
In the end, Iverson may have some choices, if not an ideal destination. If he can resuscitate his career under a one-year deal, he may be able to parlay that into a more favorable landing spot next summer. But for now, he is viewed as prime-time player removed from his prime.
You smart bas thats what I have been saying all summer. I still don't think the cavs have enough offense to keep up with certain teams. If Mo Will has an off nights its over come playoff time. AI still equals instant offense and would make their bench dangerous.
But they would never do it for chemistry issues, which i would argue against but hey thats my opinion.
On most other teams he is either detrimental or the team would still be a non factor with him.
clipps better not get AI. it would set them back so much. they're actually making a lot of progress this year with drafting griffin and chucking randolph in the NBA's trashcan known as the grizzlies. they are set to get a significant amount of cap room in 2010. i think they will be $20-25 million under the cap. if griffin, gordon, and/or thronton show flashes of dominance and everyone stays healthy, they might be able to attract some solid FAs. AI would only ruin that.
I'm pretty sure we all agree that the obvious answer is the Denver Nuggets.
Thornton should be the next guy the Clippers get rid off..
In the roster days of Snow, Hughes etc. I thought maybe he could co-exist with LeBron, like a double-punch type thing, surrounded by shooters that can play D.
Not needed at this point.
I agree with Charlotte, let's not forget LB is the coach there.
no team cause he has always been about himself. practice is where teams bond, come together, and build chemistry. iverson has never liked practice. he has never been a professional. he is just a very skilled, selfish punk. He ruins the chemistry of every team he is on. Also, with his age and broken down body, his skills are diminishing rapidly. If I am a top contender for the le, about 6 or so teams, I stay as far away from this cancer as I can. I don't even pick up the phone when he or his agent calls.
Let him finish his NBA days in basketball ........with the LA Clippers.
Any team that signs him would be the instant favorite
FOR ME TO POOP ON!
thats what i was thinkin
That's not such a far-fetched idea. Denver would be back to competing with the Lakers, Spurs, and Mavs (as far as firepower goes, on paper) if they were to sign AI back with the MLE for 3 years. It basically means they got Billups for free.
Billups
Iverson
Carmelo
Kenyon Martin
Nene
------------
JR Smith
Birdman
Kleiza
pretty tough team to guard...
Denver is the one place AI played where he didn't whine. Karl must know how to stroke his ego...
The million dollar question right there lol
no, that team is dumb enough as it is without adding Iverson.
I've been saying this for about 3 years now, AI would fit in LA a system that requires no real pg and ball movement. If he committed to the triangle he'd fit there. He wants to start and because of the way he plays he needs to come off the bench for a contender or go to Atlanta to give them something to pay money for.
Dumb? Yes... but also DANGEROUS. Won't win it all, but would allow them to keep pace with the best in the west
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