Better career - Iverson or Kidd?

[Galileo]

Kidd

[JamStone]

I think being the best player on a championship team counts for quite a bit on your resume, don't you? Who had the better career, Bill Walton or Rik Smits?

Bad comparison. Bill Walton is a HOFer and Rik Smits isn't, but you're comparing Walton to Billups who isn't going to be a HOFer and Rik Smits to Kidd who is going to be a HOFer.

A better comparison would be between Cedric Maxwell and Dominique Wilkins. And, I would tell you that Dominique had a better career than Cedric Maxwell.

Billups has had a very good career from 2002-03 to present. Jason Kidd has been a perennial all star, all NBA performer since he was drafted. Billups has had more playoff success but had a better cast around him than Kidd did from 2004 through 2009. You even admit as much by suggesting Kidd could have won a le with the Pistons in 2004.

Those are the types of factors I too into consideration when comparing Iverson and Kidd.

[Findog]

Bad comparison. Bill Walton is a HOFer and Rik Smits isn't, but you're comparing Walton to Billups who isn't going to be a HOFer and Rik Smits to Kidd who is going to be a HOFer.

A better comparison would be between Cedric Maxwell and Dominique Wilkins. And, I would tell you that Dominique had a better career than Cedric Maxwell.

Walton was the best player on a championship team and played a key role as a reserve on another championship team. In between he was on the shelf. Smits, on the other hand, was very good for a very long team for a very good team. Who had the better career?

And I can't believe you think Cedric Maxwell is a good comparison to Dominique. Maxwell was a role player, Dominique was an All-Star caliber player.

Billups has had a very good career from 2002-03 to present. Jason Kidd has been a perennial all star, all NBA performer since he was drafted. Billups has had more playoff success but had a better cast around him than Kidd did from 2004 through 2009. You even admit as much by suggesting Kidd could have won a le with the Pistons in 2004.

If Billups is going to be penalized for taking awhile to excel at NBA basketball before finally finding a home and excelling with the Pistons and Nuggets, then doesn't Kidd get penalized for having two teams give up on him early in his career and on the cusp of his prime? And while Kidd could have won a le as the starting PG for the 04 Pistons, we know for sure that Billups did. A championship counts for a lot with me. I'd rather have Walton's career than say Patrick Ewing's.

[Findog]

I don't know what's better...my Mom's mashed potatoes or your Mom's mashed pa- TAYS.

[Ghazi]

I don't know what's better...my Mom's mashed potatoes or your Mom's mashed pa- TAYS.

[mookie2001]

kidd

[dirk4mvp]

I see a lot of Spurs and Laker fans going with Kidd. Gee, there's that Maverick fan bias hard at work.

[ElNono]

Clearly Baron Davis... clearly...

[pauls931]

I'll take We over Me any day of the week.

[LakeShow]

Kidd

[Brazil]

difficult choice, I'd go with AI

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Of course, the Mavs ownership situation was a mess at the time and they didn't have a ing clue choosing Jim Cleamons over Kidd, whereas the Colangelos were very sensitive to PR concerns in making a wife beater the face of the franchise.

So they trade him for a guy who gets a DUI less than a month after his arrival to Phoenix. One of the worst trades in NBA history.

[Culburn369]

Cleamons tried to fit 10lbs of absolute into a pristine 5lb bag via the triangle. Those numbnuts are still happy as pigs in & a course bereft of ringage.

[Findog]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs...rticle1378446/

Can’t say I’m buying into the posthumous lionizing of Allen Iverson in the wake of his apparent retirement. A brilliant talent who thrived only if enough role players could be assembled to buy into his me-first version of basketball, he was fun to watch at times and his voice – raspy, deep, and dramatic sounding – is one of my favourite things about him. But what he said didn’t matter. His real self was on display on the court and in my mind he was a minor NBA figure on that basis.

I suppose you can make the case that he deserves some respect for his determined individualism as the first NBA star to fully embrace tattoos, braids and what that symbolized. I have nothing against that, obviously. Freedom of expression is a good thing and if he forced the dominant culture to be more tolerant, aware or understanding of a certain strain of black culture that’s worth while. But it’s also worth noting that he was paid, not prosecuted, for his choices, which makes the trail-blazing attributes a bit hollow – we’re not talking Muhammad Ali here.

But in a basketball sense? Take away one magical year in Philly when an entire organization genuflected for his benefit and were rewarded with one Finals appearance thanks to a watered-down Eastern Conferece – Philly was the only team not to lose at least 30 games that year -- and what did he really accomplish?

He otherwise never made it out of the second round of the playoffs. When he left Denver the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference final; when he arrived in Detroit the Pistons got swept in the first round, missing the Eastern Conference final for the first time in six season; of course by then Iverson had already quit the team.
For the most part his teams suffered for his presence; he cost several good people jobs because he was largely uncoachable; he never really improved his game because as we all know, he wasn’t really into practice.

He played hard, I guess, but you know what they say: no one works harder than someone who works for themselves. Allen Iverson played for himself. The way he’s apparently leaving the NBA doesn’t tarnish his legacy, it simply confirms it.

Anyway.