Words by Don Barton
Now that Allen Iversons career is probably over we can start the discussion of how he stacks up to the all-time greats. In order for this to be done fairly he has to be given a position, and he will be evaluated as a 2 guard. Finding where he places in the pantheon of Greats is harder than it may sound given that Jordan is number one and Kobe Bryant and the Logo (Jerry West) at 2A and 2B from there we find a log jam of guys like Gervin, Drexler, Maravich, and Miller.
Iverson is the 4th best Shooting Guard in NBA history when just looking at purely on the floor performance. Pound for pound Iverson is the most courageous player ever, yes even more than Jordan, at 6 foot no more than 170 pounds and in an era of bigger faster stronger athletes he ventured into the land of the of giants and got knocked around like a piñata at a birthday party. However , when evaluating a players legacy we must take everything that a player contributed on and off the floor. That is what causes Iverson to fall off my top ten list.
In the wake of a post Jordan NBA, Iverson was the next star that the David Stern was going to hitch his wagon to. For all the excitement that Iverson provided it was his attitude and persona that, effected the growth and retention of the casual NBA fan. For all the greatness that he may of possessed his “me” first attitude on the court caused ripples throughout the NBA. Because, ever team was looking for their own Iverson, a guy that they could put on one half of the court and let them get their own shot. This is a guy that condemned practice, and never made his teammates better because he was their teammate. For the most clear example of this is the 2004 Dream Team which settled for Bronze in Athens, and was a team full of all-star players. Iverson paved the road toward the me 1st league that casual fans seemed turned off to. Iverson’s explosion and speed was ahead of the curve but he never took that and became the teammate that he should have been.
The biggest argument you get from people is that he never had the teammates that he could trust and had to do it all, but what about Weber, Anthony, Hamilton, Prince and his coaches have been among the NBA elite Larry Brown and George Karl. Karl’s history in the NBA is cemented as a players coach and yet Iverson wasn’t able to mesh with him or a younger and better Anthony. Even in his twilight years with a solid Pistons team he could not rid himself of the same problem that he had at the beginning of his career the fact of realizing that he needed to think of the team and not just himself. Had he excepted the fact that he was now best suited to come off the bench he could of still scored 20 plus points a game, but he felt insulted about being asked to take on that role. Which ultimately lead to the Pistons feeling that it was better to play him and have him stay away, than it was to even have him around the team. The great 2 guards in history have always been good teammates and understood that the offense will run thru them, and develop a trust for their teammates. Jordan punched Steve Kerr at practice and yet gave the ball up to him to take the game winning shot not only in the regular season but in the Finals. We are talking about practice!
If Iverson were to come out today he would still be a top pick but his skill set would have forced him to become a better teammate because he would have had to be a point guard in the Tony Parker mold. So when evaluating Iverson as a player on the court he is without a doubt top 5 Shooting guard in league history but when factoring in his entire persona the thug look (that helped cause the need for a dress code), the legal trouble in high school and even in the NBA. He falls out of the top ten and will become a player that people talk about but never hold in as high regard as he should have been.
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