Allen Iverson and the Race Card

While Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald broached the subject of race, and its impact in Steve Nash's MVP award, the double standard between Nash and Allen Iverson is even more striking.

The media dislikes AI; AI and Reebok crafted a commercial in order to restore his image, as AI looks into the camera to tell America he is not a gangster.

When commenting on a Philadelphia 76ers game, announcers immediately resort to AI's shot selection and shot attempts, insinuating that AI is a ball hog and a selfish player. While AI takes a high percentage of his team's shots, and some are questionable, nobody jacks as many head-shaking shots as Vince Carter; in one of the play-off games last week, the commentators extolled Carter's play, despite his 20+ missed shots, including such rally-killers as a contested, fade-away three-pointer, giving meaning to Carter's "Vinsanity" nickname. While Carter is content to misfire from beyond the arc, at least Iverson takes on defenders and gets to the basket, creating an opportunity for a basket, a foul or a teammate to grab an offensive rebound.

Everyone, it seems, is in love with the play of Steve Nash, whose craftiness and passing ability led Phoenix to the league's best record. However, for all the derision AI receives, nobody handles the ball more than Nash. While the Sixers' offense revolves around Iverson, he does not pound the ball incessantly; he runs off screens for a shot or uses 1-3 dribbles after receiving the pass to get into the lane. Nash, meanwhile, dribbles all over the court, darting and retreating, until he finds a man open for a shot. And, he is complemented on his unselfishness, while Iverson is derided for his ball dominance.

When the 2003 "Dream Team" gathered before the World Championships in Indianapolis, the media used Allen Iverson as the goat to balance the lofty praise heaped on Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd and the others.
In one article, the author spoke glowingly about every player, even mentioning Vince Carter as a team player (try convincing the Raptors of that one) before disparaging Allen Iverson as selfish.

I understand the cranky, conservative media dislikes AI; he's young, brash and confident and he wears cornrows. He actually expresses emotion, wears his heart on his sleeve. He says the wrong things. But, nobody plays harder. Nobody wants to win more than AI. And, unfortunately, the media-types cannot separate their dislike of the person from the player.

AI is not selfish; he just shoots a lot. However, has he ever had a teammate who was a legitimate threat to score? He made Theo Ratliff millions of dollars by drawing swarms of defenders and allowing Ratliff to go get offensive rebounds. He made Matt Geiger seem like a good NBA player. He led a team whose second best player was a rookie (Andre Igoudala) into the play-offs and gave the defending champions a battle, even though his supporting cast included an aging, one-legged power forward (Chris Webber), a couple second round picks (Kyle Korver and Willie Green) and a pogo stick, lightweight center (Samuel Dalembert).

Selfish players do not play defense, they do not dive on the floor. AI is consistently one of the league leaders in steals and always dives on the floor or in the stands for a loose ball. AI is on the court, ready to play, regardless of injury, playing through pain and battling to get to the basket and contest players who outweigh him by over a hundred pounds.

Selfish is being a star and being afraid to take the big shot. AI is there, ready to shoot, ready to face the press if he misses, or accept the gratitude if he makes it. He is a star and plays like one, near the top of the league in minutes played every year and accounting for a remarkable percentage of his team's points.

For years, AI led the league in "blown dimes," an unofficial statistic measuring how many assists a player should have had if his teammate had only made the shot. This season, with a competent shooter (Korver) and finisher (Igoudala), he averaged eight assists while still leading the league in scoring.
AI does whatever he has to do to win. With the make-up of the Sixers, a team built around his scoring ability and team defense, he must shoot the ball to win. The onus is on his shoulders to create and make shots, and he accepts and relishes this opportunity.

AI plays to win. Every game. Hard. Selfish players take nights off. They let loose balls go out of bounds. They miss games with an injury, but attend rap concerts. AI's not selfish. AI is a winner, a player who does whatever is needed to win the game. He may not be the ideal role model off the court, or the best interview, but on the court, as a player, he does as much for his team as anyone in the league. It's too bad most people are too easily offended by his tattoos and cornrows to see the value AI adds to his team and the L.