Allen Iverson Wanting Out of Philly Should Be Great News to 76ers Fans

So it's official. Allen Iverson and all his selfish, me-first attitude wants out of Philadelphia. I say the 76ers organization do AI and all the long-suffering Sixer fans a huge favor and trade him as soon as possible.

Of course, trading Iverson may be difficult (esp. considering his huge contract which has 3 years left on it at $20 million per) and it may warrant Philadelphia execs accepting that they won't get back nearly as much as they're parting with talent-wise, but a divorce between the grumpy Iverson and the 76ers has long been necessary and with a record of 5-13 entering Sunday, it can't make the team any worse than they already are.

But there's another big reason to trade Iverson sooner than later: Iverson is on the downside of a great career. He may not be showing it stat-wise (currently he's second in the league at scoring averaging 31.2 points a game), but, at 31, Iverson's body is showing signs of no longer being able to handle his consistent run-and-gun style of playing.

Just yesterday, Iverson had to miss a game against the Wizards due to back spasms and he may miss another, yet further speculating that the 76ers are going to do their best to trade him, Iverson was told not to accompany the team. And how did Iverson respond to this apparent "offense"? With typical churlish and childish attitude. "In my entire career, even the doctors haven't been able to tell me not to play," he said. "I've played through injury and illness. I think everyone knows how much I love being out on the court, competing and winning. That's why it was so disheartening to be told that I couldn't play, knowing that I was ready. It hurt even more to be told not to come at at all." (www.nydailynews.com/front/story/478609p-402652c.html)

What Iverson still doesn't seem to get is that outside of his years with coaching great Larry Brown, his style of playing has not led to winning. It was after all Brown who had the guts to tell Iverson that his 1 man against 5 approach to basketball wasn't going to win many basketball games, that he needed to try and make his team better and that he had to work just as hard on defense as he does on offense.

Then too it's always been my opinion that Iverson is not a point guard, but a selfish shooting guard who handles the ball more than necessary and needs to take at least 25 shots a game or else he'll throw a fit. Of course, when you have coaches who tolerate that kind of "me-first" stuff (from Georgetown coach John Thompson to current coach Maurice Cheeks) rather than trying to contain and refine it, all the better for Iverson to do his thing, while the rest of the team just stands around like zombies and watches.

Yet it was Brown, in his first year as coach (1997-98), who, despite Iverson's very public reluctance, got the guard to take less than 20 shots a game and even play less than 40 minutes. The Sixers won and made it to the playoffs, but Iverson's grumpiness about shooting less was beginning to cause a huge divide between the coach and the star player. So Brown relented, switched Iverson to shooting guard, but had the genius to surround him with a group of unselfish grunts and grinders (i.e. Aaron McKie, Tyrone Hill, George Lynch, Eric Snow, etc.) who didn't mind not getting to shoot so much so much as playing stellar defense and doing the dirty work required by teams in order to win. This would later result in Iverson's only appearance in an NBA Final in 2001, but it wasn't enough to beat the almighty Lakers as the Sixers lost 4 games to 1.

Yet, finally winning games and almost winning a championship wasn't enough for Iverson who continued to butt heads with Brown eventually leading to Brown's departure two years later. And since Brown's leaving the 76ers franchise has been on a steady decline and every team in the league knows this. More importantly, is the psyche of the rapid 76ers fans who despite all the recent losing have remained loyal to Iverson throughout his entire 11 years with the team.

But that's all moot because Iverson, more concerned about winning scoring titles than doing what's best for his team, will never change his style of game. He's just too stubborn, like the guy who won't take directions from anyone else in the car, even if they've got a GPS unit and he's only got "a feeling". And it's that stubbornness that's served as the main reason why he's never won a championship, why he'll never win no matter what team he's on and why he needs to be removed from Philly as soon as possible.

So while I'm sure the Philly fans will miss him and when he finally decides to unlace the sneakers for good, he'll undoubtedly be voted into the Hall of Fame a few years later. But more importantly for Iverson, his poor display of sportsmanship and team-oriented basketball all through his career will forever leave a bitter imprint on his legacy.