The Pistons have announced Allen Iverson is done for the season, with Joe Dumars citing the ongoing and possibly dubious back injury that kept A.I. out for 16 games.Obviously, there's more at play here. As FanHouse's Matt Watson has reported over the past few weeks, the Iverson-Pistons relationship has turned into something awful. You'd have to imagine this early break-up -- with the playoffs in question -- has more to do with personal emotion than A.I.'s back.
On Sunday, Iverson griped about his bench role with Detroit. Four days later, A.I. (a free agent this July) told reporters he'd rather retire than come off the bench next season.
Look at those comments and tell me Iverson's month-long absence had nothing to do with his demotion to the bench in February. This is not to say Iverson wasn't actually injured. (The initial diagnosis had Iverson missing two weeks. He missed a full four.) But given the circumstances (playoffs in jeopardy) and the timing, it's impossible to read this as anything other than a bad break-up between A.I. and the Pistons.
Clearly, Iverson will not be re-signing with Detroit this summer. The retirement talk is surely bluster -- Iverson loves the game, and he'll get offered non-negligible money by someone, even if only a couple teams would be in place to give him a starting role. Thank goodness that the Chauncey Billups trade was all about cap space -- and Rodney Stuckey's development for Detroit has been solid -- because the Iverson portion of the swap ended up as a complete disaster.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
This can't really surprise anyone can it? AI's ego is a big as his biggest fan's ego, Shaq. they both think it's about them while constantly proclaiming they are about team then their actions and complaints indicate otherwise...Shaq was also known for getting spurious injuries then wanting to heal on the Team's time. While his back injury MAY have been legit, one has to wonder whether his emotional state somehow contributed to the conditions where he wound up injuring it in the first place...at last, the Canswer can sit down and maybe, just maybe the Pistons will show up as a much better team without him...it's no surprise the Nuggets got better when he left, and the Sixers as well, the same will hold for the Pistons...AI is best known now for the positive effect he has on a team by his absence, more than by his presence...and so it is...
I agree with a lot of what you said but you blew me with the sixers got better statement ppl always forget the year he carried that team to the finals and lets not forget about the money he made for that franchise and the only reason the denver situation didn't pan out right was because carmello and iverson are both pretty much pure scorers and need the ball in their hand...not to mention that denver did go to the playoffs and win 50 games the third best regular season record in nuggets history...iverson is a great player and as a perennial all star and future hall of famer i wouldn't stick around on a sub-par team to come off the bench either. Detroit has pretty much no chance of success in the playoffs this year.
I'm glad the malcontent is gone, Will Bynum is pushing for Iverson's bench minutes anyways. Iverson is a first ballot hall of famer and one of the best to play the game definitely one of the top three little men ever in the game with Zeke and Cousy.
However he doesn't fit and he is a black hole on offense only passing into bad situations after he has ran around and burnt up the shot clock.
More minutes for Stuckey, Bynum, and Afflalo. Let the guys that are gonna be around for the future learn to play together. The pistons will be better in the short and long term
I agree that he is, all-time, one of the best little men to play the game. He certainly is the best scorer! You may say, he is one of the top 100 to have ever played the game! People forget what an extraordinary playmaker he was, and still can be. Although he was a pure scorer, fact is, he is also an extraordinary point guard that can create through at-will penetration! If AI wants to penetrate, even at this age, few people can stop him! All the career "fit" issues aside, he is an extraordinary basketball talent, and it has been sheer joy watching him play the game.
This was a bad fit for the Pistons and A.I. from the start. Personally, I'm glad he decided to shut it down for the remainder of the season, now I can go back to hating the Pistons as much as I always have. Many people hate A.I., but I personally enjioy watching him play. At least I can say on most nights, he brings it every night; that's more than I can say for many players in the league. Goodluck next season A.I., no matter where you end up.
Only reason i went to the piston games this year is cause of Allen Iverson. He is an all star,hall famer and he makes the game exicting. If the pistons dont get a big name next year I wont go. They are too boring to watch
Iverson was never going to fit in with Detroit's slow the game down to a crawl offense. Iverson can only be effective when he has the ball most of the time and take most of the teams shots When the Pistons traded Billips and bought in Iverson which I'm sure was for salary cap reasons they started to go down hill. Denver is now much improved with the arrival of Billips. and is now playing much better team ball. Denver saw that bringing Iverson on board was a mistake and now Detroit is seeing theirs. Detroit will get rid of Iverson and free up a lot of salary cap money.
AI, the Terrell Owens of the NBA! He's nothing more than a street punk who plays basketball. Looks like a fool with his arm sleeve. What a moron. He'll be in jail within 3 yrs after getting run off from NBA. He's a thug!
i've always found winning games to be more entertaining than a great individual talent with killer crossovers. the legacy of ai will always be that of a hof "player" who would inevitably always get beat by a decent "team."
i also think it's important to note that the "initial diagnosis" was not that he'd be missing two weeks. it was that his back was fine. the second opinion also said his back was fine. it wasn't until he flew to his georgetown doctor's that he was diagnosed with "a sore back" and told to sit out for two weeks.
I am happy Detroit is done with AI. I think their woes started when he got there. In Detroit, we like to play games without necessarily having a 'go to' guy.
I hope things go well for him, though...
I don't care what you haters say: AI has given the sport of basketball many years of entertainment. I have seen him hurt himself many times and get up playing like he was made of iron or something; however I knew the day would come when his body would betray him. Back injuries have always been difficult to diagnose. So what if he's pissed off with Detroit. He's still the man in my book. I hope he finds what he's looking for even if it is retirement. To those of you who refer to him as a thug: he has worked his ass off for years and I now wish him the best.
I still love me some AI. Shut up you haters