Allen Iverson Wants to Play 6 More Years

At this time last summer, Allen Iverson was one of the highest-paid players in the game and generally regarded as a superstar enjoying the final years of his prime. One failed season in Detroit, he's become a complete afterthought.

What happened? For one, all of the stereotypes that have surrounded him his entire career proved to be still true: he needs an offense custom-made for his abilities to be effective; he can no longer finish consistently at the rim; he's a sieve on defense; he'd rather sit out than concede a starting job.

Scoring guards are generally the easiest asset to find in the NBA, and considering the undeniable evidence that Iverson's game has slipped, it now longer makes sense to make him the primary focal point. Nevertheless, Iverson, 34, is in no hurry to leave the game the game behind, revealing in a recent interview with his hometown paper in Newport News, Va., that he hopes to play until he's 40.

From David Teel of the Daily Press:

Q: You said hopefully the next stop is a place you can retire. How many years do you think you might have left?

A: I used to say that I didn't want to go over 40. I see young guys emulating the way I play ... and I used to think it would be weird to be 40 years old and doing the things I do. You can't be 40 years old still trying to cross people over and stuff like that. ...

But the one thing God gave me is the stamina to be able to run all day, as far as being a freak of nature. My teammates always say that about me. I honestly feel like I'm not slowing down. I'm just thinking I don't want to go past 40. I'll push it to the limit. I hope God gives me six more good years.

Iverson seems to realize that his skills are no longer valued quite as much as they used and seemed to accept the fact that he'll have to take a significant pay cut if he hopes to prolong his career.

Iverson: Man, if money is a concern to me at this point in my life, after all that I've made, then I've got a problem. So that's not going to be a big deal. The biggest deal is going to be being happy. That's it. ... In Denver I was happy all the way through, but that was what, two years? I'm talking about a steady diet of happiness all the way through. That's all I want at this point in my career.

Obviously I want a championship, but I don't care about statistics anymore like I did when I was younger. I don't care about All-Star games. I don't care about scoring titles, MVPs, none of that. I just want to play basketball, be effective and be happy. Be a great teammate. I don't even care about being dominant on the court like I used to be. I don't have any more individual goals. I've done basically everything you can do in a basketball game.

Maybe his time in Detroit taught something, or maybe he's simply saying all the right things -- if you recall, he made virtually the same comments while being introduced in Detroit, claiming he'd do anything if it meant winning. When push came shove, "anything" didn't include coming off the bench, trusting the team's renowned medical staff to treat his back injury or showing up to the arena to support his teammates while he was injured.

His skills may be in decline, but his ability to say exactly what everyone wants to hear while proceeding to do the exact opposite is still in peak form.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-08-2009 @ 6:01PM

your highness said...

hopefully someone will sign him just as a practice player

7-08-2009 @ 6:46PM

hilyb said...

LAKERS---drop sasha and sign AI for the minimum. The Laker offense is centered around a shooting guard that controls the ball...when Kobe comes out..AI is that style of player..plus him and Artest on the same team would take some of the media weirdness off of Kobe...just a thought..

7-08-2009 @ 7:33PM

Josh said...

AI would rather retire and never play again than come off the bench. He will only play where he knows 100% that he will start.

7-08-2009 @ 7:59PM

plaudenbach said...

You've gotta be kidding me! Iverson's a PUNK! Has been since the day he was drafted. His performance this year in Detroit proved it to the world. He's not fit to tie the shoes of real players. What the #$%@ was Joe Dumars thinking, trading Chauncy for him???

7-08-2009 @ 11:47PM

melissa said...

He is slow and horrible and slimey. Time to retire. He was never a team player. I loved the 76ers back in the day. Til they got him. He hogged the ball and never practiced. He ruined the Pistons season and was horrible in Denver. Just look at his past. He is a Punk!!! Retire and make us all happy!!!!

7-14-2009 @ 7:39PM

DeTayl said...

Lol!! Melissa, you don't know ANYTHING about basketball. In his only full season in Denver, they won 50 games. He was 3rd in the league in scoring and averaged 7 ast and 2 stls. And Detroit was on a slide before he even got there. Curry wasn't a capable coach for any in NBA team. When critics attack Iverson it's for personal reasons, because it couldn't be for anything he's done on the court. At 6'0, he inspired an entire genreation of ballplayers. And the guy can still play. He's not going to win a ring at this point in his career, but he can still go out there and give a team an easy 20ppg a night. And if you really think he's slow, then you must be slow for even thinking that.

7-09-2009 @ 3:43AM

Giles said...

John Stockton was badly snubbed when he wasn`t selected as an all star in his 19th season, age 41, despite being in the top ten in four categories, and again when Karl Malone left for Los Angeles, when he wasn`t signed by some team for at least a 20th season, like Kareem was. But of course, while Allen Iverson has a higher scoring average than Stockton, he is nowhere near as high a field goal percentage shooter, free throw percentage shooter, assist man, or defender. Some team ought to want to see how long it takes for Iverson to shoot himself out of the top ten in all time scoring averages, but it may not take 7 or 8 years.

7-09-2009 @ 7:46AM

Hello Larry !!!! said...

overpaid and overrated...anybody that signs this guy is crazy.

7-09-2009 @ 7:48AM

overrated and overpaid...too much about "me" to pay to see

7-10-2009 @ 12:03PM

ohmwrecker said...

First of all, Allen Iverson wasn't the only one who quit on the Pistons last year. That team was in big trouble already and the trade happened because Billups wanted out. Iverson got thrown in a horrible situation, with a horrible coach and a bunch of players that didn't care any more.
Give the guy a break. He's one of the best scorers the game has ever seen and he is tough as nails. He is a community activist and does great work with inner-city kids.
Yes, he has an ego. Most pro athletes do. Do you think Jordan was unselfish? Learn a little more about someone before you criticize them. Iverson is not perfect, but he does not deserve the harsh criticism he has received.

7-10-2009 @ 7:00PM

76ersai said...

wow what has allen iverson ever done to people to deserve this much criticism? i love when people make up stuff though. the ball hog thing when he hasnt shot the most shots on his own team in 3 years. he dont pass but was top 10 in asst. 4 years in a row before last. since he actully played with some players the last 5 years he has been around 45 percent from the field. thats w/o dunking at all. i mean how many times in philly did he shoot wit 2 second on the clock cause he had 2. he had to shoot in philly. 20 shots on denver was what he should shoot. 14 in detroit isnt nothing at all. someone said he was horrible in denver. he was 3rd in scoring buddy. they won 50 games. he was top 10 in steals and asst. played the most mins at 32 and all 82 games. shot 45.8 % one tenth behind the mvp that year kobe. last year he played on a team with 3 2 guards. he didnt get a shot to dribble the ball cause rip didnt like how he passed it to him 5 games into playing wit eachother. still 17.5 and 5. i mean ben gordon gets praised for similar stats and so did mo williams and jameer nelson. the thing is thats ai at his worst. and why does allen iverson get bashed for not winning when there are people like john stockton to bash. he didnt win playing with arguably the best power forward ever. in fact no true pt guard that is considered a superstar won in 20 years. not kidd or nash. none of those guys. only ai get bashed cause he is ai. kidd gets 3 years when he made the mavs worse and his play fell off alot. 9 and 9 and he cant shoot . nobody sticks him during the game anymore. inever seen a guy more wide open. i wondor if the pistons made him play like ai with the talent they had on that team what would have happened. they tried to make him play everyway besides like the superstar he is. the pistons were a bunch of great role players who needed a scorer and they got him and didnt let him score.
so really if kobe or lebron or wade shot 14 shots how many pts u think they would score. 18 to 20. ai couldnt get to the line with the pistons cause there offense was all jumpers. they didnt run at all so no fastbreak pts and no free throws. check the stats i bet they were bottom 3 in the nba.
how can u be bottom 3 in those catagories with one of the fastest guys in the nba on the break and a guy who got to the line the second most the year before. ill tell u how. cause they didnt want him to be good. so they ruined his career and rep so bad and cause its ai u people believe it. never has any star and hall of famer got treated like this ever in the history of sports. how can u on one hand say he is a first ballot hall of famer and then bash him in a article. cause thats what the media does writes horrible stories. they lie 80 percent of the time. and whatever team he is on even a team that made the conference finals 6 times in a row or with a young star like melo ai stories are better to sell then a rip story or melo story cause he is more interesting. if he stinks why did he average more pts then melo 2 years ago on less shots? and if he averaged 6 pts then u should say he should retire. 17 is still pretty good. even though he could still score 28 .

7-11-2009 @ 5:42PM

getlisanem said...

76ERSAI Pretty much summed it up!! All you A.I. haters need to check the stats before you jump on the Hate Train. Most of you just follow what you hear in the media. If the Billups trade was the right thing for Denver, why didn't Billups work out in Detroit? Yet, when Iverson doesn't take the Pistons to the Promised Land, it's his fault?