When the Sixers first drafted Iverson, I immediately bought season tickets to the Sixers. Back then, they were horrific prior to AI's arrival and so great seats were of plenty. I was six rows behind the Sixers bench sitting next to Jazzy Jeff. I remember buying those tickets as an investment for the playoffs and the end of Sixer futility -- last championship for any Philly team is '83. We had Jerry Stackhouse and AI on the same team, the latest incarnation of Jordan and Pippen. Boy was I wrong on that one.
AI gave 0% in practice but 110% at game time. "What time is it? Game Time!" I've already commented on how much better AI could've been had he half the practice mentality of a Tiger Woods or Vijay Singh (I know, wrong sport but you get the point). The Iverson era officially ended yesterday when he was traded to the Nuggets. AI is the 2nd leading scorer in the NBA and joins the leading scorer of the NBA this season. Sounds like the math works out, but unfortunately, in basketball there is only one ball allowed on the court. What made championship teams great, even with multiple star players, is that they played defense, rebounded and made the extra pass. Damn, I sound like Larry Brown. Sure Jordan and Pippen will go down as one of the greatest combos of all-time, but lets revisit the golden age of the Chicago Bulls and triage quickly why they were so good. Someone has to play second fiddle, even if you're considered one of the 50 greatest (Pippen). Pippen played end to end defense first, and was there for the second shot. You have AI who's never been the typical point guard, and you have Carmelo who is arguably one of the elite players of the NBA today. Two guys who look for their shot first don't make a team. There is no "I" in team, and there is definitely not two I's in team as well. There are other reasons why the Nuggests won't win such as the Spurs, Suns, Dallas and Utah being better teams. Just remember, even when Jordan was winning those championships, he passed to Paxon and Kerr. AI only applies the pass to hoochimamas at bars.
Don't get me wrong, AI will be in the hall of fame someday but you don't win championships built around a 5'10" guard who doesn't pass.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment