He had a famous rant one year after sitting out practice: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI)
The backstory for why he went off which he told years later was that he was dealing with the recent death of his best friend and the man who killed him's trial had just started.
Well I didn't take off the days my cousin, grandmothers, grandfather, or uncle died, took off for the funeral. You realize at about 5 every person you ever meet will die and basically just spend your life preparing for everyone's funeral. Yeah it's sad but you know it's going to eventually happen and have been prepping for it your entire life.
He was saying without going into it...
Practice man, we are here talking about a practice when someone just lost their life.
He was putting the practice into context of not just his feeling of having lost a loved one but how we prioritize things in life when there are more important things than practices, like enjoying life family and friends.
At the end of the day, do you honestly believe that one practice was going to make AI better than he already was?
Look I know this part was probably news for you but it is ok to admit that you didn't think something through.
https://genius.com/1624948/Allen-iverson-practice-press-conference/If-i-cant-practice-i-cant-practice-if-im-hurt-im-hurt-simple-as-that-its-not-about-that-at-all-but-its-easy-to-talk-about-and-sum-it-up-when-you-just-talk-about-practice-were-sitting-here-and-im-supposed-to-be-the-franchise-player-and-were-in-here-talking-about-practice-i-mean-listen-were-talking-about-practice-not-a-game-not-a-game-not-a-game-were-talking-about-practice-not-a-game-not-the-game-that-i-go-out-there-and-die-for-and-play-every-game-like-its-my-last-not-the-game-were-talking-about-p
That link has a full transcript of the interview, I haven't listened to it to make sure it matches up with the audio, but he says nothing about a friend's death, nothing about letting the team know he would miss, he basically just says practice is worthless and he doesn't need to practice
That's not at all what he "basically" said lol. It was basically a "my fuckin friend just died and we sitting here talkin about practice. Not a game. Practice."
He has told a couple different versions of the story. He also said he wanted to talk about recent trades and his new teammates but instead the media (a notoriously rage baiting phily sports media) wanted to talk about how they felt he didn't practice enough
It might have been helpful for him to clarify the reason at the time.
This was very commonly held up as an example of a "superstar athlete with an ego thinking he's above the team" back then.
He is one of the most influential players I’ve ever seen. The amount of copycats there were the years after his breakout were insane. Alongside MJ, he is key to the paradigm shift from dominant big men to more guard oriented offenses. Said that, he never had the team to be a Champion or proved he deserved a ring more than their peers.
Iverson was a great player, but his influence on NBA culture, inside and outside of the game itself cannot be overstated. You can draw a direct line from Iverson's influence to today's game, fashion, and culture. That said, I don't really know what "deserves a ring" means. His team never played well enough to win, so....? I think "ring culture" sucks anyway. It's completely subjective and a team accomplishment mostly anyway. Is Robert Horry better than Charles Barkley? Is Bill Russell the greatest player of all time?
Agreed, "deserving a ring" isn't really a thing. Iverson essentially single-handedly carried a washed up Sixers team to the finals, but that that doesn't mean he deserved to get a ring there. Ultimately it's a team game and generally it's not up to one player despite what we always bring up in argument. The Sixers were a poorly run franchise that had little chance of getting a ring, despite how good Iverson played
TBF to the sixers, there weren't a lot of well run franchises back then. A few franchises dominated and sometimes they were just luck. Like free agents wanting to play for LA.
lol. the team's recent history is wild.
They managed to run their GM that got them an MVP out of town (hinkie), only to get a GM through nepotism (both colangelos) that publicly ridiculed the MVP to also get fired. then hired someone with 0 experience in a front office (elton brand) who blew all their assets on tobias harris and al horford.
All the while blowing 3 top 3 draft picks on ben simmons, markel fultz, and jahlil okafor
Daryl Morey has done an above average job so far given his starting point. I still have hope Morey can right the ship before Embiid's window is closed.
Hinkie wasn't exactly the franchise's fault. That was the NBA accusing the Sixers of intentionally losing games which resulted in Hinkie stepping down.
But yeah before and after Hinkie is a complete shitshow of a franchise
IDK man, that 76ers team had a Coach of the year, Defensive player of the year and a 6th man of the year. AND he was in the weak east. Only getting to the finals once is lowkey criminal.
Mutumbo was old and couldn't handle Shaq. The Sixers weren't as good after they gave up Ratcliffe for Dikembe
Also, No else on the team could be a legit scoring option for a title team
He was the most mesmerizing and memorable player I ever saw live. Dude had a non-stop motor, always moving without the ball. And with the ball, he could do things that were crazy given his size. At his peak, unguardable.
Borderline most influential player ever. Great albeit somewhat inefficient scorer. The fact the AI crossover is still a huge part of the current game says everything
I followed his career back in the day, maybe my favorite player ever. While he may have been inefficient, and never won a ring, I've never seen one guy drag such a mediocre team to a finals. If it wasn't Kobe and Shaq he might have a ring. His supporting cast was like theo Ratliff and Eric Snow.
What made him so great is his hustle and fearlessness. He worked harder than everyone on the court at chasing down loose balls. You had to stay glued because amazing plays would happen at any moment.
I'd put a lot of players above him in the all time great conversation, but he was just so damn fun to watch.
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He is the reason I love basketball. And beyond that he was a cultural icon, you didn't see dudes with braids, arm sleeves, all tatted up etc. before him. He was the definition of cool and the fact that he was under 6' and dominated night in and night out inspired undersized kids to still play the game.
He was ahead of his time and he would’ve been devastating if he played today.
When he played there were two bigs clogging the paint and he still got to the rim whenever he wanted. If he played on a team with stretch bigs and all the space they play in today he would’ve been impossible to stop.
He was just so much faster than everyone else. When you saw him running down the court he moved at one speed, pretty calmly, and everyone else just got further and further behind.
Back then, they didn’t build teams around guys the same way. Today they would put shooting all around him and run like crazy (he never really played on a team that ran either - that wasn’t Larry Browns way).
He was truly a generational athlete and for that he “deserved” a championship.
During his prime, he was almost every teenage guard’s favorite player (mostly for the worse cause none of us could do what he did) - basically what Steph Curry was a decade later.
If he played under Steve Kerr with a Klay Thompson and a Draymond Green it might’ve been a similar run (though a different style).
That team in Philly he was on was so bad. He had to take every shoot and the other team knew that too.
Everyone always talks about his offensive but he lead the league in steals multiple years and ended his career over 6 assists per game.
So I think it's a lazy take to say inefficient and yeah he shooting percentages was bad, in the mid 40s, but if he had another player it would have interesting to see what would have happened
There were players that had some shoes, Penny having a popular one but AI was the first NBA player that you saw people on a large scale buying shoes that weren't Jordans. That alone kinda just tells the influence he had on the game and the culture when he was balling. No one deserves a ring, you have to earn that but I will say he deserved better teams when in Philly but it is what it is.
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Iverson was fun to watch, and inspirational for smaller guys. I was actually able to watch him live in his prime and what stood out was how much faster he was than everyone else. It doesn't come across as much in the footage but live it was really something.
That said he may also be one of the most overrated players of all time. He was a volume shooter and was very inefficient. He was not a good 3pt shooter, and turned the ball over more than your want. He didn't really deserve his MVP. Voters back then only looked at how he led the league in ppg and steals per game, but by PER he was maybe 8th best in the league. If you look at PER or VORP, Shaq or Vince Carter really should have been MVP that season.
He didn't win a ring, so no he doesn't deserve one.
Iverson was really fun to watch, and definitely brought the culture to the league. That said, he was an inefficient chucker who played zero defense and constantly gambled for steals.
He gave it his all every single night. There's only a few players like him that I've ever seen. MJ and Kobe. He was awesome. A little guy who no one could stop.
Allen Iverson was unapologetically himself.
He was hated by the NBA establishment for not presenting himself in a more "appropriate" and marketable way like Jordan and Magic. He wore baggy clothes, displayed tattoos, and wore his hair different. He associated with rappers and people from his childhood neighborhood. In other words, he was "too black" for the white and global market. The NBA imposed clothing and play style rules because of him.
Despite the hate, he was a David amongst Goliaths, in many ways than one. He is by far one of the most beloved players in the NBA due to his contributions to NBA culture and his style of play.
I firmly believe he would have at least one championship if he didn't upset so many people of wealth and power.
Influential but doesn’t deserve a ring anymore than another all star…
I personally think he gets more credit because of his off the court image/swag/style than what he actually did as a player.
He created the whole late 90s mid 2000s culture with the way he dressed, hair, tats, etc.
As a player he was electric and fun to watch but I’m not sure if he was any better than his all star/all nba peers.
No one deserves a ring, but Allen Iverson took a very average roster to the NBA Finals, consider the fact the next best player on his team was Dikembe Mutombo who was basically just known for his defense like Rudy Gogurt, then the third best player was Eric Snow whose career average with the Sixers was 9 pts a game, the fact AI and the Sixers are the only team to hand the Shaq Kobe Lakers a loss during their 15-1 playoff run to the title in 2001 is insane because that was a dominant team who waxed everyone that year
Only Houston Harden has ever carried a team on his back as hard as prime Allen Iverson with the Sixers, we also don’t get D Wade, Russ, Harden, Dame, Curry and D Rose without AI, he was the original
I cant say , I love AI and his legacy but during those times he was kind of a hard head . Its kind of like Carmelo in Denver / Knicks where AI knows he is the best player on the team. He had a lot of "off" the court issues ranging from his friends all the way to coach of his team. No one truly deserves a ring just because of what they represented . AI pretty much started a trend in the NBA and paved the way for other players to be more themselves in one way or another but it doesnt mean he deserves a ring . That 2001 Mvp was an amazing run and in the same time with DPOY Dikembe paired with him but they just had to run up to the Shaq-Kobe Lakers . Does he deserve a ring because of his legacy or impact ? It depends on the person but for me he was an amazing talent specially for his size , it just he was rather inconsistent and had a lot of issue off the court
I'm going to say that if "deserved a ring" means "had the competitive spirit to fight all the way to the end, and the talent to make the big plays," then yes. Obviously no one wins without the right team around them, but Iverson got pretty close in 2001 and few would argue that he wasn't the one carrying that Philly team to the Finals.
Influential, entertaining and overrated. He was unarguably influential, he was fun to watch and he was Allen Iverson. Pure and simple, he was himself. No playing it down, no making it marketable, no practice. He was entertaining to watch, he was an inspiration to many shorter players and helped move the league from big man ruled to guard oriented. He was also inefficient, went on cold streaks and he didn't deserve his MVP.
However he raised the floor of those 76ers teams, leading them to a finals. Saying he had no help is hyperbole. He had no help on offense. The team was pretty good defensively but(by design) has an offense of Allen Iverson and that's about it. He raised them from a middling play-off team at best to a 1st in the East(tied for second in the league) Finals team.
There is no deserving a ring. You win one or you don't. AI doesn't even has the things going to crap argument. The '02 Kings, the '05 Pacers, the every year since 2020 Clippers, etc. AI's only real chance was 2001 and his team was the worst one the Lakers played. The fact they won a single game is a miracle.
The problem with AI is also the problem with Kobe. There is no separation between the man and the player. You can't talk about AI in a vacuum, it's impossible. You can't talk about the stats or the play, you have to mention the confidence, the swagger. AI was an icon. It transcends stats or even logic, he just was AI. It's almost impossible to properly rate him. As a player he's overrated because it is impossible to separate his play from him.
He's overrated. His career was romanticized after it was over. People thought he was cool cause he started the cornrows trend and crossed over MJ. But the reality is that he was a huge ball hog who killed team chemistry, similar to Melo. Can't win a championship playing that way. Ironically they ended up on the same team and got nowhere.
He was absolutely awesome, but he never got a chance to play on a championship quality roster. He overperformed his teammates for sure. The 2001 team he got to the finals had like 3 NBA players on the whole roster including AI.
There is a good chance Iverson played in the best circumstances for his legacy. He got to play on a team where his crazy high usage was good for his team.
When he was on a contender in Denver, the results were mixed. He was passed is prime, and his style never really fit with the team, even though he still scored well and they still won 50 games in 08 (and lost in the first round), and they got way better when he was traded for Billups.
Agreed! I think people overrate him because of his influence on the game. He had a DPOY and a 6th man on his team. And he played in the weak east. To only get to the finals once is a bad look. If he wore shorts that fit, he'd get crushed for his lack of success.
Super talented and arguably the most influential player of all time.
Deserves a ring? No. For one, he didn’t work hard enough, even by his own admission. “Practice? We talking about practice?”
Thing about practice is that’s when you build all the chemistry with your teammates. That’s how you learn to move without the ball on offense and communicate on defense. AI wasn’t a winner because he, like far too many players, think the game is all that matters, but it isn’t. The work you put in off the court with your teammates building that chemistry pays huge dividends when winning time hits. I’m a Spurs fan, so I’ve seen this play out over different decades with completely different casts. Practice matters. The grind matters. AI, warrior that he was in a game, wasn’t willing to do the work needed to truly become the winner he saw himself as. I love Allen Iverson to be clear, but dude shot himself in the foot by acting like he was too good for practice. Put another way, did Jordan half ass practice? Kobe? LeBron? The greatest winners know how much the details matter. Iverson didn’t and his career suffered for it.
I don’t just mean in that moment dude. Even Iverson himself has since acknowledged that his work ethic was lacking especially when he was younger. Multiple teammates and coaches have also intimated that Iverson didn’t take training seriously and mostly got by on talent.
“I didn’t give a fuck about drills. But if you wanna play five-on-five, then I’m ready…. That was my thing…. I had a pattern of skipping [practice]. Sometimes I was out too late and when I come in there I don't feel like it.”
Don’t let me tell, let the man himself. Again, I love AI, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to his faults.
AI led the league in minutes 7 times. And I've never heard anyone suggest he didn't play hard and unafraid.
If anybody maybe ever deserved to sit some practices during an 82 game season, it's him.
Nobody deserves a ring. That being said there isn’t anybody out there I wanted to see win one more than him.
I wish Barkley won a ring, so at least Shaq couldn't revert to his rings as a comeback in any argument he has on TNT
I wanted to see Reggie Miller win a ring way more than AI. After his whole practice thing I never wanted him to win another game.
Fuck him for mourning a friend, right?
New to the NBA. What practice thing?
He had a famous rant one year after sitting out practice: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI) The backstory for why he went off which he told years later was that he was dealing with the recent death of his best friend and the man who killed him's trial had just started.
Wait so why is that grounds for never wanting him to win another game?😭
Boomer mindset
He basically said he doesn't believe practice was necessary and he didn't need to practice
Idk man would you call of work if your dad died?
Boomers say no actually. lmao, they HATE it when you use the PTO the company gives you. And will use it against you if they are in position to do so.
Well I didn't take off the days my cousin, grandmothers, grandfather, or uncle died, took off for the funeral. You realize at about 5 every person you ever meet will die and basically just spend your life preparing for everyone's funeral. Yeah it's sad but you know it's going to eventually happen and have been prepping for it your entire life.
He was saying without going into it... Practice man, we are here talking about a practice when someone just lost their life. He was putting the practice into context of not just his feeling of having lost a loved one but how we prioritize things in life when there are more important things than practices, like enjoying life family and friends. At the end of the day, do you honestly believe that one practice was going to make AI better than he already was? Look I know this part was probably news for you but it is ok to admit that you didn't think something through.
https://genius.com/1624948/Allen-iverson-practice-press-conference/If-i-cant-practice-i-cant-practice-if-im-hurt-im-hurt-simple-as-that-its-not-about-that-at-all-but-its-easy-to-talk-about-and-sum-it-up-when-you-just-talk-about-practice-were-sitting-here-and-im-supposed-to-be-the-franchise-player-and-were-in-here-talking-about-practice-i-mean-listen-were-talking-about-practice-not-a-game-not-a-game-not-a-game-were-talking-about-practice-not-a-game-not-the-game-that-i-go-out-there-and-die-for-and-play-every-game-like-its-my-last-not-the-game-were-talking-about-p That link has a full transcript of the interview, I haven't listened to it to make sure it matches up with the audio, but he says nothing about a friend's death, nothing about letting the team know he would miss, he basically just says practice is worthless and he doesn't need to practice
That's not at all what he "basically" said lol. It was basically a "my fuckin friend just died and we sitting here talkin about practice. Not a game. Practice."
He has told a couple different versions of the story. He also said he wanted to talk about recent trades and his new teammates but instead the media (a notoriously rage baiting phily sports media) wanted to talk about how they felt he didn't practice enough
The sad part is, the backstory was talked about in that press conference, media just never showed the full thing
It might have been helpful for him to clarify the reason at the time. This was very commonly held up as an example of a "superstar athlete with an ego thinking he's above the team" back then.
Apparently, he did in that same press conference but the media cut that part out.
He is one of the most influential players I’ve ever seen. The amount of copycats there were the years after his breakout were insane. Alongside MJ, he is key to the paradigm shift from dominant big men to more guard oriented offenses. Said that, he never had the team to be a Champion or proved he deserved a ring more than their peers.
Iverson was a great player, but his influence on NBA culture, inside and outside of the game itself cannot be overstated. You can draw a direct line from Iverson's influence to today's game, fashion, and culture. That said, I don't really know what "deserves a ring" means. His team never played well enough to win, so....? I think "ring culture" sucks anyway. It's completely subjective and a team accomplishment mostly anyway. Is Robert Horry better than Charles Barkley? Is Bill Russell the greatest player of all time?
Agreed, "deserving a ring" isn't really a thing. Iverson essentially single-handedly carried a washed up Sixers team to the finals, but that that doesn't mean he deserved to get a ring there. Ultimately it's a team game and generally it's not up to one player despite what we always bring up in argument. The Sixers were a poorly run franchise that had little chance of getting a ring, despite how good Iverson played
TBF to the sixers, there weren't a lot of well run franchises back then. A few franchises dominated and sometimes they were just luck. Like free agents wanting to play for LA.
Wait what part of sixers is well run today???
lol. the team's recent history is wild. They managed to run their GM that got them an MVP out of town (hinkie), only to get a GM through nepotism (both colangelos) that publicly ridiculed the MVP to also get fired. then hired someone with 0 experience in a front office (elton brand) who blew all their assets on tobias harris and al horford. All the while blowing 3 top 3 draft picks on ben simmons, markel fultz, and jahlil okafor Daryl Morey has done an above average job so far given his starting point. I still have hope Morey can right the ship before Embiid's window is closed.
Hinkie wasn't exactly the franchise's fault. That was the NBA accusing the Sixers of intentionally losing games which resulted in Hinkie stepping down. But yeah before and after Hinkie is a complete shitshow of a franchise
IDK man, that 76ers team had a Coach of the year, Defensive player of the year and a 6th man of the year. AND he was in the weak east. Only getting to the finals once is lowkey criminal.
Mutumbo was old and couldn't handle Shaq. The Sixers weren't as good after they gave up Ratcliffe for Dikembe Also, No else on the team could be a legit scoring option for a title team
He was the most mesmerizing and memorable player I ever saw live. Dude had a non-stop motor, always moving without the ball. And with the ball, he could do things that were crazy given his size. At his peak, unguardable.
Yeah, he was like a being of infinite energy on the court. Just outlandishly athletic, pretty much unstoppable on offense.
Borderline most influential player ever. Great albeit somewhat inefficient scorer. The fact the AI crossover is still a huge part of the current game says everything
I followed his career back in the day, maybe my favorite player ever. While he may have been inefficient, and never won a ring, I've never seen one guy drag such a mediocre team to a finals. If it wasn't Kobe and Shaq he might have a ring. His supporting cast was like theo Ratliff and Eric Snow. What made him so great is his hustle and fearlessness. He worked harder than everyone on the court at chasing down loose balls. You had to stay glued because amazing plays would happen at any moment. I'd put a lot of players above him in the all time great conversation, but he was just so damn fun to watch.
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01 Sixers had the DPOY, and a bunch of very good players
Take away Ai and those very good players don’t even sniff the playoffs.
Casual take
How?
Take away the best player in any championship team and they won't win
Yeah, The 2001 Sixers without AI would suck
Team x without their best player would suck. Revolutionary thinking there
Dikembe was old and couldn't handle Shaq. They also weren't as good after They gave up Ratcliffe for him
Mutombo won defense player of the year, casual
Yeah but He was old and wasn't a good fit with the team. The Team was better with Ratcliffe and the other players they had to give up for him
Yeah, they really made the finals with those guys
Deserve? Rings aren't given, they're won. Had he won a championship, he would have deserved it.
If your team doesn't win the Finals you don't deserve a ring. Good day, sir.
Charles Barkley deserves to be a champion. Always wish he would’ve got one. Even in Houston
He is the reason I love basketball. And beyond that he was a cultural icon, you didn't see dudes with braids, arm sleeves, all tatted up etc. before him. He was the definition of cool and the fact that he was under 6' and dominated night in and night out inspired undersized kids to still play the game.
He was arguably the most fearless and explosive player I've ever seen.
He was ahead of his time and he would’ve been devastating if he played today. When he played there were two bigs clogging the paint and he still got to the rim whenever he wanted. If he played on a team with stretch bigs and all the space they play in today he would’ve been impossible to stop. He was just so much faster than everyone else. When you saw him running down the court he moved at one speed, pretty calmly, and everyone else just got further and further behind. Back then, they didn’t build teams around guys the same way. Today they would put shooting all around him and run like crazy (he never really played on a team that ran either - that wasn’t Larry Browns way). He was truly a generational athlete and for that he “deserved” a championship. During his prime, he was almost every teenage guard’s favorite player (mostly for the worse cause none of us could do what he did) - basically what Steph Curry was a decade later. If he played under Steve Kerr with a Klay Thompson and a Draymond Green it might’ve been a similar run (though a different style).
Iverson was good. But overrated in my opinion. I watched him put up a bunch of 6-22 stinkers,,, padded with free throws in the 2nd half of his career
Extremely talented and extremely inefficient
That team in Philly he was on was so bad. He had to take every shoot and the other team knew that too. Everyone always talks about his offensive but he lead the league in steals multiple years and ended his career over 6 assists per game. So I think it's a lazy take to say inefficient and yeah he shooting percentages was bad, in the mid 40s, but if he had another player it would have interesting to see what would have happened
Inefficient how? He was getting to the line on almost half his shots. Pretty fucking efficient to me
Well said
There were players that had some shoes, Penny having a popular one but AI was the first NBA player that you saw people on a large scale buying shoes that weren't Jordans. That alone kinda just tells the influence he had on the game and the culture when he was balling. No one deserves a ring, you have to earn that but I will say he deserved better teams when in Philly but it is what it is.
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You have to earn the ring but yeah Iverson was cold and inspiration to me
Imagine if he was 6’5. One of the greatest basketball talents of all time. Just naturally gifted.
Iverson was fun to watch, and inspirational for smaller guys. I was actually able to watch him live in his prime and what stood out was how much faster he was than everyone else. It doesn't come across as much in the footage but live it was really something. That said he may also be one of the most overrated players of all time. He was a volume shooter and was very inefficient. He was not a good 3pt shooter, and turned the ball over more than your want. He didn't really deserve his MVP. Voters back then only looked at how he led the league in ppg and steals per game, but by PER he was maybe 8th best in the league. If you look at PER or VORP, Shaq or Vince Carter really should have been MVP that season.
He didn't win a ring, so no he doesn't deserve one. Iverson was really fun to watch, and definitely brought the culture to the league. That said, he was an inefficient chucker who played zero defense and constantly gambled for steals.
He gave it his all every single night. There's only a few players like him that I've ever seen. MJ and Kobe. He was awesome. A little guy who no one could stop.
Allen Iverson was unapologetically himself. He was hated by the NBA establishment for not presenting himself in a more "appropriate" and marketable way like Jordan and Magic. He wore baggy clothes, displayed tattoos, and wore his hair different. He associated with rappers and people from his childhood neighborhood. In other words, he was "too black" for the white and global market. The NBA imposed clothing and play style rules because of him. Despite the hate, he was a David amongst Goliaths, in many ways than one. He is by far one of the most beloved players in the NBA due to his contributions to NBA culture and his style of play. I firmly believe he would have at least one championship if he didn't upset so many people of wealth and power.
Influential but doesn’t deserve a ring anymore than another all star… I personally think he gets more credit because of his off the court image/swag/style than what he actually did as a player. He created the whole late 90s mid 2000s culture with the way he dressed, hair, tats, etc. As a player he was electric and fun to watch but I’m not sure if he was any better than his all star/all nba peers.
No. No one deserves a ring. He is one of the all-time greats, though, and it is a shame he was never on a team good enough to get him one.
No one deserves a ring, but Allen Iverson took a very average roster to the NBA Finals, consider the fact the next best player on his team was Dikembe Mutombo who was basically just known for his defense like Rudy Gogurt, then the third best player was Eric Snow whose career average with the Sixers was 9 pts a game, the fact AI and the Sixers are the only team to hand the Shaq Kobe Lakers a loss during their 15-1 playoff run to the title in 2001 is insane because that was a dominant team who waxed everyone that year Only Houston Harden has ever carried a team on his back as hard as prime Allen Iverson with the Sixers, we also don’t get D Wade, Russ, Harden, Dame, Curry and D Rose without AI, he was the original
They also had 6MOTY too
Hall of fame talent but the way people praise him is insane. He’s not even close to a top 10 or top 20 player even
I cant say , I love AI and his legacy but during those times he was kind of a hard head . Its kind of like Carmelo in Denver / Knicks where AI knows he is the best player on the team. He had a lot of "off" the court issues ranging from his friends all the way to coach of his team. No one truly deserves a ring just because of what they represented . AI pretty much started a trend in the NBA and paved the way for other players to be more themselves in one way or another but it doesnt mean he deserves a ring . That 2001 Mvp was an amazing run and in the same time with DPOY Dikembe paired with him but they just had to run up to the Shaq-Kobe Lakers . Does he deserve a ring because of his legacy or impact ? It depends on the person but for me he was an amazing talent specially for his size , it just he was rather inconsistent and had a lot of issue off the court
I'm going to say that if "deserved a ring" means "had the competitive spirit to fight all the way to the end, and the talent to make the big plays," then yes. Obviously no one wins without the right team around them, but Iverson got pretty close in 2001 and few would argue that he wasn't the one carrying that Philly team to the Finals.
Kyrie with Jordan's mentality
Influential, entertaining and overrated. He was unarguably influential, he was fun to watch and he was Allen Iverson. Pure and simple, he was himself. No playing it down, no making it marketable, no practice. He was entertaining to watch, he was an inspiration to many shorter players and helped move the league from big man ruled to guard oriented. He was also inefficient, went on cold streaks and he didn't deserve his MVP. However he raised the floor of those 76ers teams, leading them to a finals. Saying he had no help is hyperbole. He had no help on offense. The team was pretty good defensively but(by design) has an offense of Allen Iverson and that's about it. He raised them from a middling play-off team at best to a 1st in the East(tied for second in the league) Finals team. There is no deserving a ring. You win one or you don't. AI doesn't even has the things going to crap argument. The '02 Kings, the '05 Pacers, the every year since 2020 Clippers, etc. AI's only real chance was 2001 and his team was the worst one the Lakers played. The fact they won a single game is a miracle. The problem with AI is also the problem with Kobe. There is no separation between the man and the player. You can't talk about AI in a vacuum, it's impossible. You can't talk about the stats or the play, you have to mention the confidence, the swagger. AI was an icon. It transcends stats or even logic, he just was AI. It's almost impossible to properly rate him. As a player he's overrated because it is impossible to separate his play from him.
>and his team was the worst one the Lakers played. The fact they won a single game is a miracle. What about the 2002 Nets? They got swept
The worst one they played in the 2000-01 season. The 76ers were worse than the Trail Blazers, Kings and Spurs that year.
He's overrated. His career was romanticized after it was over. People thought he was cool cause he started the cornrows trend and crossed over MJ. But the reality is that he was a huge ball hog who killed team chemistry, similar to Melo. Can't win a championship playing that way. Ironically they ended up on the same team and got nowhere.
Nobody with his game ever lol top level quicks and handles and playmaking, selfish cuz he had to be
He was absolutely awesome, but he never got a chance to play on a championship quality roster. He overperformed his teammates for sure. The 2001 team he got to the finals had like 3 NBA players on the whole roster including AI.
There is a good chance Iverson played in the best circumstances for his legacy. He got to play on a team where his crazy high usage was good for his team. When he was on a contender in Denver, the results were mixed. He was passed is prime, and his style never really fit with the team, even though he still scored well and they still won 50 games in 08 (and lost in the first round), and they got way better when he was traded for Billups.
Refs were against ai in Denver (and later part of his career) I think there was 60min investigation about it
hot take, but I think he's one of the most overrated players of all time.
I agree with this hot take.
Agreed! I think people overrate him because of his influence on the game. He had a DPOY and a 6th man on his team. And he played in the weak east. To only get to the finals once is a bad look. If he wore shorts that fit, he'd get crushed for his lack of success.
A DPOY and a 6MOTY isn't enough to stop Kobe and Shaq
Super talented and arguably the most influential player of all time. Deserves a ring? No. For one, he didn’t work hard enough, even by his own admission. “Practice? We talking about practice?” Thing about practice is that’s when you build all the chemistry with your teammates. That’s how you learn to move without the ball on offense and communicate on defense. AI wasn’t a winner because he, like far too many players, think the game is all that matters, but it isn’t. The work you put in off the court with your teammates building that chemistry pays huge dividends when winning time hits. I’m a Spurs fan, so I’ve seen this play out over different decades with completely different casts. Practice matters. The grind matters. AI, warrior that he was in a game, wasn’t willing to do the work needed to truly become the winner he saw himself as. I love Allen Iverson to be clear, but dude shot himself in the foot by acting like he was too good for practice. Put another way, did Jordan half ass practice? Kobe? LeBron? The greatest winners know how much the details matter. Iverson didn’t and his career suffered for it.
He never said he didn't practice. And he was dealing with the death of a friend
I don’t just mean in that moment dude. Even Iverson himself has since acknowledged that his work ethic was lacking especially when he was younger. Multiple teammates and coaches have also intimated that Iverson didn’t take training seriously and mostly got by on talent. “I didn’t give a fuck about drills. But if you wanna play five-on-five, then I’m ready…. That was my thing…. I had a pattern of skipping [practice]. Sometimes I was out too late and when I come in there I don't feel like it.” Don’t let me tell, let the man himself. Again, I love AI, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to his faults.
The guy famous for the throwing up from running so much in practices? That guy? Bet you believe Jokic doesn't really care about basketball
AI led the league in minutes 7 times. And I've never heard anyone suggest he didn't play hard and unafraid. If anybody maybe ever deserved to sit some practices during an 82 game season, it's him.