Allen Iverson talks Sixers.

Exactly one year ago tomorrow, the 76ers traded the best basketballer under 6 feet to ever don a Philly uniform.  Even though almost 12 full months have passed, Iverson still has an opinion of the newer, Iguodala-led squad. 

From the Rocky Mountain News:

"If I was still in Philadelphia, I don't think they would be in the predicament that they're in right now," Iverson said. "The way the East is, I would think that we would be right there in the hunt. . . . I look at (Philadelphia's) games right now, and it looks like a rec league game or an AAU game when you see the attendance there. It just looks dull."

Ouch.  Hard to argue with you there Allen, but how do ya think the Sixers made out when they traded you?

"I know they didn't get enough," Iverson, 32, said. "In my heart, they know they didn't get enough. The fans in Philadelphia know they didn't get enough. . . . (The 76ers) just wanted me out of there."

Besides those not-so-complimentary comments, A.I. also reiterates that he never wanted to leave:

"I always said I wanted to end my career as a Sixer," Iverson said. "And I wanted that so bad for my fans. . . . We had lost a lot of games. . . . I came into a meeting and I told them that I didn't think, the way we were going, we could win. And I voiced my opinion on what I thought we could do to help us win. And they didn't care what I thought."

For some reason, the most offensive part of this post for me is the picture of Iverson with a Colorado Rockies cap.  That hurts.

>> Denver, Philadelphia remodeled by Iverson deal [Rocky Mountain News, via Daily News]

Comments

[Cliff]

AI's right. I don't see any reason we couldn't have added the necessary pieces around AI to be a top team in the Leastern Conference. Just like McNabb, AI is getting up there in age and can't do it ALL himself anymore but he can be a center piece with help. Signing Dalembert to a ridiculous contract, bringing in a way overpaid Chris Webber, thinking Kyle Korver can be a good 2 or bench player is all B.S.

[Mike]

Regardless of what I think of what he said, I will always blame the failures of the Iverson teams on Billy King.

[Mike]

Look at AI right now. Leading his team in points, assists, steals, minutes, makes everyone around him better, has a solid assist-to-turnover ratio, has a much improved FG%, still dropping 50-point games. The Nuggets are leading their division, are a lock for the playoffs and are just getting better.

Now look at what the Sixers and journos said about the man while he was in Philly: it's too hard to build around him, he's not a team player, you need to have spare parts surrounding him because he needs the ball constantly, he's a thug, he's a bum, blah blah blah.

AI's reign in Denver shows that he was never the problem, it was the management that was the problem. When Keith Van Horn or a two-years-past-his prime Chris Webber are your best shots at fixing a once-great team, then you're not trying hard enough. There will always be a pain in my side over how we traded away one of the top 4 players to ever play in this city.

I know these points have been hammered at over and over again, I'm just still bitter.

[tagryn]

So we basically traded AI for Andre Miller and Jason Smith, in the final reckoning.

[T]

It was a lose-lose situation let's face it...

We really have to luck out with the draft for the next couple of years. I can't believe how much worse our team is than every other team.

[chris]

AI won this deal