Welcome Back, A.I.
Tonight, Allen Iverson will make (what I assume to be) his triumphant return to the Watchovaya Center in front of a raucous, sold-out crowd.
In this morning's Inquirer, Phil Sheridan writes a semi-retrospective of A.I.'s career here in Philly and where his legacy stands now. It's definitely worth reading, but one particular blurb stood out to me:
But then there is the body count. To appease (or, if you prefer, get the most out of) Iverson while he was here, the Sixers bent themselves into every possible shape. The challenge of building around a 6-foot, "bony as hell" MVP and working around his singular philosophy about "practice" meant a lot of turnover over the years.
The body count:
Larry Hughes and Tim Thomas and Jerry Stackhouse, Theo Ratliff and Dikembe Mutombo, Toni Kukoc and Keith Van Horn, Derrick Coleman and Glenn Robinson and Chris Webber.
They brought in those guys to appease Iverson? Those players are -- for the most part -- garbage. If you take a quick look back at basically every championship team in the history of the NBA, you'll find two Hall of Famers.
Exactly zero of the aforementioned players fit that bill.
>> Phil Sheridan: Allen Iverson's complicated legacy [Inquirer]
More on A.I. later...
Hey man, lay off Larry Hughes, time's still gonna tell on that one!
Check out video below of AI & Nelly fishing & playing Horse, it's spectacular.
Video
Posted by: bboova | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Should be a fun night tonight, both with the AI's return and the teams running the floor. Hopefully the Sixers don't get wrapped up with AI, stay focused and win to get to .500
Scoreboard watch
Wiz at Magic
Heat at Raptors
Posted by: gootman | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Cant wait to get outta work and hopefully get down there on tiem, thank you 95.
Hopefully the Wizards lose tonight, and maybe just maybe, Miami can pull one outta the hat and beat the Raptors.
Been doing a Top 10 AI Sixer moments on the blog and #1 will be revealed as we near gametime. Lots of sweet vids.
Posted by: 215 Sports | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 11:52 AM
hughes instead of paul pierce. i will forever hate larry brown.
Posted by: will | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 12:16 PM
215,
Great stuff! Mind if I link to it from the Fortress?
Posted by: Chamomiles Davis | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Maybe Iverson will stop acting like a spurned 15 year-old girl and actually acknowledge Mo Cheeks tonight, instead of refusing to talk to him because he doesn't want to "act fake."
Remember how excited AI was when Cheeks was named head coach? That all went away, however, when Cheeks actually tried to coach him, rather than just be his friend.
Posted by: Pike | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 02:23 PM
Iverson has a ton of faults, but it's awfully tough to out and out hate AI.
Hopefully, no boos this PM. Thankfully, the Sixers are playing good ball, so it should be a positive evening.
On the court, you can't question AI's effort. When he retires, his legacy will be a little easier to distill when the emotion of his time here and subsequent departure fade away.
Posted by: johndewar | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 02:49 PM
I disagree. It's very easy to hate Iverson. He's a fraud and a phony.
Posted by: pj | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 07:49 PM
Phil Sheridan is a lazy hack.
Posted by: kevin | Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 09:31 PM
PJ, you don't hate Iverson nearly as much as you hate yourself!
Posted by: bboova | Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 12:14 PM