The "If We're Going to Lose, We Might as Well Sell Some Jersey's" Teams
New Jersey Nets
Other Guards on the Roster: Rafer Alston, Keyon Dooling, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Terrence Williams.
The Nets have gone nearly a quarter of the way through the season without winning a basketball game. I know they are well stocked at the guard position, and even have some nice young prospects there, but what good is that if you can't win a single game this far into the season? Having watched them a couple times against the Nuggets, this team could use a player who plays as hard as Iverson does every game. Even if it means cutting down the minutes of some of their youngsters for a season, I think getting to watch a player like AI would have a positive effect on these guys in the long run. Not to mention the fact that if any team could use a guy that can single handedly win a game for you when he's on, it's the New Jersey Nets.
New York Knicks
Other Guard on the Roster: Chris Duhon, Nate Robinson, Larry Hughes, Toney Douglas, Cuttino Mobley
It seems like Iverson is a perfect fit for the up-tempo Mike D'Antoni style of basketball. He can drive to the lane, get creative on the fast break and is good at finding the open man spotting up for a 3. He would provide a nice change of pace from Duhon, and I have a hard time believing that cutting into Hughes' minutes would be much of a problem considering he's shooting under 40% from the field and 30% from 3 pt. range. The main issue I see here is that there's pretty much no way to play AI and Nate Robinson together. As much press as Iverson gets for being a bad apple, I can't even imagine the impact Li'l Nate would have if his minutes got cut down any more. I can see why people thought the Knicks should go for it, but as long as Nate's on the roster, it just wasn't worth it.
The "We're Probably Not Going Far in the Playoffs with our Current Roster" Teams
Indiana Pacers
Other Guards on Roster: Travis Diener, TJ Ford, Luther Head, Dahntay Jones, AJ Price, Brandon Rush, Earl Watson
Obviously there's a glut of guards on this roster, but I don't see why AI can't take Earl Watson's minutes here. Watson plays roughly the same game, maybe a little better defensively, but definitely not even close offensively. Having Rush and Jones around make AI's height (or lack thereof) a non-issue, and with such good shooters in the frontcourt (Granger, Murphy and Hibbert) this is a surprisingly good fit for Iverson. I'm sure there are some financial reasons behind why they were never really mentioned as a possible destination (along with the strange picture of Allen Iverson living in Indiana), but based solely on the current roster, I think the Pacers would be a great basketball fit for Iverson.
Toronto Raptors
Other Guards on the Roster: Marcus Banks, Marco Bellinelli, Jose Calderon, Jarrett Jack, Sonny Weems
This team has been very disappointing so far this season and could use something to inject a little life into their game. The guard play has been so inconsistent that Nuggets castoff Sonny Weems has been getting a decent amount of legitimate playing time already this season. Chris Bosh seems like the exact type of front-court player Iverson could mesh with. He's got a good shooting touch from the outside, so he won't clog up the lane, but he can also crash the boards and take advantage of AI's aggresive offensive style. Obviously Calderon will get this minutes, but with where this team is right now in the top-heavy East, I don't see why Iverson couldn't see the time that Jack and Bellinelli are currently getting. Much like Indiana though, it's hard to picture Iverson lacing them up in Canada for a year.
The "Contenders Who May Be Looking to Fill a Hole" Teams
Los Angeles Lakers
Other Guards on Roster: Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Shannon Brown, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic
I realize this is probably the longest of longshots, but looking at the roster, why not? Obviously they love Derek Fisher in LA, but there's no question that he's about as slow a point guard as there is in the league these days. He's always been a streaky shooter, but the hot streaks have been coming few and far between this year. He stays out of the way on offense, which could be a good thing on this team, but I think it's pretty clear that he's the chink in the armor of the defending champs. Kobe and Vujacic have the height to cover for AI defensively and as good as they've been for short periods of time, I don't think anyone's crying over Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar seeing a little more time on the bench. I know it would never happen, but it's hard not to think that adding AI would give the champs a bit of a spark for the rest of the year.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Other Guards on the Roster: Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Daniel Gibson, Delonte West, Coby Karl, Daniel Green
Now Cleveland is a team that I actually did hear tossed around as a possible landing spot for the Answer. There's really no need to emphasize how important this season is for this franchise, they will do whatever it takes to build a contender around King James as he heads towards free agency. I think that if AI had become available later in the season and it was clear that they needed a little something extra to dominate the conference, they would have seriously considered bringing Iverson in for a spark, but at this point in the season, I think they're willing to see how this team comes together with Anthony Parker and Shaq Diesel as their big off-season acquisitions.
The "Sentimental Favorite" Teams
Charlotte Bobcats
Other Guards on the Roster: DJ Augustin, Raymond Felton, Gerald Henderson, Acie Law, Flip Murray
Re-uniting with Larry Brown would be somewhat of a story-book ending in the career of Iverson and this franchise is clearly not afraid of undersized guards. Larry Brown wants his team to be taken seriously as a contender (for the playoffs at least) in the Eastern conference this year, but for some reason they immediately took themselves out of the running. Augustin, Felton and Murray have their moments, but have they done anything to prove that they deserve big time minutes on successful teams? Maybe Brown thought that the good relationship with his former nemesis Iverson would be in danger if he had to actually coach him again. Whatever their reasoning, I think it would have been worth a shot for this team to put the ball in AI's hands and see where he could take them for a season.
Philadelphia 76ers
Other Guards on the Roster: Andre Iguodala, Willie Green, Lou Williams, Royal Ivey, Jrue Holiday
It seems like every guard they've acquired (other than Andre Miller) since trading AI away has had the tag of possibly becoming the "next Iverson" but all have fallen far short of those expectations. Lou Williams was off to a solid start this year but was far from a game-changer and will now miss a significant amount of playing time with a broken jaw. Iguodala provides the Sixers with a chance to play smaller point guards, so the Williams injury makes this just about a perfect fit in every way. Not only is it a decent basketball decision, but it'll give AI a chance to spend at least one more season with the team he grew up with and carried on his back for a decade. I was very happy to hear that Philly decided to extend an offer to Iverson and I hope that he takes advantage of this opportunity to prove to the league exactly what he has left in the tank.
No comments:
Post a Comment