No one said he wasn’t incredibly talented. AI never harnessed that talent into more than being a shoot first guy that must have the ball in his hands to be sucessful. Thus, 20,000 points came as a byproduct of his talent and his shoot mentality. But, he was and still is a chucker as his terrible FG% shows.

He wasn’t ever going to fit in with Detroit, who played great team basketball for several years before Dumars tore it up (for right or wrong). Detroit took him to take his contract and send him on his merry way next year, period.

Send him to Golden State where it’s all about the individual. He will chuck it with the rest of the Warriors and put up some decent numbers and be happy because he would be The Man. That’s the only way he’ll be happy now.

The didn’t change the rules. The officials started calling it BY the rules. Thanks to Chuck Daly for changing basketball into some form of wrestling with a ball and a hoop.

Hand checking was modified with the you couldn’t hand check with an extended arm rule (Derek Harper rule), then it was eliminated altogther. You can play a zone but you are still called for 3 seconds in the paint, so what does that do; open up the lanes. But you say there haven’t been rule changes? OK.

The defenses in the league in the 90’s was so good, Stern had to go out and change the rules in order to generate more offense.

The didn’t change the rules. The officials started calling it BY the rules. Thanks to Chuck Daly for changing basketball into some form of wrestling with a ball and a hoop.

If you had a player who could score 1 on 1 it was a benefit.

Too bad Iverson wasn’t very good at it himself, as his 52% career true shooting % would attest.

He could take shots with the best of them. Making them was a challenge.

Iverson is a relic of the 90s “me-first” one on one style of basketball that was rampant in the Eastern Conference. It never won any titles, and it never lasted when good team basketball came back around.

The 90’s was about physical, bump and grind defense. As a matter of fact, for most of the history of the League before the 90’s teams didn’t even play help defense. The defenses in the league in the 90’s was so good, Stern had to go out and change the rules in order to generate more offense. If you had a player who could score 1 on 1 it was a benefit. It had nothing to do with being “me first”.

I’ve given A.I. the benefit of the doubt for most of the season, but when he went down, I was actually happy. Not because he was hurt but because he was out of the lineup. Detroit was clearly not playing team ball and roles were confusing when A.I. was in the lineup. He went out, they understood roles. But Sheed and Rip got hurt and it got bad.

I’m looking forward to A.I. and his contract getting out of Detroit after this season. The Pistons will be much better served spending 15-20 million on someone or two guys who can contribute better on the floor to the organization.