I come to second your quoting of Allen Iverson's better than expected assist ratios. Fine, he's a bit of a ballhog (and has been since he was a Hoya), but really, did he ever play with another decent offensive player? Sorry, Aaron Mckie and Mutombo don't count as 'decent'. Who else is supposed to score the points when all your other players kind of suck?
I heart Allen Iverson for many reasons, but perhaps the paramount reason is that every time he's in a game, he's hustling his ass off. Remember how sports culture used to laud Joe DiMaggio because he played hard, no matter the score? That's what AI represents to me---it doesn't matter what the hell he does off the court, be it staying up late with the wrong crowd, or allegedly pistol-whipping a naked woman on his cousin's porch. Hell, Mr. DiMaggio was a known party guy and he was also alleged to be a wife-beater, but history reveres him.
History will eventually give AI his due, but he will also always be associated with the uber-blackification of the NBA in the 1990s. Oh, sure, back in the 1970s, lots of the Knicks and Sixers and Lakers had black players with Afros and long fur coats, but those fellows never really threatened to take over the league. Coaches still had all the power, and teamwork was still all the rage in the 70s and 80s. But in the 1990s, black guys started getting scary tattoos, backsassing their coaches, getting arrested in higher-profile incidents, making rap albums, oh, and by the way, controlling the style of play in the game. The old (white) basketball establishment, those cranks who believe that the four corners offense and the Auerbach reign of terror were the holy tenants of hoops were clearly alarmed and disgusted by this bevy of young rebellious negroes, and the poster boy for all of these characters was Allen Iverson. Every time Sheed or Artest or Steven Jackson does something silly, Allen Iverson is "remembered" as the guy who opened the floodgates for the NBA thug culture.
Oh, and what about that whole "practice" thing? OMG ALLEN IVERSON IS LAZY AND SELFISH AND DOESN'T WANT TO PRACTICE BASKETBALL IS IN TROUBLE!!! I declare shenanigans on that entire premise. First, I will put the whole quote, and emphasize the exculpatory words:
If Coach tells you that I missed practice, then that's that. I may have missed one practice this year but if somebody says he missed one practice of all the practices this year, then that's enough to get a whole lot started. I told Coach Brown that you don't have to give the people of Philadelphia a reason to think about trading me or anything like that. If you trade somebody, you trade them to make the team better...simple as that. I'm cool with that. I'm all about that. The people in Philadelphia deserve to have a winner. It's simple as that. It goes further than that ... If I can't practice, I can't practice. It is as simple as that. It ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about practice. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're talking about practice. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game last it's my last but we're talking about practice man. How silly is that? ... Now I know that I'm supposed to lead by example and all that but I'm not shoving that aside like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I honestly do but we're talking about practice. We're talking about practice man. We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you've seen me play right, you've seen me give everything I've got, but we're talking about practice right now. ... Hey I hear you, it's funny to me too, hey it's strange to me too but we're talking about practice man, we're not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we're talking about practice ... How in the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?
So, he says something that is essentially true, but he gets crucified in the media for damaging the game. Meanwhile:
Other basketball stars (cough Shaq) are allowed to show up to camp fat and out of shape, then coast through the first 25 games. But he's lovable Shaq! Law-enforcer! He smiles! He's like a giant Cosby!
A slew of baseball pitchers, most notably Roger Clemens, are allowed to miss practice and even actual games when they won't have to play. But when Allen shows up to a game he's not playing in, it can be generated into a problem by the media--blame the player, not the hamfisted 76er management.
Brett Farve is allowed to skip training camp, and he seems to hold weekly press conferences to announce the time for his next press conference, at which he will announce that he loves football, and isn't sure whether he's retiring yet. What a warrior! He's a true gunslinger!
It just seems to me that a contigent of the media just doesn't like Allen, so anything they can print that makes him look like less of a basketball superstar is good for them. But the man plays his ass off, he never stops hustling, and he gives you everything he's got, so I don't give a damn what the hell he does with his off-work hours. Isn't that what America should be about?
