Allen Iverson: Answer or Fraud?

Jason Whitlock, a writer who I respect quite a bit, recently wrote an article for Fox Sports titled “No Question, Iverson was Never the Answer.” In the article, Whitlock criticized Detroit Pistons’ guard Allen Iverson (#3 in the picture; he was a Denver Nugget at the time) for quitting on the team, and suggested that winning was never something that was important to him (for the full article, please click on the following link).

Whitlock: No Question, Iverson was Never the Answer

Jason Whitlock has written many articles that are stimulating to the mind. While I do not always agree with what he says nor where he stands, I think his criticism on the problems of African Americans unwittingly trying to live up to the “hood image” is bang on. The Iverson article has some similar notions in it as well, but I would respectfully disagree with Whitlock’s take that winning was never important for Iverson.

Standing at 6’0” and 165 pounds, Iverson never had the chance to be the next Michael Jordan, as Whitlock has pointed out. We all know that Iverson shoots the ball an awful lot, and does not take practice very seriously. I would even go as far as agreeing with Whitlock that Iverson is a soloist who “played both backcourt positions at the same time, leaving his teammates plenty of opportunity to stand around and watch.” I also agree that Iverson does not make his team-mates around him better… BUT…

A player who does not value winning would not throw around his miniature body (relatively speaking, in NBA terms) like Iverson does (as seen in the picture on the left where he drove in for a lay-up against the now defunct Seattle Super Sonics). Watching Iverson over the years, you cannot convince me that he would endure the physical punishment he has received just for the money or for the “street cred.” While I agree that Iverson’s concept about the team is not the “correct” one, I would argue that it is more of a case of a misplaced sense of leadership than one that stems from selfishness.

Similar to Kobe Bryant in his earlier days, Iverson found himself to be the best player on the team. He might have felt that he dribbling all the balls, taking all the shots, and taking all the hits IS the best formula for winning. Kobe did that, but eventually grew out of it. Iverson, sadly, never did, and now, his career is winding down.

Call me naïve, but I do have this sense of empathy for athletes who grew up in a disadvantaged environment and were not taught properly the concept of distributed leadership and team. Iverson was a victim of that; it does not give him an excuse for never growing out of that, but to say he does not want to win, in my opinion anyway, is too harsh a criticism.

He is, to me, an answer… not always the right answer and the best answer, but nonetheless, an answer.