Why the Iverson - Anthony Denver failed?

[nomansland]

So basically elite scorers get bad reps for playing no defense automatically huh? All those steals Allen got he didnt play D right. I watch the knicks and Melo does play D.Let me guess, Durant does play D because he's a likable person.

I don't know if that was his fault necessarily, but Karl definitely designed his defense around Iverson going for steals. The idea was to push Melo out to guard jumpshots, knowing he was going to get beat sometimes on the drive. And Iverson was allowed to go for all the steals he wanted. If either of those guys got burnt, the team was supposed to funnel the action toward the paint so Camby could block. Basically, Karl knew that both of those guys weren't great defenders so he told them to concentrate on 1 thing and let Camby clean up the mess.

It worked pretty well in the regular season and got Camby the DPOY, but when Camby didn't play well and the offense stalled in Iverson's hands, you get playoff failure.

Plus, like a lot of people have been saying, the Spurs and Lakers were both really good.

[NBAfan3024]

Where the west happens..

[KD35Brah]

When Melo has the ball, AI is a minimal threat off the ball, and vice versa. Westbrook and Durant have the same issue, and I suspect you'll be able to make the same thread about them in about 8 months.

False.

[ClubLakers KB8]

Do you see the teams they went up against? Two alpha male scorers against fluid teams with chemistry? Not gonna fly.

[Bankai]

Iverson gave them only a 2v5 mentality and they were first round exits. Billups came in and instantly said he was all about the team and made the team play more structured and cohesive basketball. Iverson wanted him and Melo to run things and the league. While Billups said he was only there to help the team win, when he was traded. They went to the West Finals with Billups. Anthony needs someone to reel him in, that commands respect. Chandler was that guy for him in New York.

[twix2500]

Iverson and Melo had bad complimentary role players. Larry Brown laid the blueprint on how to use Iverson. Pair him with a big PG who can defend shooting guards and hit three pointers. Kenyon Martin was over paid and a bad fit. Marin was another player who need to be feed the ball. Nene, Melo and Iverson need to be around guys who can pass. If they were able to get a player like Boris Diaw or Lamar Odom in place of Martin and a PG like Old Jason Kidd or Chauncey Billips to play next to AI it would of been perfect. And that roster lacked depth.

[mksp]

Melo's not that good?

I was happy for AI that he got traded to a team with a player whom I thought was a legit superstar.

But Melo's kinda not.

And yeah, they didn't compliment each other at all. AI played some of his most unselfish, efficient ball for DEN I thought. Believe the stats support it.

After watching AI for so many years, I thought I was conditioned to like iso-ball, but Melo......man....the "jab step, jab step, J" offense gets old real fast.