The Allen Iverson Era

[agiaco]

Where would you guys rank prime AI among the current NBA talents?

[Jailblazers7]

Where would you guys rank prime AI among the current NBA talents?

I think if the ranking is based on talent level he’d be up near the top. If he had grown up in this era with more professionalized training and an emphasis on shooting, I bet he’d be a lot like Ja Morant (but I’d still bet on AI to be better).

He’s such a tough player to judge because while he was great it’s so easy to imagine a better version of him surrounded by different players and in an era like this one.

[eyeatoma]

Another old-head here.

AI was the reason I seriously started following basketball. My sister went to Bryn Mawr, and with that being in PA, I just gravitated to the professional basketball team of that area. Prior to that I would watch the Bulls in the playoffs mainly because my dad enjoyed it, and I really started to appreciate how incredible MJ was.

The 01 run was greatest memory of basketball in my life. Those playoffs were so emblematic of the energy the Philly crowd can bring when they have a team that they can root for. Allen was exactly what the city needed, and his magnetic play had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. In the world of advanced stats and hyper efficiency, Iverson wasn't a stats darling (raw stats yes), but he was probably the gutsiest and pound for pound the toughest player in the league, and probably of all time. For someone who really wasn't 6 feet to be doing what he did against the giants of the NBA, when there were real giants was truly awe inspiring. The emotion he showed cupping his ear to his crowd in that game against the Bucks (was it the Bucks or Raptors), can't remember seeing that it was 20 years ago, was the most thrilling moment I have witnessed following sports. Not sure if you remember, but sig banners used to be a huge thing in realgm, and I had the Iverson earcup as my sig. After that it was Rodney Carney of the "Dunks Hawd" mold. In the end Billy King and Larry Brown mismanaged all of our assets, and as others have said we gave up on young players too quickly and missed out on getting generational players by 1 pick. AI is why I got into the NBA, and until Joel, he was my favorite player of all time.

If Ben had even 25 percent of Iverson's fight and determination he would be the greatest player in the league. But alas we got the social media diva, who only cares about his image, #young socialite (ironic because it is beyond tainted), fast cars, booty (I don't blame him Maya Jama is tight, I definitely prefer her to Kendall), and video games.

It's the tragic story of Philly sports. The players we have that are good enough, are never built around properly (same thing is happening with Jo, and Morey knows this is our last chance to rectify that). The players who could be generational have career altering deficiencies (both Fultz and Ben with their own version of the yips).

[eyeatoma]

Where would you guys rank prime AI among the current NBA talents?

Pure talent? Top 1-3

People say that you can say this for anyone, but if AI was 6-6, he would be the greatest player of all time. I truly believe that. HIs efficiency would have jumped dramatically. He was a very cerebral player, and he would have been able to see where the trend was going with three pointers. Being incredible at driving at the rim, he would have been a super charged version of Harden, minus the passing. Iverson always had a pretty jumper, even up to three point land. A better comparison would be Kyrie Irving.

[mjkvol]

Those playoffs were so emblematic of the energy the Philly crowd can bring when they have a team that they can root for.

That is so true, and has been the case so often over the years - I can think of so many times, like the two Flyers Stanley Cup runs, big Sixers games against Boston during the Julius/Moses run, big Phils games in the late '70's and the '80 World Series season, anytime the Eagles were competitive. The area was electric with passion and excitement.

I've said it so many times to people not from the area - there are no fans anywhere like Philly fans when they have a team to support.