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I need to stress that this is purely an educated guess from one of my guys who knows his stuff. But I was sufficiently convinced to share the speculation. If the Celtics fail to repeat as champs -- and if A.I. were willing to take a short-term deal to chase the ring that has eluded him -- Iverson to Boston is not nearly as outlandish as it sounds. Iverson would almost certainly have to accept the bench role he has repeatedly said he'll never accept again, which is a sizable impediment. But that would probably be the biggest impediment here. ESPN.com

We dipped into the archives to find this paragraph from an old Weekend Dime in December 2006, shortly after Iverson's request to be traded in Philadelphia was made public and when the Celts had no idea that Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen would be arriving months later: "Boston's Paul Pierce, sources say, still wants Iverson as a teammate and remains hopeful that his team has a shot. Danny Ainge, meanwhile, is said to be a longtime Iverson fan, with AI apparently possessing the Michael Jordan brain type and with the Celts' personnel boss known to be a big believer in brain-typing." The other provocative suggestion in circulation comes from TNT's David Aldridge, who in an NBA.com piece posted Thursday made the claim that the best place for Iverson to try to resurrect his career is in Charlotte with the offensively challenged Bobcats. And with a certain coach from Iverson's past named Larry Brown. ESPN.com


Just remember........Danny thought about him before.......

If he would be willing to get his head out of ass, play some basketball, FIT INTO UBUNTU, and be a little more humble, I would give him Marbury's position as backup to Rondo next year. But i doubt it..AI will make big bucks in some young team such as Charlotte or Atlanta...since he obviously doesn't want a championship, he wants playing time...but wow...
can you imagine...running an Iverson, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins line-up once in a while?? Whoa...makes me excited in many ways...lol

I'm not sure this article says much about his chances of landing here next year. In 2006-07, probably every GM in the league was considering ways to land Iverson.

BRUNiNHO91 wrote:If he would be willing to get his head out of ass, play some basketball, FIT INTO UBUNTU, and be a little more humble, I would give him Marbury's position as backup to Rondo next year. But i doubt it..AI will make big bucks in some young team such as Charlotte or Atlanta...since he obviously doesn't want a championship, he wants playing time...but wow...
can you imagine...running an Iverson, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins line-up once in a while?? Whoa...makes me excited in many ways...lol

Not nearly as good as a Rondo-Allen-Pierce-KG-Perk line-up.

I don't see us getting AI. For him to come here, he is going to have to make major sacrifices in playing time, shots and pay. So far, he hasn't shown willingness to do any.

This prima donna has been pouting in the media this week that he'd retire instead of come off the bench. He completely destroyed the chemistry in Detroit, and it's hard to see that they're anything except better with Iverson not in the lineup.

I was very happy when Iverson didn't come here the first time around with the Big Al trade speculation. Personally my hope is he never does become a Celtic.

MVP16 wrote:

BRUNiNHO91 wrote:If he would be willing to get his head out of ass, play some basketball, FIT INTO UBUNTU, and be a little more humble, I would give him Marbury's position as backup to Rondo next year. But i doubt it..AI will make big bucks in some young team such as Charlotte or Atlanta...since he obviously doesn't want a championship, he wants playing time...but wow...
can you imagine...running an Iverson, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins line-up once in a while?? Whoa...makes me excited in many ways...lol

Not nearly as good as a Rondo-Allen-Pierce-KG-Perk line-up.

I don't see us getting AI. For him to come here, he is going to have to make major sacrifices in playing time, shots and pay. So far, he hasn't shown willingness to do any.

Well I wouldn't expect it to be as good as one with Rondo..or else im guessing Rondo would be bench to Iverson not the other way around...but it would still be awesome watching 4 super star players on the court at the same time with the Celtics jersey..
I do agree with you on the second part though...he is not coming here...even though the rumors are going to be around, everyday, in every newspaper in Boston...

With the way he's acted this year in Detroit, I think he's answered this question with a diffinitive "hell no."

It'd be great to have Iverson as a 6th man, but there are still some playoff teams that can give him the starting job - Charlotte would put him at the 2 and let Bell come off the bench, Cleveland could do the same with West -- I don't see it.

I love AI as a player. How can you not. The guy is my height and has been a dominant scorer in the NBA for most of his career.

But, the article assumes:
1.) We don't win the championship this year
2.) AI would be O.K. to come off the bench instead of going to a team to be their star
3.) AI would sign for the MLE

I think we have a better chance of:
1.) Winning the championship
2.) Kobe opting out of his contract (player option)
3.) Kobe signing with the C's for the MLE so he could have a real shot at the championship next year!

If I had a choice between bringing back Steph next season to back up Rondo, or to go with Iverson instead, I would have to stick with Marbury. Marbury is bigger and stronger, which makes him a better fit on the defensive end. And Marbury has already proven that he's more than willing to sacrifice his own offense for the betterment of the team. Anyone that quits on his team the way AI did with Detroit isn't welcome into my locker room.

just say no to cancer. AI's like that smoking hot uberconfident girl you see in the club dancing all sexy and you totally wanna bang her, but you just KNOW shes gotta have the herp or something

stay away at all costs, let him rot with the clippers or something, IMO he doesn't deserve a ring, way too much ego, thought he was gonna lose some of that in detroit, look what happened there. hurt back BS, he's just refusing to play. screw him ill puke if i see him in green

I'd much, much rather bring back a backcourt bench of Marbury, House, and Allen, then lose one of them and give many of the rest's minutes to AI.

I'd take Eddie House alone over Iverson any day of the week.

Shoot, if we want Iverson we can just tell Gabe Pruitt to shoot the ball everytime he touches it/play no-defense and-there-ya-go, you have your "Answer".

Beyond the fact that he's the most selfish player in the NBA he is a terrible defensive player.

Beyond that he heralded the "little guys play out of control, throw their bodies into anybody around and go to the free throw line" era. I mean if there is one player who did more to destroy the purity and team aspect of the game of basketball, please let me know.

Ohh come...dude has his ego problems but he is one hell of a basketball player...his ONLY problem is that damn ego...if he gets his **** straight he is right up there with the Dwyane Wade's and Kobe Bryant's of the league...anybody can play defense if they set their mind to it..I don't buy this 'ohh player A or player B can't play D'...anybody can play D if they commit to doing so, and it wouldn't be different with Iverson. If one of Pierce or Garnett(maybe both) could sit down with him, talk some sense into that man, I would give Marbury's spot to him anyday. Not Eddie House though..im absolutely in love with Eddie House(no homo)..he just amazes me more and more everyday.
So yeah...talk about AI's ego problems, attitude problems, but please do not question his talent in playing the game of basketball...Allen Iverson is a friggin beast. PERIOD!

He really isn't a beast at all. He's a volume scorer. At his best he's Rondo taking ill-advised shots and playing no defense. If Rondo took 20+ shots a game, played no defense, and didn't pass the ball he could get 25 pts, 5 dimes, and 3 steals on 40% shooting. That's essentially what Iverson did for a decade, while the uneducated fan slobbered all over him and the basketball purists cringed, packed up and left the NBA game in favor of the more true to its roots college game.

Iverson is the epitome of the degradation and commercialization of the NBA game. All style, NO SUBSTANCE. I mean he's a tough guy, and definitely talented. I'll give him that, but he's a me-player. Basketball's a team game.

humblebum wrote:He really isn't a beast at all. He's a volume scorer. At his best he's Rondo taking ill-advised shots and playing no defense. If Rondo took 20+ shots a game, played no defense, and didn't pass the ball he could get 25 pts, 5 dimes, and 3 steals on 40% shooting. That's essentially what Iverson did for a decade, while the uneducated fan slobbered all over him and the basketball purists cringed, packed up and left the NBA game in favor of the more true to its roots college game.

Iverson is the epitome of the degradation and commercialization of the NBA game. All style, NO SUBSTANCE. I mean he's a tough guy, and definitely talented. I'll give him that, but he's a me-player. Basketball's a team game.

Not a beast??

24,000 pts in his career...Average of 27.1 pts game..6.2 assists..2.2 steals...has averaged 30+ pts 5 times in his career..29.2 pts in the playoffs..6 assists and 2 steals..dude led Aaron Mckie and Glen Robinson to the NBA finals..not to mention he what..6'0 ft??
Come on..Rondo needs to take 60 shots per quarter to try and avg, or reach HALF of Iverson's stats...Rondo is great(even though he has been playing with Kg, Ray and Pierce), I love his game and all..but comparing him to Iverson is foolish..Iverson is a scorer, and he is at his best when he plays SG.. he is a 'me-player' I can't, nor will I even try and argue with that...but then saying Iverson is not a beast, and is only liked by 'uneducated' basketball fans?? Give me a break man....look at the guys numbers...if he isn't great then Pierce and Ray Allen are friggin losers..I'm talking INDIVIDUAL talent..not how nice you are and how unselfish you are...Ohh by the way Iverson has 5'551 assists in his career...how selfish huh??Iverson is a monster..it is what it is...

Dave_From_NB wrote: He completely destroyed the chemistry in Detroit, and it's hard to see that they're anything except better with Iverson not in the lineup.

I'm not AI's biggest fan, but geez, why the hell is it considered his fault for ruining the chemistry in Detroit? He replaced the Pistons' best and most important player, Chauncey Billups. Not only this, but the Pistons were a team with deep seated chemistry dependent on the play of guys like Chauncey and Rip, and in comes AI, a much different player, categorically. The only way this would have worked is if Stuckey was actually ready to take over Chauncey's role, and AI was used as a scoring punch off the bench. Not only is Stuckey not ready, but AI was forced into the starting lineup, and Rip, the system dependent player, was used off the bench as an AI type of scoring punch player.

That is not AI's fault. That was inevitable. Not to mention, Chauncey was traded days after Rip Hamilton sign a contract extension presumably under the impression Chauncey would be kept around, too. Not good for team morale.

He doesn't always say the right things, but he has never been Antoine Walker, he has never been overly selfish. He is older and not as physically capable, but is coming off of a season where he posted a career best in TS% (the best statistical measure to judge overall scoring efficiency), likely because for the first time he was playing alongside other truly talented offensive players. The main problem he has always ran into is similar to that of Eddie House and Ben Gordon. His skill set is not suited real well for the PG position, and his lack of height, lack of a great outside shot, and acquired tendency of being the best scorer on his team help work against his prospects of fitting in as anything more than a 6th man on a really good team.

His outside shot might not be as solid as House's and especially Gordon's, but he possesses more overall scoring prowess than the two of em, his passing stats tend to be better, and he offers more defensive tenacity. For what its worth, if I go and adjust two point shooting statistics from last season, adjusting them based on shot quantity and the play of teammates to account for probable defensive attention encountered, I get a top 20 list of...

Jefferson, Al
Stoudemire, Amare
Wade, Dwyane
Ming, Yao
James, LeBron
Anthony, Carmelo
Smith, Craig
Nowitzki, Dirk
Ellis, Monta
Gasol, Pau
Iverson, Allen
Okafor, Emeka
Howard, Dwight
Bosh, Chris
Iguodala, Andre
Bynum, Andrew
Miller, Andre
Deng, Luol
Boozer, Carlos
Williams, Mo

Believe in this type of statistic or not, it doesn't put AI in bad company.

His recent "venting" about coming off the bench was taken way out of proportion. if you read his actual quotes rather than headlines, his frustration was mainly caused by a.) his minutes played, not the fact he was being used off the bench, and b.) the injury which was holding him abck from playing more minutes.

If the C's have trouble landing a top choice or two for the MLE, and AI is willing to play for the MLE (not as far fetched as other FAs out there), I see no reason why he is opposed to a sixth man Eddie House role and he is at least close to a no brainer for us to scoop up.

BRUNiNHO91 wrote:Average of 27.1 pts game..6.2 assists..2.2 steals...has averaged 30+ pts 5 times in his career..29.2 pts in the playoffs..6 assists and 2 steals..dude led Aaron Mckie and Glen Robinson to the NBA finals..not to mention he what..6'0 ft??

That is my point, to a different extent.

marbury is way better than iverson, always has been.

SuigintouEV wrote:marbury is way better than iverson, always has been.

Get real...

BRUNiNHO91 wrote:

SuigintouEV wrote:marbury is way better than iverson, always has been.

Get real...

Oh come on. AI's only real basketball skill is his handles/ability to get himself open looks.

prime Stephon Marbury used to have better handles, better passing, much better defense, better FT shooter,, better 3pt shooter,

the only thing AI really had over steph was his midrange game, and that's not a big deal considering he's a career like 41% shooter. He might have been a better finisher ITO degree of difficulty, but was also smaller and took harder shots around the rim. I guess he gambled for more steals, though.

I'm not acting like steph is steve nash here, but he was always better than Iverson. You're comparing a guy who just broke into the top 10 in Usage rate once in his career to a guy who led the league six times and four other years in the top ten. Hell, AI, scrutinized as he is for being inefficient, is second all-time in usage percentage after jordan - a guy who's famous for missing shots is responsible for most of your team's offense! If stephon dominated the ball as much as iverson and took every shot he could have averaged 30/7 himself on awful percentages just like AI.


hell look right now... look how easily a rusty marbury has picked up a team oriented offensive system for the celtics. Iverson can not run an offense, hell, iverson can not run a basic pick and roll. so you have to put the 5'10 guy at SG, we're you're asking a guy who can't really shoot except if he's really hot, to shoot everytime he touches the ball. Never mind that, you then have to find a PG who's big enough to guard 2s, and still run an offense. that's counterproductive if you ask me, and AI just happened to play with one of the best at that ability - eric snow. as soon as snow left the sixers, AI's career dropped down the gutter.

Stephon can be a point guard, and he can make point guard plays without 20 dribbles. He's not deron williams, but he's much better than allen iverson.