Feel for AI...

ambiglight · Post #1 » by **ambiglight** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:19 am

We all know AI is a polarizing icon of basketball, but he's definitely impacted the league on a lot of levels and accomplished much as an individual...but this is a team sport, so without many team accolades to speak of his legacy will always be tarnished...

AI hasnt always been the consummate professional, but to his credit, he has cleaned up his act and definitely sublimated his game to the best of his ability in an attempt to fit in with Denver. Keeping off-court nonsense to a minimum and becoming a much more efficient but potent scorer. Leading the team in assists despite playing as their shooting guard behind Anthony Carter. Well after leaving one failing franchise, he ends up on another mediocre franchise with no game plan for winning besides dumping salary, and letting valuable pieces potentially fall to the wayside like JR smith.

AI gave a lot of entertaining basketball to this league, who feels sorry for how his career is wrapping up?

Post #2 » by **studcrackers** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:28 am

never understood all the love he got the 1st 5 or so years of his career, thought he was a little overrated too

Dinky Bits · Post #3 » by **Dinky Bits** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:58 am

He's a ballhog, and he deserves what he gets for corrupting the youth of basketball with his chuckery.

carrottop12 · Post #4 » by **carrottop12** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:03 am

Shot a lot, score a lot, lose a lot.

You go boy.

ambiglight · Post #5 » by **ambiglight** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:13 am

studcrackers wrote:never understood all the love he got the 1st 5 or so years of his career, thought he was a little overrated too

undersized, could quick you to death, didnt emulate jordan, shared a lot in common with youth at the time and was unapologetic about being who he was. if you were a guard coming up between 1996 and 2001, the guy was doing stuff most folks could only dream of pulling off.

so individually those that loved AI, appreciated his me against the world attitude and the unique skill set he had at the time. he simply did things that other people said could not be done by someone his size playing with such reckless abandon and shooting so inefficiently. for some that's meaningless for others it made him worth the prices of admission...

ambiglight · Post #6 » by **ambiglight** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:20 am

Dinky Bits wrote:He's a ballhog, and he deserves what he gets for corrupting the youth of basketball with his chuckery.

he definitely revolutionized the game for a hybrid guard. basically popularized the outside in cross-over and demonstrated how dangerous a guard can be when he gets to the line 10X a game in spite of shooting around 40%.

Between pps and putting the other team in foul trouble, "chuckery" became a necessary evil in the touch foul era...

But perhaps you're right maybe this phase of his career is "just deserts" for being so unapologetically individualistic in a team sport...

The Big Dog · Post #7 » by **The Big Dog** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:29 am

I don't know if I feel sorry for him, but he is a great player, and he's not a loser, he took a team to the finals as the only offensive weapon.

Unfortunately, that same quality that allows him to will teams to victory on his own seems to prevent him from winning with more talented teams.

His percentages have increased and he's less selfish now, but that hasn't translated into wins.

ambiglight · Post #8 » by **ambiglight** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:35 am

The Big Dog wrote:I don't know if I feel sorry for him, but he is a great player, and he's not a loser, he took a team to the finals as the only offensive weapon.

Unfortunately, that same quality that allows him to will teams to victory on his own seems to prevent him from winning with more talented teams.

His percentages have increased and he's less selfish now, but that hasn't translated into wins.

which is kind of ironic. that he's had less success being more selfless and efficient...damned if you do damned if you dont...?

Raptor_Guy · Post #9 » by **Raptor_Guy** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:51 pm

But you can't even say he doesn't have enough talent around him now. Sure some Philly teams sucked, but he had a talented Nuggets team around him this year and still went nowhere.

TonyMontana · Post #10 » by **TonyMontana** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:55 pm

I would love to trade Koby Carl for A.I anyday...............DO IT MITCH.....LOLLLL

magicfan4life05 · Post #11 » by **magicfan4life05** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:00 pm

He sign sign with the sixers next year for the MLE.

celticfan42487 · Post #12 » by **celticfan42487** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:02 pm

Batronuj wrote:Shot a lot, score a lot, lose a lot.

You go boy.

/thread

Loose Cannon · Post #13 » by **Loose Cannon** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:40 pm

Raptor_Guy wrote:But you can't even say he doesn't have enough talent around him now. Sure some Philly teams sucked, but he had a talented Nuggets team around him this year and still went nowhere.

That team lacked in so many areas that you can't even fault him for their miscues.

Hopefully he signs with Philly for the MLE next year...the city is still in love with the guy and he's financially secure for the rest of his life.

76erinSJ · Post #14 » by **76erinSJ** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:00 pm

If AI signed wit us for the MLE I would be so happy. Even tho it was needed for him to be traded for us to get better I think he would def take a lesser role here to try to win a chip.

Post #15 » by **tsherkin** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:08 pm

AI isn't at fault for what's going on in Denver; he's not a good fit and that's on him for his high-usage style of play but it's not his fault he was put there and he's done well for them in the regular season. He's been efficient, he's been a good teammate, he's done everything mentally possible to adjust... his game just doesn't complement Melo's because he's not a lights-out perimeter shooter.

I don't feel sorry for him because of his style of play and how overhyped he was in Philly but the Nuggets are among the worst-managed teams in the league and don't have a coach who's doing positive things for them. Karl reminds me of a poor-man's Nellie in Denver...

conleyorbust · Post #16 » by **conleyorbust** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:13 pm

Raptor_Guy wrote:But you can't even say he doesn't have enough talent around him now. Sure some Philly teams sucked, but he had a talented Nuggets team around him this year and still went nowhere.

They won 50+ games, as "talented" as that Nuggets team was, it didn't have as much talent as the teams that did better than it (outside of maaaaybe the injured version of Houston) and it was constructed poorly.

This reminds me of preseason when all these suckers were saying how the Knicks were "talented" but poorly constructed. High salary does not equal talent.

magicfan4life05 · Post #17 » by **magicfan4life05** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:15 pm

tsherkin wrote:

I don't feel sorry for him because of his style of play and how overhyped he was in Philly but the Nuggets are among the worst-managed teams in the league and don't have a coach who's doing positive things for them. Karl reminds me of a poor-man's Nellie in Denver...

Are you kidding?

You telling me you don't like karl's great pre game speeches?

Inspiring Pregame Routine by Karl

freakon0mics · Post #18 » by **freakon0mics** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:25 pm

He came to a talented team but in the wrong conference. I guess you can say the same with McGrady. On a good team, but in a bad conference. IMO, both should try and buyout their contracts with their teams and go back to the two teams that drafted them, Philly and Toronto. Imagine AI back in Philly with Miller, Iggy, and Brand. Also imagine McGrady playing with Bosh and JO. That would balance out the conferences in the NBA.

bebopdeluxe · Post #19 » by **bebopdeluxe** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:06 pm

AI is a different player in DEN than he was with us...shots went from 25/game to 19/game, FG% went from 41.7 to 45.8, ast/TO went from 1.64 to 2.36...

Just the wrong fit.

Come home for the MLE next season, bro...we'll be the '00-01 team on steroids...

Iggy > McKie
Thad > Lynch
Brand >>>>>> Ty Hill
Sam = Theo (or pretty close)
'08-09 bench (LouW, Evans, Speights, Green) > '00-01 bench

This team would have WAY more offense than the '00-01 team and will play WAY better defense than his Denver team does.

AI for the MLE...I can't wait.

Bibby4Three · Post #20 » by **Bibby4Three** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:21 pm

Allen Iverson is a very good person.

Do you feel sorry for AI???