2017 Isaiah Thomas is better than any version of Iverson.

[permaximum]

You guys probably think Tyson Chandler is the best player of all time.

I can't stand the stupidity of this thread anymore. I'm out.

[holdenwait]

this is embarrassing AF.. how quickly people get lost in the hype... get excited, call his performances "prime AI like" and such but to come to this utterly ridiculous conclusion is just simply embarrassing.. same type of people who were calling Curry GOAT ahead of MJ a year ago .. LMAO

[JordansBulls]

Just when I thought I seen ever absurd topic imaginable on this board this pops up. Jesus thought you had to be at least 13 to join the forum because only someone that is young and naive would even suggest this. A.I is a hall of famer IT has zero chance at that.

Point to the season that AI had that was better than the year IT just had. I dont see anyone making the argument IT has the better career or anything like that. The argument is, did IT just have a better season than any AI had.

Iverson scored 50+ in the same series. Only one other player ever did that. Hell only 2 others have more 50+ playoff games than Iverson.

[Duke4life831]

this is embarrassing AF.. how quickly people get lost in the hype... get excited, call his performances "prime AI like" and such but to come to this utterly ridiculous conclusion is just simply embarrassing.. same type of people who were calling Curry GOAT ahead of MJ a year ago .. LMAO

How bout you use some stats or something to backup what youre saying. If its so embarrassing and so ridiculous for someone to say this, you would think you could point to some type of objective stats or something to prove your point and put an end to this thread. Ive been waiting for like 16+ pages for someone to make 1 legit objective argument for AI. But all there have been is 16+ pages of subjective arguments like yours.

Lets look at some stats (per 36) for IT this year and AI's MVP year
AI: 26 ppg (on 21.9 FGA), 3.9 assist, 2.9 TOs on 42/32/81 shooting numbers
24.0 PER, 51 TS%, 23 AST%, 35 USG%, .190 WS/48, 4.8 BPM

IT: 30 ppg (on 20.6 FGA), 6.3 assist, 2.9 TOs on 46/37/90 shooting numbers
26.5 PER, 62 TS%, 32 AST%, 34 USG%, .234 WS/48, 5.3 BPM

So IT was far more efficient on basically the same USG, scored 4 more points while taking 1 less shot. Facilitating between the two of them is not even a conversation and IT has the edge in advanced stats like PER, WS and BPM.

Im still waiting for an objective response to these kind of numbers.

[Duke4life831]

Just when I thought I seen ever absurd topic imaginable on this board this pops up. Jesus thought you had to be at least 13 to join the forum because only someone that is young and naive would even suggest this. A.I is a hall of famer IT has zero chance at that.

Point to the season that AI had that was better than the year IT just had. I dont see anyone making the argument IT has the better career or anything like that. The argument is, did IT just have a better season than any AI had.

Iverson scored 50+ in the same series. Only one other player ever did that. Hell only 2 others have more 50+ playoff games than Iverson.

Okay but youre talking about 1 playoff series. We are talking about an entire season. And ya AI did put up two 50 point games in one series, IT has at least 2 more games this series to tie that since he has already put up a 50 point game against WAS. And if we are talking about the playoffs, so far IT is averaging 2 more points per game on 4 less shots (per 36) so far in these playoffs, thats good for a 11% better TS% than AI did in 01.

[DoubleO8]

You're a sucker

[OkcSinceSGA]

Yeah, no, I just don't by this. AI would be completely unguardable in this era. No good defensive centers, a ton of spacing and zero hand-checking and a faster-pace. I think the average TS% was 53 when he was at his peak, and he might've been right around there, or a bit above. I could easily see him getting 33 ppg on 56-58 TS% in this era. He's at least as quick as IT2, at least as good of a finisher and probably a better defender. People are really starting to underrate AI man. What Eastern Conference defense could even begin to contain this guy?

Actually there are way more rim protectors in the league now than the early 00s and handchecking has made a huge resurgence in recent years.

[ChiCityHoops34]

Iverson would average 45 in this NBA and this thread not being locked is a travesty.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Iverson would average 45 in this NBA and this thread not being locked is a travesty.

Lock it because you disagree? Moderators have already chimed in on the validity of this comparison so don't look to them to bail you out of having to use logic and evidence.

[Mylie10]

Anyone who disagrees can fight me with actual data and evidence. I'm addressing this because I see people constantly pissing on IT while Iverson is on some nostalgic pedestal and it annoys me. Both were mediocre defenders who got steals in the passing lanes but not much else (although Iverson was better defensively). Isaiah's efficiency on offense more than makes up for PG defense.

"But defense!" People need to realize PG defense was never a huge thing. Sure, big PG's like Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Dennis Johnson who also guarded 2s and 3s. But most other hall of fame PG's didn't play a lick of defense. Stop being hypocritical.

Shhh......let's whisper....I might agree with you, but don't tell the other guys.

[Duke4life831]

Iverson would average 45 in this NBA and this thread not being locked is a travesty.

Based on what? His below average TS% for a guard? His almost dead last eFG% for a guard? He might be able to put up 45 a game, but it would probably take him 35+ shots a game and he wouldnt be much help to his team by doing that.

Just for fun, a year later in 2002, AI was 3rd to last for guards when it came to eFG%. The 2 guys worse then him a 38 year old MJ who shot 41/18/79 that year and a rookie Jamaal Tinsley who shot 38/24/70.

[og15]

The amount of ignorance in this thread is beyond belief. Now I know why I don't really watch NBA games anymore.

Someone says Philly won Game 1 of the finals because Kobe was stopped defensively by other players. Kobe couldn't do anything offensively because he spent all of his energy trying to defend Iverson and he still couldn't. After that, he wasn't the primary defender of Iverson in the series.

Someone points out some stupid TS%, WS arguments without the context of USAGE%, team TS% and MPG which is comical.

If you want to play poor man's stat game Iverson's career averages are better than Isaiah's 2017. Iverson was doing 55/8 in a 90 point game in playoffs compared to Isaiah's best 53/4 in a 130 point game. Iverson's playoff career average is 30 ppg. 2nd best of all time.

There's only 0.03 TS% difference between Kobe and Iverson although Kobe's prime fell into no-handcheck era unlike AI and Iverson's stats are better than Kobe's. What I'm saying is you're comparing Isaiah to 2nd or 3rd best SG of all time. You guys are nuts.

Reading comprehension is very important. I said that Iverson didn't singlehandedly win the game because their defense on Kobe was very important in winning that game. Iverson carried their offense, but if Kobe wasn't shut down they would have still lost the game despite his performance. Your argument is that Kobe got so tired from guarding Iverson that he had a 33.4 TS% and 6 TOV. Kobe had 3 turnovers and was 1/4 FG in the first quarter. So your argument is that he was already tired from guarding Iverson to start the game so it caused him to have 3 early turnovers and to get blocked by Tyrone Hill on one of his attempts?

The worst way to have discussion is to get emotional about it, there's nothing to be emotional about. Each and everyone of us understands that even when a player carries a team in one aspect there can be other significant factors that lead to the team winning. That's why we have players who drop an efficient 50+ points in a game, regular season, post-season, whatever, and still lose.

[el13adnino]

give me the guy with the cornrows

[Mylie10]

give me the guy with the cornrows

Ill take the trailer park look.

[Yoshun]

this is embarrassing AF.. how quickly people get lost in the hype... get excited, call his performances "prime AI like" and such but to come to this utterly ridiculous conclusion is just simply embarrassing.. same type of people who were calling Curry GOAT ahead of MJ a year ago .. LMAO

How bout you use some stats or something to backup what youre saying. If its so embarrassing and so ridiculous for someone to say this, you would think you could point to some type of objective stats or something to prove your point and put an end to this thread. Ive been waiting for like 16+ pages for someone to make 1 legit objective argument for AI. But all there have been is 16+ pages of subjective arguments like yours.

Lets look at some stats (per 36) for IT this year and AI's MVP year
AI: 26 ppg (on 21.9 FGA), 3.9 assist, 2.9 TOs on 42/32/81 shooting numbers
24.0 PER, 51 TS%, 23 AST%, 35 USG%, .190 WS/48, 4.8 BPM

IT: 30 ppg (on 20.6 FGA), 6.3 assist, 2.9 TOs on 46/37/90 shooting numbers
26.5 PER, 62 TS%, 32 AST%, 34 USG%, .234 WS/48, 5.3 BPM

So IT was far more efficient on basically the same USG, scored 4 more points while taking 1 less shot. Facilitating between the two of them is not even a conversation and IT has the edge in advanced stats like PER, WS and BPM.

Im still waiting for an objective response to these kind of numbers.

Well, I'd argue his MVP season wasn't actually his best year, statistically at least. Maybe his 05-06 season would be a better comparison? He also played a TON of minutes in most of his seasons.

There are definitely other factors to consider, but I'd probably take this IT season over any of AI's. Really due to how damn efficient IT has been. Amazing season.

[hisairness]

I can definitely see AI leading the league today in FTA, but no rule changes would have fixed his broken jump shot or awful shot selection. He was exciting and fun to watch at times but all that flare just took attention away from how inefficient and often detrimental to winning his play style was. Im not even arguing for IT but if your argument for Iverson comes down to a word "defense", then you really don't have any argument. Literally one of the worst and laziest defenders to ever play the game, his defense consisted of gambling on passing lanes while leaving his man wide open, that's about it.

[XxIronChainzxX]

Lol yeah that sixers team was so stacked
So let's get this straight, you're on here preaching the entire 01 east is garbage but now that someone uses this theory against you , you claimIverson's team wasn't garbage ? Seems like you are saying whatever fits your argument at the moment ....

The east was garbage in terms of how strong the parity and competition was. It doesn't mean Iverson's team was garbage. I'm referring to the competition. If anything I'm arguing Iverson's supporting cast was better than Vince Carter's, Tmac's and Ray Allen's. So of course the better team won. But he played like **** in much of those playoffs and got taken to 7 games twice by inferior teams.

So now Iverson had the best supporting cast in the east ? I'm done with this thread.

The Bucks probably had the best team, and some real LA-SAC town level shenanigans went down in that ECF. But to act like AI had a bad supporting cast is ridiculous. He probably had the 2nd best supporting cast in the East, at a time when teams were godawful.

The Raptors were playing the likes of Alvin Williams and Antonio Davis in the 2nd round!

[True Story]

If IT is THAT good, he should be able to carry the C's to the Finals.

[poeman]

Ask Isaiah and he would tell you that Iverson was legendary the year he carried those sixers to the finals.

It was at times 1 on 5...His sixers team had no other offensive option

[Duke4life831]

If IT is THAT good, he should be able to carry the C's to the Finals.

Youre telling me AI wouldve carried that Philly team to the Finals over Lebron and these Cavs?