Will someone please explain why these fresh Allen Iverson trade rumors continue to come out of nowhere? The Sixer’s star guard has successfully overcome injuries, arguments with coaches, missed practices, and even police standoffs to endure over the past eight years as the personification of the pro sports scene in the City of Brotherly Love. When we’re on bad terms with the Answer, the question has always been, “Can we trade him?” However, people don’t seem to remember that a deal involving A.I. has always been, and currently remains, a bad idea. The sports media in town seems to be the offender in this episode; since the Terrell Owens situation is now dormant, and Larry Bowa is still weeks away from his first ejection at Citizen’s Bank Park, it would make sense that they would turn to a reliable source for a juicy story. Namely, when Allen Iverson is injured and the Sixers are about to miss the playoffs for the first time since the late 90s, they try to grab your attention with visions of the former league MVP in another team’s jersey. (Whether it’s a trade rumor or a shot of the star sulking on the bench while wearing another team’s retro jersey varies from night to night.)
After a while, it becomes a shameless tactic, especially when such stories are based on nothing more than speculation. What’s especially disturbing is the ability of the sports media to turn such speculation into self-fulfilling prophecy. Without so much as a peep from front offices (i.e. “John Doe is now on the trading block.”), writers and broadcast personalities have effectively turned hearsay into reality and run player after player out of town.
Arguments between players and the clubs they play for that, in a perfect world, would be resolved in-house, are aired like dirty laundry and blown out of proportion. This results in a situation where keeping the controversial player in town becomes more trouble than it’s worth–except in the case of Iverson. For all his faults, no one in the league has more passion, more heart, and more desire to win, along with the ability to convert that passion into consistent results on the court. Since when is that a bad thing? You may remember the first time such trade rumors began to swirl around A.I.’s cornrowed-head: the Pistons still had Grant Hill, the clean-cut alternative to the tattooed Sixers star.
Hill was a proven scorer, a polite and effective team leader, and got along with coaches and management. He was the anti-Iverson, and yet the Sixers were able to resist listening to the common wisdom everyone thought they had to offer. Before you knew it, it was the Orlando Magic spending millions of dollars on Hill to complement their rising star Tracy McGrady, and it was Iverson leading the Sixers to the NBA Finals later that year. Today, Grant Hill has had more ankle surgeries than he has games played for his new team, and he’s close to retirement while the Answer continues to sacrifice his body on the court every night.
Think about it for a second. If the best the Sixers could get in return for Iverson, at what could’ve been the peak of his career, was a $93 million player with a bum ankle, what do you think they’ll be able to garner this time around? With his attitude as of late, most contenders must view him as more of a liability to team chemistry than as a player with actual trade value. Teams that aren’t contending wouldn’t have much to offer the Sixers in return anyway. When he recovers from his knee injury, and if the Sixers are fortunate enough to make the playoffs somehow, there will be no earthly reason to make hasty deals in an attempt to get him out of town.
To boot, the solutions to this episode of “Dealing with Allen” are infinetely easier to come up with than in the past. First, ignore any arguments the eight-year veteran may have with interim coach Chris Ford. Second, cross your fingers that the Sixers can acquire former Sixers player and assistant coach Maurice Cheeks after this mediocre season in Portland.
If there is anyone able to deal with the volatile superstar, it’s a student of former Philadelphia coach Larry Brown. Third, find a way to dump Derrick Coleman and Glenn Robinson on some other team. These two off-season acquisitions from years past are not viable scoring options that will complement Iverson, and their salaries are weighing down a team that now has regained it’s youthful core with guys like Willie Green and Samuel Dalembert.
Until Allen Iverson becomes more trouble than he’s worth, the 76ers organization should do everything in it’s power to make sure he stays in Philadelphia. Bickering and missed practices are a small price to pay for the example he sets on the court, and with just a few tweaks here and there, the Sixers can become legitimate contenders once again.
To deal the Answer away is to spark an unneccesary implosion much like that caused by a similar trade over a decade ago when they traded Charles Barkley to the Phoenix Suns.