Straight off the bat, I think Allen Iverson is a ballhog and him being a bad teammate is up for debate considering last season's refusal to come off the pine (disguised as an injury) with the Detroit Pistons.  However, I've never been his teammate, so I couldn't say for sure.  But surely it isn't to the level where Morris Petersen has a job and Iverson doesn't!  Iverson isn't some sort of franchise killer.  C'mon, this is one of the greatest (top 30? 50?) players that ever played the game!  Sure he doesn't want to come off the bench, but he's sort of earned that swagger, which doesn't translate well in a team game, but still!

Last season in what turned out to be a relatively horrible Pistons team, Iverson faced adversity and was confronted with the pressure of replacing Chauncey Billups, a Pistons fan favorite.  It didn't help that the Denver Nuggets, the team Billups was traded to, went on to a successful season, but don't blame Iverson for how crappy the Pistons were.  Nobody liked the coach, Michael Curry, who is now the "ex" coach because apparently Joe Dumars, the guy that hired Curry, didn't like him either after Curry's one season of tenure.  Dumars should have just kept Flip Saunders because the current personnel would love Saunders' offense.  In any case, last season was just a debacle that Iverson played a role in, but didn't create.

However, NBA teams are acting as if he did and I just don't get it.

Last season was clearly an aberration thanks to the Pistons people in charge, who traded for Iverson and sent their undisputed leader, Billups, to clear up cap space for the 2010 free agent frenzy, which thanks to the NBA's cap projections is not so much frenzy anymore.  Of course hindsight is 20/20, but dumb move.  Curry as the coach trying to tell Iverson what to do?  For almost a decade, they were competitors and I'm pretty sure that AI broke Curry's ankles at least once or twice during that time.  Why would anyone think that Iverson would respect or listen to that guy?  Why bring Iverson in knowing he's a big personality that would only respect another big personality as coach, such as Larry Brown?  Seriously, even Richard Hamilton, an all-around nice guy and important Pistons cog, didn't get along with Curry.  Dumb move.  But, I guess it sort of worked out that Iverson's contract expired this offseason enabling the Pistons to sign both Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, but if they can get some sort of redemption, shouldn't Iverson?

Again I say that I think that Iverson is a ballhog, but who doesn't know he needs the ball in his hands to be effective.  Everyone knows that.  And, sure, when a player like this starts to not be effective anymore, you want to tell them to stop, but Iverson is only two seasons away from scoring 26.4 points a contest during the 2007-08 campaign.  Last season, he averaged 17.5 points and 5.0 assists, playing mostly unhappy with the Pistons (57 games versus three with the Nuggets).  It's a fact that Iverson is 34 years old and has definitely seen his best days behind him.  However, I still think he has the ability to do well in the NBA and is easily better than half the guards in the league.  But, most of all, I think if/when Iverson latches on with a team, he's going to have an edge about him to prove people wrong.

It's something he's been doing since coming into the league as a 6'0" point guard and averaging 27.1 points per game over 13 seasons... I wouldn't bet against Iverson.

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