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Allen Iverson aka the Answer. Former NBA rookie of the year, former MVP, multi year scoring champion, allstar MVP. There have been rumors swirling around that he might return to philadelphia and let me tell you why I see this as a good thing, there has been a lot of trash talked over the years about allen iverson but a few things cannot be disputed: the man can score the basketball his career scoring average 27.0 a game(lowered because he only averaged 17 due to sparse minutes in detroit and12  this season in 3 games with memphis it jumps up to 27.8 if you remove the last two seasons). In a league where some teams don't have players averaging over 20 points for the entire season his career average is 27 points. There is also some dispute about where or not the man will pass the ball he averages a respectable 6.2 assists per game, this is a guard 6 assists a game is considered a good game, he averages that for his career. He averages 3.7 rebounds a game for his career this man is 6 feet tall and he fights amongst the trees, Allen Iverson has always been the captain of the NBA all heart team. Oh and did I mention the steals

2.2 for his career and to put it in even more perspective the men got triple digit steals every year except for this year and his year in detroit, yup he had more then 100 steals every year which means these claims of not playing defense, not going all out for the team are bull.

Let's also put another lie to rest why Iverson wanted out of philly, it was the same reason Charles Barkley left. You ask a man to lead you team to the playoffs and win and you give him sub par talent with which to do it. For Barkley I will never forget the quote " I asked for Shaq and they got me Shakleford" he needed a dominate center in the middle to help him out and they got him a body who could give the team 6 fouls. A man puts it all on the line for you and you give him no support of course he will be bitter. For Iverson I know who it was Kevin Ollie, Kevin Ollie never worked out for the philadelphia 76ers but he was cheap. And 6 times ollie got a contract from the Sixers his numbers never improved, he never added more to the team yet they kept bringing him back. Why he wasn't helping, he wasn't a piece for the future he was just a cheap guy you could throw out on the court. And for a guy who would go out there and play hurt, who would challenge the giants and get hit every game, who would lay it all on the line, I can't blame him.

Allen Iverson was a Philadelphia kind of player: all heart, no quit, it wasn't about the personal accolades it was about the winning. You wonder why he didn't work in detroit simple Iverson needs a big dominant center for his game to work, suprisingly the year they went to the finals First they had ratliff who got hurt then they got mutumbo. The main difference between ratliff and mutumbo Ratliff scored more points. Way more points, so when they got to the Finals yes the lakers had to worry about mutumbo blocking shots but they had no worries about him on the offensive end.

As for the memphis grizzlies man please, let me read you the list of players memphis has traded away in the last 8 years: Jayson williams, Bonzi wells, Stromile swift(but he game back and left again), Shane Battier(dumbest trade ever all dude does is whatever you ask score a little, rebound, block some shots, the consumate 6th man), Kyle Lowry, Pau Gasol. Now while Pau's heart may have been questioned a time or two all of those guys did one thing the current roster members don't they play their hearts out all game and sometimes will the team to win. The memphis grizzlies starting point guard shouldn't even be a back up in the league. He is not a leader, for as long as he has been a grizzlie he has been the safe guy, the quiet guy the guy who will just go in there and basically disappear. Which may be great in a movie but if you want to win the game you need players on your team who can not only score but who can inspire their team mates and help them kick it into another gear. On Sunday Memphis lost a game 98-88. With like 3 minutes left in that game I believe memphis was up 88-78, thats right for 3 minutes memphis DID NOT SCORE, you have a 10 point lead, with 3 minutes left and you can't score a single basket? Nobody drove the basket trying to force a foul.

This is where you need heart players at, this is where you need guys who are gonna refuse to lose a game that you are winning wire to wire and the other team just decides at the end we just want it more. and no they weren't caught with a bunch of 3 pointers the other team basically drove to the basket on them and scored 20 points, the last 20 points of the game. Yet some people wanna lie and say the current starter is their point guard of the future, really thats the kind of leadership you want out on the floor for your team you wanna go scoreless in crunch time? I know memphis if they went scoreless it was because they shot a bunch of jumpers at the end. Yet they didn't wanna start iverson, He would have drove no way in hell you lose that game if iverson is on the team because he wants to win, he is a competitor.

I hear talk about Iverson being a ball hog, um how many assists a year did he average again? I don't care what "Team Ball" lie you tell yourself if you want to be a champion there has to be one guy who dominates the ball on your team and other players who can be counted on to just fill there role.For Chicago it was jordan, for detroit it was Isaih Thomas then chauncey billups and rip hamilton, for philly it was doctor j, for san antonio it was Tim Duncan, for Houston Hakeem olajuwan, LA it was first magic then shaq then kobe, For miami it was dwayne wade. One guy who you know was gonna get the ball when the game was on the line, yes you could have other good players on the team but they had to compliment the star. People may not like to admit it but on those first 3 laker title runs shaq was the man, he was the center of the triangle for the last one Kobe finally found some players who could compliment his style. And if we go back to Jordan the current mark of Excellence for this era of basketball we are in do you remember how many game winning shot's he hit on their way to finals glory?  think it was one the last one versus Utah I believe jordan hit the final game leading or winning shot. Before that the guys who closed the door Bj armstong, john paxson, craig hodges, steve kerr hell I think even pippen closed one out.

Why because game on the line one man is expected to get the ball, you expect one man to beat you and you want to stop him. The man you knew you had to stop was jordan which meant as long as those other guys fulfilled their role and hit that open shot when jordan drew all the attention they would win. You can lie to yourself all day, if you don't have a guy who not only wants the ball when the game is on the line but that has proven he can make the defense react and respect his presence on the court you are rarely going to win. Plenty of teams in the NBA with a bunch of "nice guys" on the team, no overly forceful willing to just collect their checks and be local celebrities maybe do a little flossing. But who's the guy who when you step on the court you know damn, I gotta tough night cause I gotta guard him, he ain gonna go down til the final whistle is blown.

I said when Iverson first got to memphis that hopefully he gave the team a heart transplant because they needed it, unfortunately it seems the team just wanted the free ticket sales. Allen iverson is a philly style of player, if it ain just about making money, if it is actually about basketball you bring him back. The real AI never left the court unless it was drenched in his blood sweat and tears. He's the type of guy that when he comes back we cheer because we know he gave us his all. If your gripe is that the players we have in philly now may suffer because iverson comes back, um they weren't winning. They are so lackluster that they couldn't even save the coach that was a former beloved player(and won a title for us) yet you wanna tell me AI shouldn't come back cause he ain the answer? No truth be told he should have never been allowed to leave, you stock a team full of decent starters and then folks on the bench who add nothing to the team but some possible flash to show on a commercial. Maybe they go on a streak and get some press so you can sell a jersey or two.

Nobody can deny that Allen Iverson is a Hall of Fame player, some say best to play the game at 6 feet or under. There are some players who should NEVER wear a different jersey. In philly we have allowed quite a few of those players to leave, in football this year we had Brian Dawkins leave, the captain of our defense the guy who kept our D going and we just let him go, in basketball that trade 3 years ago by the Hack Billy king was a mistake. I could see if what Iverson was saying was untrue, but please if a guy never makes your team better he is just sitting there collecting a pay check(and you have given him multiple tours with the team) I prefer you tell me the truth and basically fight to get your team made better then to just be a company man and throw slop on the floor every night and claim it is beautiful.

As touchy as this subject is for me I'm surprised I made it this far without a curse or hitch, cool. You disagree be my guest, but if AI was wearing his jersey again on the team that drafted him, I wouldn't have a single problem with that.