At some point this summer, my capacity for Allen Iverson sturm und drang has up and walked out that door in the side of my head. So we'll play this one straight. The trendsetting, league-wrecking, inspirational, offensively adept guard has no team. Rumors had stagnated, and Iverson's prospects for next season had been looking increasingly bleak. He has a Twitter, but it had been dormant for weeks.
Then, a flurry of activity, including this most straightforward of twits:
If you think that I am just going away-Think again! I am getting ready for the NBA season. Waiting for the call. Charlotte, Miami, NY ... Getting in shape, running, lifting and thinking about which team that I will help compete for a championship! Whoever gets me will be happy ... I have had a year to get ready, my back is fine now don't worry. When you see me again you will think that I am fresh out of Georgetown!So there you have it. In humble, stripped-down, matter-of-fact terms, we hear it's Charlotte, Miami or New York. Worth noting, too, that all "AI to Europe" speculation has come in the form of, well, people like me. It's been a possibility; to some, an inevitability. But he's never received an overseas offer that struck anyone as more than perfunctory, which suggests Iverson's still planning to stick in out in the NBA.
Cold, objective, without any tortured-ness, here's what we've got: Miami, to back up or share the backcourt with Wade in a transitional year. Could keep team buzzing and be fun for Wade. Could the team get that much worse? With Wade, could they not make the playoffs? Charlotte, back next to Larry Brown's bosom, playing who-knows-what position, bringing in attendance and proving his mettle with little exposure or pressure. The Knicks would be the kind of coup that Iverson and that franchise so desperately need. But it could end up destroying them both.
Okay, hyperbole alert on that last one. The Knicks seems like too much of a gamble for all involved. Charlotte is like going back to live at home, but in the basement. Miami makes more and more sense, in part because the Heat needs to do something. Anything. If Wade wants to play with Iverson, at least it's a distraction—good or bad—for next season as 2010 approaches. Consider it a cheaper version of bringing in Shaq, except with no presumption that AI will save the day.
We may not be on the verge of an Allen Iverson renaissance, but if he's back, it'll be with a strange mix of humility and "being my own man." That might be the gimmick he needs to get the job he wants, but it's also the logical next step—or chess move—for him prolonging his career in an ever-shifting league.
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