Allen Iverson has been called many things in his NBA tenure. A fierce competitor. A dynamo. Flashy. Stubborn. He's been called selfish, and he's been called a team player. He's been called MVP and the Answer. He's been voted onto nine All-Star teams - playing for the east and the west.
fan-favorites sitting by and waiting for a team to pick him up. At this point in the off-season nearly all the "big name" free agents have signed new contracts.
Shawn Marion, Richard Jefferson, Ben Gordon, Rasheed Wallace - they've each found new teams to take them in, teams that wanted them.
Yet Allen Iverson remains at home, playing parent instead of getting ready to play ball with a new team.
In an interview on NBA.com, AI suggests that all he's looking for is a team that wants him. Like these other free agents, he wants a chance to play and do what he does best and, in the best case scenario, he wants a chance to win a championship. In the interview, Iverson says nothing to Eric Snow about a big contract. Instead he focuses on the idea that he was born to play basketball and that is all he is interested in.
So, if that's his attitude, why hasn't he found a team? Why hasn't a team found him?
The reasons are probably not as simple as the sports reporters have suggested so far. His unwillingness to come of the bench at the end of the season and in the playoffs last year in DetroitCleveland and LeBron James. Plus, Iverson's role with the team from the start was as a starter.
The circumstances for the former MVP have changed. Joining a new team now will offer a new role, by necessity, and that may include a sixth man position for Iverson. I don't see any evidence to suggest that he wouldn't accept such a role. And if he were the sixth man on a team like, say, Portland, where there is a real shot at going deep into the playoffs, who would think he'd say no?
is commonly cited as proof of his ornery attitude. But that team was just barely a playoff team. They had almost no chance of making their way out of the first round against
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