Rants and raves about burning topics that have caught my attention midweek, be it greedy corporate shenanigans, frustration or joy in regards to the Philly sports teams, a movie, show or DVD that has fired up my imagination, an intriguing personality, or my on-going battle to lose weight in our fast food world. — Lori Hoffman, Associate Editor, Atlantic City Weekly
After all the speculation about the return of The Answer, the news broke at 9am this morning (Wednesday, Dec. 2). Allen Iverson is back with the Sixers. (Warning to Atlantic City casinos: you’ll likely be seeing a lot more of A.I. at the tables. His behavior at said casinos has sometimes been less than acceptable).
But back to basketball: Iverson has accepted a non-guaranteed contract that gives the club some flexibility (they can let him go without a financial hit) if this grand experiment doesn’t work out before Jan. 10 when his prorated 1.3 million salary becomes guaranteed.
We all knew the “Iverson retires” ploy was just that, a move to save face if no other team in the NBA was willing to take a chance on a former great player who doesn’t want to come off the bench, let alone play any defense.
If the Sixers were playing better, if Elton Brand didn’t look like a stiff, if Lou Williams didn’t break his jaw, if Maurice Speights weren’t injured, the Iverson rumor would have died. However, the team has looked awful, they don’t seem to be getting the hang of coach Eddie Jordan’s Princeton “read and react” offense and they are going down the tubes fast. Most of their wins have come against the Knicks and the winless Nets, so desperate times call for desperate measures.
Certainly the arrival of Iverson should work out better than the last controversial move by a Philly franchise, the Eagles signing Michael Vick. That move was a non-starter but at least it didn’t disrupt the team.
Disruption just might be what the Sixers need. Stir A.I. into the mix and maybe he will push the team’s other A.I., Andre Iguodala, to play with more intensity. If I hear the Sixers play by play announcers say that Iguodala “stuffs a stat sheet” one more time, I’m going to smash in my TV set with a baseball bat. Stuffing the stat sheet hasn’t translated into wins. Iggy was supposed to be “The Man” when Iverson left. He has instead developed into a decent complimentary player who needs a superstar to bump up his game.
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