Not One to Change

Throughout his 14-year career, Allen Iverson was absolutely, no doubt about it, the man on the court. 26.7 career average points per game - 5th behind names like Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. 1997 NBA Rookie of the Year - rookies in that draft class featured names like Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, and Steve Nash. 2001 NBA MVP - he carried a very mediocre Philadelphia 76er team all the way to The Finals. 11-time NBA All-Star. 4-time NBA scoring champion. That's an impressive resume. This kind of resume gets you to the Hall of Fame, this kind of reputation earns you respect from the league. But there's always been a large footnote that came with Iverson's talent, and that footnote reads "badass". He rarely ever went to practice. He condemned the importance of practice. He skipped corporate events, such as media or press day. He publicly criticized referees. He wore gang-affiliated apparel to and from sports arenas. He represented everything bad in the "thug-life, shorts down to my ankles" phase in the late 90s/early 2000s.

And as he gets older, Iverson has to realize that these "footnotes" become a lot more magnified than his skills on the court because though he revolutionized the game with his unmatched speed, drive, and scoring abilities, his body is wearing down. A 6'0", 165 pound body that's been taking a beating since 1996 is definitely wearing down. But Iverson is not one to change. When David Stern, commissioner of the NBA, asked him to change his pre-game and postgame apparel, Iverson refused to submit to authority and threatened that he would fight to wear comfortable clothes. When Larry Brown, coach of the Philadelphia Sixers during Iverson's time with the team, criticized Iverson for missing practice, Iverson went on an infamous public rant about the insignificance of practice. During the latter part of his career, when Detroit and Memphis asked Iverson to play a reserve bench role on their respective teams, he couldn't stoop to such a level, so he left. In his eyes, he is always right, as his thuggish antics off the court, though condemnable, gained him a huge fan base that sold out arenas. In his eyes, he is always the star on the team, as seen after his time in Philadelphia, where he couldn't adapt to any team's system - they had to adapt to his system where he was the star.

30 out of 30 NBA teams know that Iverson is a distraction waiting to happen. Therefore, no NBA team offered him an invitation to this year's training camp. Rookies who hadn't proved anything in the pros were getting the nod over Iverson. So now, Iverson is looking at other countries that have teams that will play his system. Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports write that Iverson is extremely close to signing a one-year, $1.5 million deal with Turkish team, Besiktas. Well, the only thing in the contract that is making the contract extremely close is Iverson himself - he's not willing to let Besiktas fine him beyond 1% of his base salary. This tells me and the whole world that Iverson knows he's going to get in trouble, and he knows he's going to get fined somewhere along the line. And as a precautionary method, Iverson won't sign with the only team in the world that will give him a shot because he doesn't want his own salary to pay for his fines; he wants his team to pay for them.

As disheartening as that sounds, it's true, and it's the only stumbling block that's preventing Iverson from signing the papers. Iverson has to come to this simple reality: the NBA, the game of basketball, the world
has changed since his glory days in Philadelphia, which were about a decade ago. Iverson can't get away with being a rebel anymore. Iverson can't be the star of his team anymore. Iverson can't be the face of a franchise anymore. And until he realizes that, he won't be playing for any basketball team.

But Iverson is lucky in that he has many players to look to that have adapted to their surroundings. Antonio McDyess realized that if he ever wanted to compete for a championship after multiple surgeries that kept him away from the game for multiple seasons, he would have to play behind Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace as a bench player in Detroit. LeBron James realized that if he ever wanted to become an all-around player, he couldn't rely on his athleticism every night, but he would have to develop a jumper and a three-point shot that would make his game more versatile. Kobe Bryant realized that if he ever wanted to win without Shaquille O'Neal, he couldn't go one on five every night, but he would have to defer to his teammates at times.

Everyone submitted to Iverson during his prime - opposing teams, the commissioner, his team, and his coaches. Now that those days are gone, it's time for him to do the same, or give up the only thing he has that makes him spectacular.

- Leather Head