Where would Iverson rank among guards if he played today?

[AlainLocke]

If u can’t handcheck and physically beat him up. How do u keep him out of the lane? He’s going to shred your defense easy. And son could actually shoot the ball, he’d be getting way more easier looks.

Only thing these “sophisticated” defenses would be able to do is get the ball out of his hands

You say off him and dare him to shoot...

You double team him...

Y'all saw how the Pelicans defended Lillard and McCollum and they are ten times the better shooter than AI ever was...

Y'all see how playoff teams guard Westbrook

Sag off...crowd the paint...double on pick and rolls and most guards are ineffective...

Perimeter players had it much easier back then because defenses had to play one on one and guard a man...

Defenses today don't...

Being hand checked isn't that big of a deal...

Nobody plays one on one anymore...it's all about schemes...

You can scheme a guard out of a game... Pelicans did it to Lillard

 

[KOohbt]

He'd be top 5 any era.

 

[DoubleClutch]

If he played today he wouldn't be considered that good...

He came up in wannabe Jordan era...where every star player basically iso'd and thru up 25 shots a game...if you could put up 26 points with 26 shots...you was considered a good player back then...

Iverson pretty much failed due to his style of play...he ran off Larry Hughes, Jerry Stackhouse...

He dragged a crappy 76ers team in the crappy East...and after that he was nothing but a first round or 2nd round knock out...

Went to the Nuggets and he was shipped out after 2 seasons...he actually put up decent stats his first year...probably should've learned how to play with another offensive star earlier in his career instead of ball hogging...

His stats are bad...

He played 42 mins a game to put up the numbers he got...while guys like Curry put up the same numbers in 32 mins, guys like Lillard putting up the same numbers in 36 mins...

AI was the epitome of a volume scorer. Guys like Lillard, Curry, Harden blow him out of the water.

Allen Iverson is more of a cultural icon than a good basketball player...favorite player of all time...one of the most talented players to ever play...but a good basketball player?

Nah...

Chauncey Billups was a better player than Iverson....

Iverson did more than just score though. Correct me if I’m wrong but he averaged more assists than curry and lillard and he played 2 Guard

He also was pretty good at steals

Who cares about the numbers/ if it took over one more minutes it’s because he wanted to play more minutes and he needed to because he carried his team

Curry has it easier. His team is stacked So he can play less minutes and be more efficient

Iverson did more for his team that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.

 

[desjardins]

AI would live at the line in this era. Breh would get knocked to the ground damn near every play and wasn't getting a lot of those calls back then. People hate Harden cause he cheese his way to the line and I feel like AI would get there similar amount of times.

Also people never mention how when AI went to the nuggets they won the franchise record number of games at the time and they lost in the playoffs to the eventual NBA champions both times. It's not like Chauncey came and cleaned up a fukked up situation AI left, he came to a team that AI left running on all cyclinders where as AI went to a trash Pistons team where Rip Hamilton thought he was a franchise player and ben wallace was already gone. That pistons team was fukking trash but dummies always act like AI went there and ruined it

 

[Woodrow]

If AI and Billups played today not a single GM would take Billups over AI. AI never had a system that was tailored made to his strengths.

I’m not even remotely getting into a Billups vs. AI discussion.

But AI didn’t have a system built around his strengths???

Who the hell was the team he led to the Finals built for then?

 

[Darealtwo1]

He would be Jordan Clarkson getting 25 shots a game.

I wouldn't have AI in the top 5 of current PG.

A.I was more of a lifestyle than a great ball player.

 

[steph_harden]

You say off him and dare him to shoot...

You double team him...

Y'all saw how the Pelicans defended Lillard and McCollum and they are ten times the better shooter than AI ever was...

Y'all see how playoff teams guard Westbrook

Sag off...crowd the paint...double on pick and rolls and most guards are ineffective...

Perimeter players had it much easier back then because defenses had to play one on one and guard a man...

Defenses today don't...

Being hand checked isn't that big of a deal...

Nobody plays one on one anymore...it's all about schemes...

You can scheme a guard out of a game... Pelicans did it to Lillard

First off the Pelicans did NOT sag of Lillard, they basically shadowed him with an extra defender and walled him off from the paint. The reason why it worked is because Lillard doesn’t have a midrange game....so he couldn’t figure out another point of attack plus Dame was just plain timid.

CJ on otherhand has the best midrange game in the league (either him or Kyrie) and it showed. The nikka averaged 25ppg on 52% from the field and 43% from 3. So iunno why u lumping him in with Dame. CJ was great.

Which is why AI was not gonna be schemed that way...he had an elite midrange game and as far as explosiveness is in a different strastosphere as those dudes...they wouldn’t be able to keep him out of the paint with that same scheme.

AI was a once in a lifetime athlete. You would have to give up something...and if that something happened to be shooting he was more than capable...especially if u decided to sag off him.

As poor as AI’s shooting % was I’d never seen a defender sag off him even once his whole career. I’m pretty sure that would prob be suicide seeing as dude was an all time blackout scorer and could get insanely hot.

 

[steph_harden]

I’m not even remotely getting into a Billups vs. AI discussion.

But AI didn’t have a system built around his strengths???

Who the hell was the team he led to the Finals built for then?

Breh how exactly was that a “system” when the “system” was only predicated on him getting buckets. He could have done that on any team. AI was literally his own system

 

[Urethra Franklin]

He played before majority of the coli was of age, so of course he would be trash today. Duh

 

[Lifer11]

If he played today he wouldn't be considered that good...

He came up in wannabe Jordan era...where every star player basically iso'd and thru up 25 shots a game...if you could put up 26 points with 26 shots...you was considered a good player back then...

Iverson pretty much failed due to his style of play...he ran off Larry Hughes, Jerry Stackhouse...

He dragged a crappy 76ers team in the crappy East...and after that he was nothing but a first round or 2nd round knock out...

Went to the Nuggets and he was shipped out after 2 seasons...he actually put up decent stats his first year...probably should've learned how to play with another offensive star earlier in his career instead of ball hogging...

His stats are bad...

He played 42 mins a game to put up the numbers he got...while guys like Curry put up the same numbers in 32 mins, guys like Lillard putting up the same numbers in 36 mins...

AI was the epitome of a volume scorer. Guys like Lillard, Curry, Harden blow him out of the water.

Allen Iverson is more of a cultural icon than a good basketball player...favorite player of all time...one of the most talented players to ever play...but a good basketball player?

Nah...

Chauncey Billups was a better player than Iverson....

His 2nd season in Denver he put up 26ppg, 7apg and 3rpg on 19 shots and shot 45% from the field. Claiming he wasn't even a good basketball player is literally one of the dumbest things I've seen in all my time on the internet. The only time he took anywhere near 26 shots a game was when the Sixers needed him to and most of those seasons he averaged over 30ppg. Not to mention the sheer force of will he played with and the intangibles he brought to the court night in and night out. He played in an era where efficiency/fg% wasn't a major issue, same thing with Kobe, and their stats show it. Iverson was a great basketball player, and anyone who knows anything at all about basketball will say the same, including his fellow NBA players, past and present.

 

[Lifer11]

IT was an MVP candidate in Brad Stevens' system and has been an afterthought everywhere else he's played. So yeah maybe AI would be an MVP if Brad Stevens was coaching him.

That's what EVERYBODY said when he went to Denver...that all the talent around him would allow him to be more successful....and then...

He's a gunner breh. He's ball dominant and he wants to shoot 30 times a game. He has never given a fukk who is on his team, he wants to shoot. He was not a point guard, he was a SHOOTING guard

He admitted this himself when he chose to retire rather than NOT be the 1st option taking 30 shots a game

And then what??

In Denver he put 24, 7 and 3 and then 26, 7 and 3 on 45% shooting both seasons.

 

[28 Gramz]

He would be Jordan Clarkson getting 25 shots a game.

I wouldn't have AI in the top 5 of current PG.

A.I was more of a lifestyle than a great ball player.

 

[AlainLocke]

As poor as AI’s shooting % was I’d never seen a defender sag off him even once his whole career. I’m pretty sure that would prob be suicide seeing as dude was an all time blackout scorer and could get insanely hot.

Allen Iverson did get played with defenders giving him space...the man would iso somebody and he'll be in the middle of the paint. Defenders would go underpicks on him.


And Damian Lillard has a midrange game, he's the best midrange shooter in the league...he only shot below 40 percent from midrange twice in hs career..

Damian Lillard had the big man sag off on him on pick and rolls and the man that got picked would go over and give up ground...he was trapped and double team...he would get sagged off on at the 3 point line so he couldn't pull up from three...

CJ wasn't seeing that kind of defensive attention...and he played mostly one on one...I mean...he had Etawaan Moore guarding him...




Overall point is...Allen Iverson would've been scheme for and taken out the game...he wasn't that good in the playoffs when it came to scoring neither was he that good in the regular season outside of 2 seasons...where he was decent volume shooter.

 

[Darealtwo1]

Allen Iverson did get played with defenders giving him space...the man would iso somebody and he'll be in the middle of the paint. Defenders would go underpicks on him.


And Damian Lillard has a midrange game, he's the best midrange shooter in the league...he only shot below 40 percent from midrange twice in hs career..

Damian Lillard had the big man sag off on him on pick and rolls and the man that got picked would go over and give up ground...he was trapped and double team...he would get sagged off on at the 3 point line so he couldn't pull up from three...

CJ wasn't seeing that kind of defensive attention...and he played mostly one on one...I mean...he had Etawaan Moore guarding him...




Overall point is...Allen Iverson would've been scheme for and taken out the game...he wasn't that good in the playoffs when it came to scoring neither was he that good in the regular season outside of 2 seasons...where he was decent volume shooter.

Exactly I hate when people pull that BS like Lillard choked or some shyt. Replace Kyrie with Lillard and the same shyt is happening against the Pelicans.

 

[malbaker86]

First of all Billups never kicked ai’s ass the pistons beat the sixers in 03 because they had a better team by the way Chauncey shot like 36% from the field in that series

You bring up efficiency but ignore how inefficient Billups was, he shot last than 39% during the chip season and for his career he has a lower fg % than AI

Billups was nice but at no point was he as good as kidd so kill that best point guard shyt

Ai was drafted to a shytty franchise and helped them improve every single season for the first 5 years eventually getting to the finals and handing the lakers their only loss of the postseason

Was ai perfect of course not, but he was better than Chauncey hands down

nikkaz forget Billups pre Detroit year where he was extremely average