Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As JJ posted above - it actually goes back to an article in 2009 where Whitlock trashed what Iverson brought to the game. Will see if I can dig it up...
1) Iverson was a popular player with younger fans, he wasn't super big and he'd be electrifying with a 15-25, 40 point game full of highlight reel plays.
2) Iverson was way less popular with people that were more serious fans because we didn't just pay attention to when he had a great game and splashed across sports-center, we also noticed the next two games where he shot 10-30 with 28 points and his team got beat as a result. (Kobe, if you took away his defense had one year like that right after Shaq and him split and it was ugly.)
3) The hip-hop culture was toxic to the NBA's hopes of expanding to a broad demographic. Some of it was fine but not as much of it as became the norm. So, Stern put his foot down and put in dress codes. He also put other conduct things in over the years like fines for uttering gay slurs.
All that said, Iverson is a HOF player that energized a lot of fans. He could also completely take over a game, sometimes to the detriment of his teams success.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
