Posted by TMS:
is that even an answer? other posters have already named players like Aaron McKie, Eric Snow, Andre Iguodala, etc...i don't know if you saw the Sixers vs. Lakers game tonight, but Iverson was throwing alley oop passes to Iggy all night long...but somehow that doesn't equate to making players better in your eyes i guess?...so can you come up with any logical reason why you would differentiate Iverson from KG, Kobe & Marbury? using your criteria you should be just as critical of those other guys for not having their teams in the current playoff picture...in fact, Iverson is the only player out of the 4 whose team is actually in the playoff picture as of today.
With a 21/11/6 PF and a very talented SF, Iverson *should* be in the playoff picture. He should be able to make it deep in the playoffs. After many years (maybe 3 or 4) of watching Marbury and other players in the playoffs, Ivy will finally get a chance to return to the playoffs. I'm not saying that to compliment Marbury. He still has plenty to prove, but that's a different topic.
In general, I don't think a PG who takes thirty shots a game will elevate his teammates' performance. There just aren't enough possessions per game for him to take that many shots and still elevate his teammates' performance too. The three players whose games you say Iverson has elevated. (BTW, I noticed you didn't mention players like Dalembert and Jackson this time.)
McKie put up similar #s on a better team his first two years than he's put up with Iverson.
Snow is hard to judge because he played all of his years in his prime with Iverson. He put up about 10/6 in his career with Iverson on some good and bad teams. I think he was talented enough in his prime to put up 10/6 on almost any team. He might have scored more points on a team where Iverson didn't take about 30 shots a game.
Igoudala: It's hard to evaluate him too because he hasn't played in the NBA with any other PG. However, he's an extremely talented player averaging 8 pts in 32 minutes. I have trouble believing that on a team with a PG who truly elevated the performance of his teammates and looked to distribute first and score second, he would average fewer points than that. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a large PPG increase if he played with a PG who distributed more--like we saw from Larry Hughes after he left Iverson's team.
This is an old boring debate. I'll answer more questions if you want me to since I'm sure you'd answer mine though.
BTW, I don't dislike Iverson. I think he has gifted skills. I don't see any evidence that he elevates his teammates performances, though, or that he's better than Marbury at this stage in their careers. (He was better about 4 or 5 years ago, though.)
[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 03/28/2005 01:05:36]
