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NBA BASKETBALL Editorial

IVERSON THE ANSWER

By JG21

Nov 10, 2000

Conventional wisdom had us all thinking Allen Iverson would destroy the 6ers and either find himself traded or drive head coach Larry Brown out of Philadelphia. It's still very early to draw conclusion but Iverson has defied that conventional wisdom and silenced his critics. When Allen asked for a share of the team captain role, a request Brown granted without hesitation, he said it would make a difference. And so far, he's right. No unscheduled late arrivals, no missed practices, no arguments, nothing.

Thus far in regular season play, the 76ers have been scoring like mad and defending relentlessly - holding opponents to 39% shooting from the floor; en route to a perfect record and their greatest start in years. And despite his 37% shooting, Iverson is the major reason for the way the 76ers are playing at this point. He's at it again, breaking ankles as usual, and playing fantastic basketball. He's taken his new role as co-captain very seriously. Iverson (and Eric Snow) are running the Sixers offense effectively, making better, wiser decisions, and most of all, getting his teammates involved. And according to his teammates, he's become more vocal; urging the big men to get down low so he can get them the ball.

Towards the end of the pre-season, these were Brown's words: "He's done everything I've asked him to do, everything he said he was going to do. We haven't had anybody late. The guys that are the captains (Iverson and Snow) have acted responsible as captains. I couldn't be happier in that regard. They have done a great job setting an example." In all honesty, Brown never had a problem with Snow regarding lateness and all the other stuff, so really he's stating how impressed he is that Iverson is stepping up and acting like a mature team leader. His assists have risen, his rebounds have shot up, his steals - we all know where those are headed, his turnovers have shrunk, and his FT% (which was in the 70% region last season) is at an all-time high.

Last season, experts from all over rated Kobe Bryant as the best shooting guard in the league, and most (including InsideHoops) rated Iverson as 2nd best. Why was everyone so high on Kobe? - his fantastic all-around numbers and improved play. So far, here's how both player's match up statistically:

         Pts  Fg%  Ft%  Rebs  Asts  Stls  TO's    A/TO
Iverson:25.3  37%  90%  6.5   5.0   1.75  1.8(7)  2.86
Bryant: 20.6  42%  90%  3.8   3.6   1.60  3.6(18) 1.00

*Allen has played 4 games, and Kobe 5 so far.

Like i said before, it's still very early. But, as evident from the numbers above, there's one obvious answer as to who's more all-around now, THE -only possible- ANSWER.

With that said, let me drop a few lines to Insidehoops: Moving Kevin Garnett to the top position in the power forward section of your updated player rankings was the righteous thing to do. Duncan has mad game, but KG is off the charts. So with that out of the way, you know what to do in the shooting guard section! 
____________

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