was he any good or just a meme?

>>74972753

unironically both

U N I R O N I C A L L Y The most technically flawless player in basketball history.

Jordan was more a succesful marketing meme than elite player.

>>74972753
Jamal Crawford with an MVP

he was the best player in the "dribble aimlessly for 23 seconds then drive/jack up a contested shot" era of the NBA

Probably simultaneously the most fun and most frustrating player to watch ever.

The most fun because he was so good and skilled and also the type of player everyone wants to be.

The most frustrating because aside from one or two seasons you knew they weren't getting anywhere because it was always AI and a bunch of scrubs with the occasional out of his prime good player (Deke, CWebb)

He's 5'10" and he won the NBA MVP award. The man was fucking ridiculous, they called him "The Answer" for a reason, if he was a few inches taller he'd probably be Kobe-tier at least.

>>74972954
If Iverson was born like 15 years later he would have been marketing dynamite. Imagine, some manlet from the ghetto tearing up the league, he would have been like Isaiah Thomas times 10.

He was Kobe without the supporting cast. If he had had ANYONE but a washed up Dikembe Mutombo in his prime, he would have won a championships.

>>74973146
One thing I noticed about early 00s rap/hip-hop music videos, Iverson's jersey was seen pretty often

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>>74973209
He was the first "ghetto", if you want to call it that, NBA star. Guys like Jordan and Magic Johnson may have been black, but they weren't as real as Allen Iverson. Dude had his mom do his braids during a game, no one ever had more appeal to lower class blacks than AI.

Iverson made every white child in the early 00s turn into a wiggers.

his crossover is vicious my nigra

>>74973239

i read an interesting theory once that nba brass wanted to keep that element away from the game's image so they orchestrated the league in such a way that AI would never find success

>>74973209
Yeah, that's the problem. Iverson was the poster boy for the NBA's thug image. It's very nice to appeal to black people, but 50% of them are on welfare. You're not going to make serious money off of them. Why do you think MLB still makes twice as much money as the NBA despite having a fanbase only slightly larger? Their fans aren't on food stamps.

Iverson's whole persona was too "real". Look at Lebron James. He had the same sort of background as Iverson (born in a shithole ghetto with a crackwhore mom and a dad probably doing 30 years in prison), but he had the advantage of being born later on and had excellent PR guys helping him out since high school. Helped him keep the whole ghetto thing to a minimum.

>>74973299
>50% of them

*us

Sorry, one drop rule

>>74973261
that's not a secret at all, the NBA dress code is a direct result of AI

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>>74973248
This. And i speak from experience

>>74973434

i mean in terms of player transactions, etc.

>tfw thug nigga NBA was way more fun than this family friendly, commercially-santized NBA we have nowadays

>>74972753
Iverson is a top 30 player of all-time.

Iverson was basically the Westbrook of that time.

But at least Westbrook had a team at some point.

I know niggas liver than Allen Iverson

>>74972753
practice

>>74973128
>implying Kobe was even a top ten player

>>74973489
GMs were dumber back then

>>74972805
So westbrook before westbrook?

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>>74973299
>Iverson's whole persona was too "real".

>>74973209
He even recorded a rap album himself. Too bad Stern got triggered by the lyrics of his first single, so the project never saw the light of the day.

>>74973128
They do say AI was the best player ever pound for pound

>>74975795
yes

a less athletic westbrook except instead of being a bitch, he might shoot you for real

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>>74973239


>spent 40,000$ at a TJI Fridays
>showed up to press conferences dressed in authentic FUBU crack dealer uniform
>spoke to the media with the restraint of a nigger on cops getting caught with a stolen car and an 8 ball of coke

i'd be fine with the NBA going full nigger mode and shit like malice at the palace happened every week

>>74972753
Russel Westbrick swag edition

>>74973128
>Kobe-tier
You mean trash tier?

AI would rek Westbroke

>>74980378
>AI would rek Westbroke
Westbrook would BTFO him in a 1v1 as he is way more athletic.Both were and are shit at shooting and the swaggy nigger was just good for crossovers

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>>74972753
>the NBA will never be cool again

>>74980447
That's some serious 2k cheese.

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I think we can all agree that with Iverson, whether he was good or not, the NBA was way more fun to watch. I prefer that swaggy wigger era a thousand times over the sterilized meme chucking thing we have now.

>tfw Iverson retired 8 years ago

>>74980447
I still can't get over the fact he singlehandedly stole Game 1 from one of the most dominant playoff teams ever.

>>74980479

it really wasn't. the early 2000s NBA was garbage

He singlehandedly stole a game on the road in the Finals against prime Kobe and Shaw, when they literally swept everyone else

>>74980761
>Kobe era was garbage
Pedro pls

>>74980940
>Kobe was garbage
Fixed

He was the GOAT 1v1 blacktop baller

If you needed someone to create something out of nothing, AI would do it

he'd break Westbrooks ankles all day

>>74980097
>less athletic

he was infinitely quicker off the bounce than westbrick could ever imagne

>>74980968
>5 rings
>garbage
how pedro?

>>74980968
>tf
>tt

stick to fairyflop, enrique

>>74980333
>40,000$
it's $40,000 in fatlandia
drop the proxy, faggot

>>74981019

remind me how many good white American players there are in the NBA again?

>>74981069
>memes

>>74981013
>Robert Horry
>7 rings
>Garbage
How?

>>74981129
Horry never played for team USA or played in the all-star game like Kobe

>>74981175
Horry didn't statpad with awful efficiency like Kobe

>>74981198
who said anything about stats?

>>74981222
It is the only thing that matters to be in team USA and the all-star game

>>74981175

Kobe 1 MVP
Steve Nash 2 MVPs

>>74981235
What else would they go by?

>>74981249
>What else would they go by?
Do you seriously believe that teams have to be build to fit as many statpaders as possible?

>>74981262
It works. We win the gold medal every time.

>>74981275
>It works.
It doesn't
> We win the gold medal every time.
Because the US is the third most populous country in the world and one of the few that takes basketball seriously

>>74981287
>Because the US is the third most populous country in the world and one of the few that takes basketball seriously
so there's no need to change anything? gotcha

>>74977109
>endless appetizers

kek

>>74980761

This, the NBA hit rock bottom in 2002-2003. Just look at the Finals ratings.

>>74973299
Was Lebron ever remotely thuggish?

>>74980391
AHAHAHAHAHA

>>74984858
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/iversal01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/westbru01.html

>>74972771
Jesus Christ shut the hell up

>>74984916
How does this prove Westbrook is way more athletic than Iverson, exactly? (It doesn't. (

>>74984967
He is. AI could never dream to do something like this
https://youtu.be/JMzQPY3mqsQ

>>74973146
He also would have won chips. In Iverson's day star players mostly stuck with their teams. Nowadays it's different, so stars are more likely to win, either because knowing they can easily leave motivates the team ownership to build a better team, or the player up and leaves for a better team.

Ironically AI kind of started this movement when he went to Denver.

>>74985590
>AI kind of started this movement when he went to Denver
He didn't.Barkley and Maloned had donee it before

The most inefficient superstar ever

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>>74972753

Most overrated player in NBA history

Dead giveaway that somebody doesn't know shit about basketball when they start talking about how great Iverson was

>>74972753
He threw a chair at white woman and should have been in jail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSM9pqoXV5A

DID TAWANNA TELL YOU THAT?

iverson was easily the most entertaining basketball player I've seen in my lifetime, and massively talented

>>74981262
Works for Real Madrid

>All the Iverson hate ITT
Why are kids so edgy these days?

He was really good in the main season, but in play off times he always disappeared

>>74983372

no, bc by age 11-12 too many smart people knew he'd be great and they helped him out. He went to a private catholic highschool, and anyone who knows about these types of highschools knows that alumni were funneling his family cash money so that he didnt ever need to act like typical nigger trash.

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>>75003145
He never had a good team.

He was good but never had the second punch to go with him like Kobe - Shaq in that era which kept him from winning

Fuck him. He's the reason 70% of today's white NBA fans are brainless wiggers. He's the most responsible for turning NBA into a rap-tier entertainment. Stern was in the right.

>>74972753
Search your heart
You'll find THE ANSWER

He was great but is severely overrated now

Some dumbasses think he's the 3rd best SG of all time as if Wade doesn't exist

>>74980333
i think hes the reason they have a dress code now haha

>>74973146
he would have to deal with this

>Stern's dress code stated that all players must dress in business or conservative attire while arriving and departing during a scheduled game, on the bench while injured, and when conducting official NBA business (press interviews, charity events, etc.).

>>74996371
B.S. Iverson was awesome.

>>75010514

>not the bad boy pistons
>not the fab 5
>not the Oakland ballers
>not hip hop culture in general

Ya, it was all AI.

>>75011031
>wade

THE ETERNAL LEAF

He was bigger than basketball. Him and Mike Vick were honestly the top most influential people in America at the time

>>75013973
maybe in Atlanta

>>74980097
>AI
>less athletic
What are you on about?

>>74972753

He was great but undersized and slightly overrated.

But hes beloved because he really did give 100% effort every single night and lived and died with every win/loss

>>74973146
>If Iverson was born like 15 years later he would have been marketing dynamite.
lolwut?
he was an unpleasant asshole, almost as bad as Jordan

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>>75013973
>Him and Mike Vick were honestly the top most influential people in America at the time

most ridiculous bunch of crap I've read all month

>>75012870
He is right though.

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>tfw you'll never go out to dinner with an entourage of strippers and run up a $40k tab at fucking APPLEBEES

>>74981287
Sounds like statpadding to me...

But who is the niggest? Iverson, Sprewell, Arenas, Artest?

>>74981004
>>75014034
This is nostalgia speaking, Westbrook is probably the most athletic point guard in history

>>75015579
nice meme there, lad

He was gifted in basketball but cursed everywhere else. Manlet, hoodrat, shitty dedication/work ethic, chucker, garbage teams/coaches. It shows now that he's broke

>>74972753

The only 2 other players I can think of that were as influential from a style standpoint was Dr. J and Michael Jordan. They would not have been so influential stylistically if they weren't also highly respected by ballers everywhere for their games and their approach.

>>74973239
wtf? so you didn't watch any NBA in the 70s at all?

>>74973248
that's a great compliment. much in the same way every white child wanted to be michael jackson in the mid 80s and michael jordan in the mid 90s.

>>74973299
>Yeah, that's the problem. Iverson was the poster boy for the NBA's thug image.

No, he wasn't. He just had style. Ron Artest was the thug.

>Millenials ITT saying Iverson wasn't as athletic as Westbrook is
I guess if you only watched E!SPN highlight packages, it would seem like he only had some nice crossovers and a weird, non-spinning jumpshot. The fact is that Iverson was a genetic freak. He could dunk over/on people just like Westbrook can. What makes it more impressive is how scrawny Iverson was. He had no business being in the league with his small stature. Aside from his ridiculous playmaking ability, he was drafted first overall for his athleticism. See this video https://youtu.be/3W14pRfhO4k and tell me Iverson wasn't as athletic as Westbrook.

>>74980996
How could he break Westbrook's ankles if Westbrook is waiting under the basket for a rebound instead of guarding him?