Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  378 responses

A.I.: Give Me a Starting Role or Give Me Retirement

by Marcel Mutoni

Recently, Allen Iverson let the world know his true feelings about being a sixth man for the Pistons, and in case you thought he was through with the venting, you clearly don’t know him well enough.

A.I. was at it again last night, more bitter than ever, following a 17 minute, four-point performance in yet another losing effort for Detroit.

The Sporting News and the AP bring us Iverson’s feelings (and not-so-subtle warnings) to whatever team decides to bring him into the fold next season:

“I’m in a position now that I’ve never been in my whole life,” Iverson said. “It’s harder than I thought it would be. With the back injury, I have to sit out at the start, then go in, then sit again. It’s tough to really get going. I take my hat off to the guys who can come off the bench and be effective. It’s tough for me. I’m struggling with it.”

“I’d rather retire before I do this again,” Iverson said. “I can’t be effective playing this way. I’m not used to it. It’s tough for me both mentally and physically. If I’m able to go out there, I should be able to get it done and I can’t right now. It’s my fault. I have to be able to overcome the adversity and do what I have to do. I just have to find a way to get it done. Not being 100 percent makes it harder and you can see that I’m not 100 percent.”

“I’m happy with my career and the things I’ve done in my career,” Iverson said. “I feel blessed that I’ve had the opportunity to accomplish the things that I’ve accomplished, to do the things that I’ve done. I would feel fine if I had to (retire).”

Retirement talk aside, it sounds as though Iverson wants to have it both ways. He says he’s not 100% healthy, and yet feels entitled to starters’ minutes.

I’d love to know which contender Iverson imagines will be willing to not only sign him next season, but also make him a cornerstone of their quest for a ring – something he has maintained is his number one priority, and a claim that is getting harder and harder to believe.

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  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    @Teddy: The tragic thing for you is that there are probably a dozen or so commentors out there, Jukai and me included, who’d listen to you and debate with you over AI. But your imbecilic “tactics”, your posse of fake sockpuppet commentors, your sophomoric personal attacks, your self righteous “helping” everyone here and claims that you’re “owning” Jukai have entirely derailed the last ounce of credibility you had.

  • http://mindyourbusiness@getalife.com Allenp

    Z
    Iverson once put up 33 a season with 7 assists on 44 percent shooting.

    Where did you get your stats?

  • http://mindyourbusiness@getalife.com Allenp

    Z
    Homie, you need to watch old film of Iverson and then watch some game tape from last season.
    Matter of fact, just go to my blog, http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com, and do a search for “iverson.”
    I have an entire column dedicated to explaining the evolution of this game. To say his game hasn’t changed is a sign that you aren’t really watching.

  • http://mindyourbusiness@getalife.com Allenp

    Bryan
    Thanks for making my comments before I did.
    I’m starting to question Z’s opinion on Iverson.

  • rikson

    “No Allen, please don’t take your ball and go home.” -> HaHaHa thats great stuff!

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Izzo

    Allenp:When I said that people “jumped on Nash”,I meant that he got a reasonable amount of criticism.AI,no matter what way you see it,whether you’re a fan or otherwise,will never get reasonable criticism.Always blown out of proportion or accepted.

  • Yann Blavec’s wife’s husband

    355 posts !? Damn…

  • rikson

    Here we go again with the “you have a different opinion so you dont know sh!t about bbal” – thats just weak…

  • R.R.

    Honestly detroit sucks and that makes A.I.look bad..A.I is my fav player of all time and ive been watchin him since i was a lil boi and i kno wat he can do..he’s not on the right team and curry sucks as a coach and he wasnt a very good player either. A.I. jus needs to be on a diff team thats all. In the off season he haas the choise to go wherever he wantts, let’s hope he made the right choice for him and his family to be happy again!!!

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    LOL @ Greek f@g: I wasn’t trying to “constract” arguments, I was trying to annoy Jukai. And yea, if you read one of my posts up there somewhere I actually wrote a comment dedicated to reasons supporting my statement that, “Jukai thinks he knows way more than he actually does, and that he’s an annoying little jack@ss.” But hey, what do you know? You think Euroleague is actually good.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    And the funny thing is, Jukai doesn’t even realize how stupid he is. He’s a grown @ss loser who spends his days and nights on SLAMonline, arguing with someone who specifically wants to p!ss him off.

  • Joel O’s

    Jukai told me that he loves me. I love him too. Stop being so mean to my man!

  • http://slamonline.com Joel O’s

    I just lost all credibility, didn’t I?

  • Gaz

    okay first of all shut up with the arguments. you sound like a little twit, juki. the only person we should be d!ssing is BETCATS. whaddup betcats?

  • http://www.commuto.com SteveA

    Retirement it is then. Pistons announced that AI is done for the season.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    You just did, Teddy-the-bear. You’ve sunk to a new low. I really didn’t expect this from a regular commentor here.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    Teddy, by stooping to impersonating people, you’ve essentially admitted your lack of the single gonad necessary to face up to a reasonable argument.

  • ktokyo

    I really AI doesn’t make the hall of fame. There are more accomplished players that are not in the HOF. AI’s just good marketing.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    No, read my arguments in the other thread. And I didn’t impersonate you.

  • ktokyo

    I really HOPE – it should say.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    ktokyo might be the Japanese version of Jukai. Just maybe.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    And you need to calm down and realize that these comments are all behind computer screens. I don’t know you, you don’t know me, so don’t get all angry when I go at Jukai. Its all for fun… Maybe not to him. But chill out and lets leave this thread alone. Don’t make me reply here, go to the other thread about AI and reply if you want to discuss his situation.
    And Gaz is an idiot. But its funny how he goes at BETCATS… Read some of his comments, they’re pretty cruel though… Yeah, peace dun.

  • DJR

    Russ was ripping into KVH and yet the dude has been on the SLAM cover at least twice…what the f…?

  • giogolo

    as much as i admired Ai’s game during the early years of his career and inspired me a bit.
    i can not say the same now. He clearly is not a team player and more of a baller, hip-hop b-ball player which is not what NBA and winning chips is all about.
    Look at kidd, look at VC and how he let the young guys play and evolve around him. And it’s VC who fans want to see more of his original game when it clearly isnt there anymore.
    Seems to me now he’s lukin like starbury more.and the latters improved now!!
    What is it with undersized scorers not quite grasping the team mentality. try to overcompensate.
    You’ve proven yourself as an individual AI. Do yourself a favor if you still want to stay relevant in this league. Be a team player.
    THis goes out to T-mac too. your not foolin anybody.
    Hope y’all read this.

  • ktokyo

    nope, no relation to Jukai. Sorry.

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com BETCATS

    Teddy has a multi-personality disorder

  • chintao

    Tupac the human being > 2Pac the rapper (who actually kind of sucked)

  • Chuck

    just want to throw it out there, when Rip was hurt and it was Stucky and A.I they went on an 8 game winning streek. If Rip wasnt on the team then A.I could manage playing a slower style….he proved that he could. Rip came back and then then whole stucky, A.I and Rip starting at the sametime thing started. When Rip came off the bench He got more passes to him and then A.I did. Lets be honest, the rest of the team didnt like A.I all too much, their leader was gone bcuz of a trade for him, there were hard feelings. There’s just no room on the Pistons for 2 All-Star SGs. True A.I needs the ball to be good, but lets not forget the man yes scored alot, but b4 this season was up there in assists. Can’t really blame a guy that was never really welcomed there.

    Just want to see who agrees with me here on this one. I said we they should have traded Iverson to the Suns for Shaq. Makes sense to me. trade a run and gun for a post player..a half court post player. Sure Shaqs old, but look at this season that hes had. and thing about how he would have made the team better, Double team….Sheed spreads the floor, shoots his 3′s, stucky has a lane. Rip still gets his, and Tay well he steps ^ when hes needs and Plays Great D. Shaq and Sheed would have been nice. Shaq’s a free agent in 2010 so there still would have been money to go for Bosh or King James….whoever, To bad it didnt happen

    Lets not forget also that this trade wasnt for this year alone, sure A.I the missing peice would have been cool. But the money the team has next year, for 2 good years of free agents 08-09, 09-10. Who the stons will take…idk, Bosh seems like a sure pic, Lebron somehow??? someway??? Whos knows

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