SLAM 125: On Sale Now!
The Allen Iverson Experience
by Ben Osborne
Happy New Year everyone! Before we go any further, I’d like to ask all SLAMonline readers to make it their resolution to read former online editor Sam Rubenstein’s Christmas Eve column. It’s possible we all have different tastes, but my main guess was that the relatively low number of comments was because of a low number of eyeballs on it due to the date it went up. I thought that joint was so good, and I hope you do too.
While your beloved site continues to be tweaked to perfection (trust: Ryne is obviously doing his thing already, but this is still far from what it will be), the folks on the print side of things keep grinding away. The first SLAM of 2009 will be on newsstands everywhere (at least in the US) this coming week, and we’re feeling pretty good about it. As far as I know, no one on the site (contributor or commenter) truly confirmed that AI was the man for it, despite there being several hints in the comment section on our last cover post, not to mention this solid story in the Detroit Free-Press. We didn’t link to the former because we were trying to maintain some element of surprise for this cover, and I guess no readers linked to it because they don’t care about the FreeP? That’s a whole other story.
So, some AI context. As the Free-Press story says, and as any longtime SLAM fan knows, dude has basically been an annual cover for us since he came in the League. And honestly, we never felt the slightest inclination to apologize for it. Besides the joy he has provided us with for 13 years, sales numbers show that he’s been either the most or second-most (MJ) popular cover subject in SLAM history. Simple truth of magazine publishing: when someone sells, you put them on the cover again. And again.
This season, though, AI was no lock. Considering he was hurt for much of training camp and the Denver situation had grown stale, even we would have had trouble figuring out what to say about Iverson this year. But then Joe Dumars dropped this little present in our laps. The day the trade happened, I deemed it a win-win. Pistons shake things up, make themselves better contenders this season, clear minutes for Stuckey and have AI’s cap space next summer if they don’t keep him. The Nuggets get a hometown hero who plays a better pure point to stabilize things. I felt the trade solidified the Pistons as the third-best team in the EC. There were some other names bandied about in our story meeting for this issue, but it took our publisher about 12 seconds to confirm: “AI is the cover.”
That settled that. And I was cool with it. The player most identified with our mag over the years, now on a new team with legitimate title hopes? Let’s do it. Our people at Reebok were excited about the trade and possible cover as well, so they worked with us and the Pistons to set everything up. Bet.
Then, right as we were all working on the issue, we had to watch in horror as AI skipped practice, there were all sorts of stories about the players and Michael Curry not being on the same page, and some flat-out embarrassing performances, including this fiasco I attended with Appleson.
There was never a doubt that we could argue AI deserved this cover on some lifetime achievement ish, but was calling him relevant this season a stretch? Well, with the issue’s national on-sale date just about here and subscribers mailboxes ready to be blessed in a week or two, I can thankfully say, hell no! Ready or not, the Pistons are finding a rhythm, and in my opinion are back to firmly being the team just below the Cavs and Celtics. Obviously a fourth- or fifth-place conference finish is extremely problematic because a trip to the Finals will most likely require a tough first-round matchup followed by having to beat Cleveland and Boston in back-to-back series. Beating one of them will be hard. Both? Hard to see it.
But shoot, injuries happen, and motivation is a funny thing. There aren’t many—if any—teams in the League that fit what any knowledgeable fan can say about this Pistons roster: If they stay healthy, come to play, and play together, they can literally beat any team in the League in a given game or series. And as I say in the cover story, it will be hella fun just to see AI playing in a playoff series or three when he has a chance to win them. You know he hasn’t been past the first round since ‘03, and he’s only even played in 14 Playoff games (that’s two 5-game series and last year’s pitiful sweep) since then. Those numbers are not exactly how our man Allen thought his career would go. “I thought I’d have three, four championships by this point,” he told me. “I definitely thought I’d be back there a lot more after 2001.”
What else did Allen have to say in the 40-minute sitdown interview he gave us? How fresh are the pictures we got of him in his new uni? Buy the issue and find out!
This story is filed under: Continuing Ed, NBA, TOC
AI with those colors on the background brings back beautiful memories. Nice work SLAM!
Also, if Marbury makes it to Boston, i cannot wait for the Slam cover of him and KG in Green
i still haven’t received my chris paul/deron williams ish yet in the mail and u release another issue
this pi$$e$ me off
Cold As Ice.
P.P.P.S. his braids are giving the haters the finger in that pic
Another Eagles game… oh God.
Nice cover. No mad scramble to find a white fur coat this time?
BUT:
I haven’t even seen a copy of the CP/DWill cover in Australia-not even by European Air Mail (which normally comes about a week later after it is released in the States). This is a continuing problem. So I have to ask- what is being done to solve it?
It obviously wouldn’t matter whether I subscribe or not because the issue is still 3+weeks old and statistically obsolete when I get it. I read the articles none-the-less and still love the work, but when you’re releasing issues like 125, and I haven’t even SEEN 124, then there is a problem.
Thankyou for reading Ben/everyone else involved in sales/post-production.
Faithfully, Hursty.
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Some people on here are saying Stucky should have gotten the cover? Who? Dont get me wrong, I like Stucky..but the dude is probably wearing the #3 because of Iverson and if it wasn’t for the NBA rules..was ready to give up the number to Iverson upon arrival. Stucky has a string of decent games and that automatically makes him a a better choice for a SLAM cover then AI? GTFOH!! Its Iversons presence on that team that has even allowed Stucky to go off the way he has because Iverson has attracted so much attention on defense that it has freed up Stucky to do his thing. They actually make a really good backcourt. There is always someone that someone else will feel like is more deserving, if SLAM would have given the cover to D-Wade…some of you same people would have said Lebron or Kobe was more deserving. I think it would have been bananas if Dime would have had a picture of Sheed and AI on the cover and titled it the “the return of the Detroit BAD BOYS”, or something like that…Anyway, this is a hot cover DIME and I was excited to see Iverson on it as im sure millions of other fans were…keep up the good work and continue to do what Iverson does best…dust them haters off!
I mean, the cover looks good, but wow. Just wow.
Money, money, money. Amiright?
I ‘dislike’ Iverson a lot because he gets too much undeserved love. The Pistons are not playing very well– they had one impressive, hard fought win in Orlando and the rest of their wins comes from the Clippers, Sacremento, New Jersey (w/o Carter), Milwaukee, Oklahoma and Chicago. Good job! Iverson’s career stats are down across the charts, and Stuckey has been outplaying him in every game Stuckey has started… every other player in the league would get the label “declining” but Iverson gets labelled as “shifting his game to fit the other players on the team.”
Iverson is one of the top five shooting guards of all-time, and because of that, he has gotten plenty of covers. That being said, he isn’t anywhere near the discussion for MVP or best player or hell, even a title contende, yet the dude gets a cover on (in my opinion), the most prestigious basketball magazine out today. I’m simply shocked they didn’t try to squeeze Kobe, Lebron and Garnett in there as well.
You need a big hug, homie.
goOd LuCk A.I. HoPe yOu GeT oNe ThiS yEaR…
He just looks tired to me. Probably like “Damn, these stans from SLAM won’t leave me alone! And they had the nerve to rank me behind Baron Davis and Gilbert Arenas.”
Or something like that.
When was the last time a Rockets player had a cover??? when T-mac was traded to Houston????….come on.
I hope it’s the former (TAD) and not the latter. I hope AI doesn’t ever lose the fire; I don’t think he has but I think the frustration is mounting, especially with all the high expectations after the trade.
The funny thing is, the post-trade Pistons present just as compelling / frustrating a case as they were before: arguably the most talented and deepest team in the league, with all the pieces to potentially win it all. That didn’t change. They’re wonderful in stretches, and obviously fitting AI into any system is going to be hard, but I honestly think they’ll get it all together sooner than later - long way to go in the season - and when they do, watch out world.
- Candice: You know as well as I do that you are wasting your time with “Jukai” when it comes to Iverson..if you were to look up the word “HYPOCRISY” in the dictionary you would see “Jukai” name there. This is the same person who spent the majority of their time on this site knocking on Iverson for “being a ball hogg” and “never wanting to adapt to a TEAM game”..now he is on here talking about Iversons stat lines being down…well wouldn’t that happen to any player on a team like Detroit who focuses on everyone contributing? Isn’t that just commen sense? AI is seemingly trying to fit in on that team without disrupting it and people are still talking sh*t. This is why I said he needs to continue to do whatever he feels like doing because people will have something to say regardless. If Iverson scores too many points he’s a “ball hogg”…if he doesn’t score enough “he’s slowed down and lost a step”. Regardless of AI’s stat line, the ball still comes to his hands towards the end of the game (which is what Dumars brought him there for, he didn’t bring Iverson there to dominate the ball and avg 30 ppg) for him to do what he do. If Detroit had lost four or five strait games to those sub-par teams…”Jakai” would be up in here talking about them losing. I mean it is getting ridiculous now. Detroit is doing what they are supposed to do now, win against lesser opponents and competing against fellow elite teams. Am I missing something here? I swear, the hypocrisy when it comes to Iverson by some is hilarious. Its like get a life, someone you dont know shouldn’t effect you that much to the point you feel the need to throw salt on their names everytime they appear on the SLAM website.
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And give us all a break about Stuckey (AKA, lil’ 25 cent)…dude has one good week and all of a sudden he can be compared with Iverson? Stucky is out playing EVERYONE on the Pistons right now, and im sure no one minds as long as they win, let the little dude get his shine. He needs to step up considering that Dumars had enough faith in him to trade off Billups..If “Jukai” was even watching the games he would have known that AI was the one responsible for quiet a few of the clutch winning shots at the end of some of the games that even allowed Detroit to be on this winning streak as well. Everyone on that team is doing a decent job of trying to contribute to the teams success…isn’t that how it is supposed to be? Or how Iverson was supposed to play Jukai..playing a TEAM game?
Get your Gollum on!!
small player making it big..?
Ps: i would be really pumped if this letter got published in slam
Alejandra J. Jimeno
02/17/1991-09/29/2008
Peace,
TylerDish
Dodge City, KS
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