Tuesday, December 13, 2005, 06:53 PM EST
[
Sixers]
Allen Iverson is the best player in the NBA this season.
Feel free to disagree all you want. But you would be wrong.
Yes, his team is barely treading water with an 11-11 record. MVP trophies don't often go to players on squads with .500 records. And yes, he continues to gamble on defense, which contributes to the fact that the Sixers are the 3rd-worst defensive team in the league. But if you take the award at its' literal meaning - "most valuable player" - then no one makes a better argument for it than Allen Iverson.
Iverson's case for the award this year can be summed up in two numbers: 34 and 8. Through 22 games this season, AI is averaging nearly 34 points and 8 assists per game (the actual numbers are 33.7 and 7.9, respectively). Assuming that all of his assists lead to 2-point baskets, Iverson is directly responsible for 50 of his team's points in every game. Fifty. Case closed.
Last time I checked, Most Valuable Player trophies aren't handed out in December, so there's plenty of basketball to be played before we know how it will all shake out at season's end. Elton Brand is having a monster year (25.5 ppg and 10.8 rpg) with the new-look Clippers. LeBron is reaffirming his spot (30.3/5.8/4.9) as the next great superstar in the league. And Tim Duncan is doing Tim Duncan-like things (20.7 ppg and 12.0 rpg) as he's led the Spurs to a 16-4 record so far. But no one is more "valuable" to his team than Iverson. And if AI keeps playing the way he has been, there should be little debate come April. That being said, where is the love?
In his tenth season in the league, Allen Iverson is no longer a novelty. Though he remains the icon for the hip-hop generation, he no longer has that "I wonder what he's going to do with the ball next" mystique that followed him throughout the early portion of his career. Most NBA fans have seen the blur of cornrows and muscle and tattoo ink and desire attack the heart of their team's defense time and time again. And now, at the age of 30, he isn't the same Bubbachuck as he was coming out of Georgetown in 1996 - injuries have taken a toll on his not-quite 6-foot, not-quite 165-pound body.
He doesn't attack the basket with the same fervor he once did. The crossover doesn't break as many ankles as it used to (although he did use it to embarass Jacque Vaughn this past Saturday in New Jersey). But the game is better than it's ever been, and that's what it should be about. The Game. In the SportsCenter era, that gets lost at times.
Despite his many accomplishments, he is not - nor was he ever - the poster child
for the NBA. He dazzled crowds and filled arenas, but he has never had the polish or the marketability of His Airness. He is the Past and the Present, but the recent accomplishments get lost because he is not the Future. The Future is King James and Flash. Lebron and D-Wade. The Future is not The Answer. But this year, The Answer is the MVP. Case closed.
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