We’re Talking ‘Bout Retirement?!

AI’s prolonged final goodbye to Philly comes at a fitting time.

 

By Joe Darrah

We’ve been through this before — sort of — that being Allen Iverson’s exit from Philadelphia. But just like his gritty play on the floor and his innate ability to score left this city in wonderment for more than a decade, his dragged-out, forthcoming retirement and ability to remain among the league’s and Philly’s present tense despite not having played in the NBA since 2010 has been uncanny in its own right.

Today and tonight we’ll say “so long” to AI once again. We all know it won’t be the last time he’ll come back to us. And we all can’t dodge the “what ifs.” Like what if the Sixers never traded him in the first place …

The first time we watched him leave was bitter sweet. His fans (the bitter) never wanted his departure to happen, instead remaining steadfast in the belief that his sheer talent and hardwood grit would always prove to be the 76ers best chance to win a title. His detractors or, more abundantly, those who couldn’t decide whether or not the Sixers would be better without him, saw his trade to the Denver Nuggets as a sense of sports fan’s relief — a chance to start anew and an opportunity to see a different product on the floor.

Instead, we’ve had to wait seven years for that, as The Answer’s departure today comes at a time when there is literally no semblance of a team that contend for anything.

At the time of the trade, which brought the Sixers point guard Andre Miller, forward Joe Smith and two first-round picks (Iverson was shipped with power forward Ivan McFarlin, he of the “Who?” variety) in December 2006, Philly was in the midst of a six-game losing streak and threatening to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season. For a team that had not proceeded beyond the postseason’s second round since going to the NBA Finals in 2000-01, expectations were wearing thing and turbulence had become the standard within the organization. Second-year head coach Maurice Cheeks was the squad’s fourth floor general over five years. Iverson meanwhile remained one of the game’s elite, ranking as the league’s second-leading scorer (behind eventual teammate Carmelo Anthony); but wins were becoming fewer and further between, especially when the team began to sit him as trade talks progressed. There were no three ways about it, you either thought you could win a title with Iverson or you thought that you couldn’t.

With hindsight to “guide” us, we now know that both generalizations were false. Iverson will retire Wednesday without ownership of an NBA ring, but the Sixers didn’t benefit in any way from trading him, even when considering the nice return Miller brought to the team. They’d make the playoffs the next two years only to lose in the opening round both times. Alas, they simply didn’t win one with him. Their chances would have been better had he been retained. By the time Iverson made his return to Philadelphia for a portion of the 2009-10 season the Sixers had become bottom feeders, as opposed to being entrenched in the just as hopelessness of NBA mediocrity, and Iverson’s presence was more a public relations move than an attempt to contend for a championship.

Thus, his second goodbye came with much less debate and wasn’t even basketball related as Iverson took what was supposed to be a temporary leave of absence to attend to his ill daughter but would never return to an NBA court — a direct contradiction to those who always saw him as a corn-rowed thug.

So, now, we’re nearing his third and official curtain call from a league he once dominated and reigned over as MVP with the Sixers set to host a retirement press conference for the NBA guard who ranks sixth in the league’s history in career scoring average. The timing couldn’t be more humbling and surreal for all involved — he, the organization and its fan base — as the Sixers get ready to look straight into the eye of a “Go Winless for Wiggins” campaign with the realization that the only chance this team has of regaining title-contending status is to land the already highly coveted franchise changer who’s currently a freshman at the University of Kansas, just as they did with Iverson back in 1996.

Celebrating & Remembering a True Legend

Rumors have it that tonight’s “ceremony” will by and large consist of a highlight reel tribute to Iverson, who ends his career No. 19 all time in the league in points scored (second on the Sixers’ list behind Hall of Famer Hal Greer) and first in Sixer history in 40-point games and 3-pointers. An 11-time All Star, he led the league in scoring four times, was named All NBA seven times. The Rookie of the Year in 1996-97 and the MVP of 2000-01, his 5,624 assists over his 15-year career (6.2 average per game) rank just nine fewer than Michael Jordan and more than the likes of Mark Price, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, for those who have convinced themselves that he didn’t pass the ball “enough.”

It’s only fitting that his official exit comes during the crossover of what has finally become the Sixers true organizational transition.