R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Find out What it Means to Me

(Boulder-CO) The Nuggets lost to the 76ers and that is fine by me. Denver is missing nearly 50 points in scoring power and the rest of the available team, with the exception of Marcus Camby, is guilty of standing around and watching Allen Iverson operate on offense. However, the big story today is how Allen Iverson feels that he was disrespected by his former organization and if it is a prequel to how things might turn in Denver if the ship doesn’t right itself when ‘Melo and J.R. return.

Here are some quotes from today’s article written by Joe Juliano in the Philadelphia Inquirer. I encourage you to check the article in its entirety by clicking this link: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/16370499.htm.

Allen Iverson stated after the game, “Things still linger and I still feel bitter about the way things happened, it didn't have to happen like that and I think I deserved a lot more respect than I got. These people had the chance to give me the respect I deserve and they weren't willing to do that. So why should I try to give any respect back?”

It was also well documented in a number of different sources that Allen Iverson would not greet his former coach Mo Cheeks before or after the game last night. When he was asked about said actions Iverson replied with, “I don't feel I have a need to. Honestly, just to be truthful with you, it's something that I don't want to do. For what? For what? I don't have any beef with him, but I don't feel it's necessary for me to go out of my way to go speak to anybody or act fake with anybody.”

So, if you do not have any beef with him… my questions would be why didn’t you greet the guy who you have formerly said was an ally? Wouldn’t acting like you did have a beef with him be, in turn, acting fake? Hmmmmm, I am all confused is anybody else?

So, here is the way I break it all down. After ten plus years of highly decorated service to the 76ers Allen Iverson must have felt that he was much more than a player. For a second let’s imagine him as a player/basketball consultant. He was obviously part of the reason that Larry Brown was moved away from the team, definitely part of the process to bring Cheeks in as coach, and in my opinion, definitely played a hands-on role in his being traded to the Nuggets. Essentially, what it all tells me is that Allen Iverson wanted to run the point, the show, and the franchise all based upon what he accomplished on the basketball floor.

In my assessment, all of this is not a good way to look at being part of the team. The concept of team is an idea that no one part is greater than the whole. If one link in the chain is weak than it makes the whole chain weak, understand Allen? If you want to retire the next Karl Malone or Charles Barkley than so be it, but if you want to take the Nuggets to the next level you need to understand that there is no “I” in team regardless of the fact that there is a “M” and an “E”.

Thankfully for the Nuggets is that Allen Iverson has no credentials in this city. He is new, his past is behind him, and he seems to be saying all the right things. The one player that comes to mind when I hear this type of talk about past accomplishments and what they entitle a player to is another great Philadelphia player, Wilt Chamberlain. After accomplishing far more than Allen Iverson did for the Philly franchise he was traded to Los Angeles in the off-season of 1968. From that point on his individual numbers began to decline dramatically from the beginning of his career, but within in the next couple of years he, and the Lakers, were once again NBA Champions!

Wilt put his ego and individual accomplishments aside and decided to put the team first. Goodrich and West posted better scoring averages than Wilt, but Chamberlain decided to do all the little things for that ‘72 Championship team. He led the league in rebounds and field goal percentage while taking a seven-point dip in scoring.

Can Allen Iverson do the same thing as Wilt Chamberlain did? Ah, to have a crystal ball, but one thing I can tell you with some certainty is that what Allen Iverson did in Philadelphia is all water under the bridge here in Denver. If he has absorbed some wisdom in his later years as a ball player he will not try to once again act as a player/basketball consultant for the Nuggets. A wise Allen Iverson will understand that his job is on the basketball court and a main constituent of this team’s success is how strong he can make the other links in this chain.