Dear Allen Iverson….Shut the fuck up!

Of course, this is not the “black thing to do”….

               Allen Iverson brought something to the NBA most people I grew up around thought it lacked. Color. Sure, most of the NBA is, and as long as it has been good, has always been black, however, the blacks in the NBA are far from the blacks a lot of the people I grew up around could relate to. Craig Hodges was blacker than most of my peoples ever understood, however, for every Craig Hodges that went over their head, there was 10 Karl Malones and Charles Barkleys. Nothing against Charles, (Fuck Karl Malone) he just wasn’t what a lot of my people related to.  When you weren’t dealing with those of the Malone variety, you had your corporate types, such as Michael Jordan, or you quite types, such as Clyde Drexler. These dudes grew up in a different era. AI was someone my peoples could relate to, and he never tried to hide it to fit in. That tats, the cornrows, the crossover, the hood idolized AI. Eventually, not only did the hood love him, everybody loved him. He was tough. AI would go to the rack, where the big men roamed, go up for the lay-up, get thrown to the ground, and get right back up. No crying, or whining about it, it was apart of the game, and he took it. He played injured ALL the time. After a couple of set backs, everybody admired dude.

Over time, AI’s star faded. You had the “Practice?” rant, which was completely taken out of context, and sticks around to this day. He then went on to Denver to join Carmelo Anthony. Denver did nothing. Out goes AI, in comes Chauncey Billups, and the Nuggets are putting up a fight against the Lakers trying to make it out of the Western Conference Finals. All this leads up to now. AI is a shadow of his former self riding the pine heavy in Memphis, and he doesn’t like it. Too fucking bad. AI is done. His one-man show carried the 76ers through a horrible Eastern Conference only to get smashed on by the Lakers, and now, teams have realized that type of game just doesn’t work. Even when you one-man show is 6-8, 250+, athletic as hell Lebron James, you can’t win a championship like that, so what do you think people will expect to happen when your game plan is to have an aging Iverson throw himself towards the hoop with reckless abandoned?  Exactly. Memphis knows it. They didn’t sign him to start. Over who? OJ Mayo, Mike Conley? Rudy Gay? Memphis is filled with young players. They are the future. Allen Iverson is the past. Either one you role with,  your not gonna win, however, playing with the future get’s them ready for when it’s their time. Iverson was supposed to provide veteran leadership, and energy of the bench. Well, he’s been using his energy to bitch to the media, and doing that isn’t showing any kind of leadership. It is what it is, and yea, I’m sure a lot of my people don’t want to hear that, cuz Iverson is “their boy”, however, the Iverson, Shaq, Duncan era is over. Tony Parker runs San Antonio, Shaq is praying Lebron can get him a ring, just like Dwayne Wade did, and Iverson signed up with a team that has no shot at winning, just so he can try and prove himself to people who already know it’s impossible. Kobe is the present, with maybe 2-3 more years at the top. Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Derrick Rose, Derron Williams, Chris Paul, and now apparently Brandon Jennings are the present, AND the future. The NBA is no country for old men.