I saw the same comments from Karl this morning, and I was pretty pissed off when I saw them, for several reasons.  Here’s why:

-Karl, throughout AI’s two and a half year stint in Denver, professed nothing but 100% professionalism, a great attitude, and great leadership from Iverson.  For him to then attack Iverson like that means that his issue was with Iverson’s game, and how he plays it, not attitude.

-If that’s true, that AI did not have a lack of attitude, then it is up to GEORGE KARL to put the talent he has in the best possible situations to succeed.  To me, this seems much more Karl’s failure then AI’s…as a coach he has the authority to enforce his vision of how the team should be run.  AI seemed to be at a much more mature place…Karl did not enforce his vision properly.   

-IMO, Carmelo Anthony was much more at fault then AI as far as crappy shot selection and stalling the team’s offense.  When people criticize AI for shooting too much, at least the majority of the time he is driving to the basket and getting shots near the rim, or shake-bake moves to get a clean shot, creating openings for others.  Melo will just chuck it up whenever, at awful times, and stall the offense.  Melo should be a top 5 NBA player year in and out…his horrendous shot selection and settling for the jumper is a huge reason he’s not.  For me, it’s him that is 70% of the time stopping the offensive flow, not AI.

-Chauncy Billips has something Iverson never had…A HEALTHY FRONTCOURT!!!  During the majority of Iverson’s tenure, Nene wasn’t able to suit up, and K-Mart was just coming off microfracture knee surgery.  Billups has a huge luxury, even with Camby gone, of playing with two VERY tough nosed and defensive oriented big men in a healthy Nene and K-Mart back to 100% health, with his timing back.  Chris Anderson is also a far better piece to round out the frontcourt than Eduardo Najera given his height and blocking ability.

-Why any coach would throw his former player under ths bus like that, after doling nothing but praising him, is a mystery to me.  Not cool. 

-They were throwing in totally incapable PG’s to work the backcourt with Iverson.  If you are going to have a 6’0 PG like A Carter run the backcourt…yeah, you’ll have defensive problems.  And with Chucky Atkins hurt for two years, they had one of the weakest PG depth spots in the NBA.  If they were smart, they would have pulled the gun on the numerous trade scenarios for Kirk Hinrich, giving Iverson a 6’3, defensive PG that can hit the 3 to pair with.

-George Karl never cracked the whip with his team.  He was always afraid of pissing off Melo, AI, K-Mart, etc, and let them slowly get away with doing their own thing instead of putting his foot down.  This AI is not the old, immature AI of old.  Karl needed to immediately stop pussyfooting around and coddling to his superstars.  If he had actually set a hard nosed tone on and off the court, this would not have been a problem.

-Karl also never really decided what Iverson’s role was to be.  He would say, “AI should be a PG that averages 10 assists” then instruct Iverson to score 25-30 as their SG, feeling they needed the offensive fire power.  He never clearly identified and carved out Iverson’s exact role…and with a guy like AI and Melo, vagueness is your worst enemy.  They need clear guidelines.  AI is going to be finding MUCH more success in Detroit because Michael Curry understands how to come down on a player with tough love, and seems to have a better ability to communicate roles and wishes to his players. 

Karl should be ashamed for those comments.  I’m fine if people attack AI for his shot selection, inconsistency with distributing, etc…but if you’re the coach…GET A HANDLE ON YOUR PLAYER and get him to play HOW YOU WANT.  If he doesn’t…sit him.  It’s not complex.

Most telling Iverson stat in Denver:

In 1/3 of Denver’s games (27), Iverson had 10 or more assists.  Their record in those games: 24-3. Now, is Iverson’s inconsistency due to his lack of ability to put up those numbers more regularly, or disobeying authority…or has Karl not gotten his message across right and stamped out iron-clad roles and gotten his team to play the proper way?  To me, that’s 75% on Karl, 25% on AI.  Shame on you Karl for those comments.

Players- Love It (rest)  & Hate It (stops that “hot” momentum and Minnesota’s a cold place)

Also, I can’t wait to hear your reaction once you see the New Target Center– their court, their uniforms, and of course their roster and coaching staff is completely different that there is nothing there that will ever remind you of Kevin Garnett once playing there.  Talk about change!!

Now if Dalembert does play, let’s hope he is not showing any signs of grimacing.  Do you remember last season, when Dalembert had 18 pts 11 rebounds and 9 BLOCKS, including a critical one late in the 4th quarter on Al Jefferson to seal the deal for the Sixers?  

Now, Dalembert is consistent in terms of playing against the “weak” teams on BOTH ends of the floor.  Now, he needs to make better decisions and know his limits, if he wants to be an ultimate player.  Against the contenders, he can ill afford to make any bad decisions out there on the court.   

As Always, GO SIXERS!!

Regarding Samuel Dalembert:

When asked about his availability for Wednesday’s game against Minnesota, Dalembert replied, “unless I can’t walk, I will play.”

This is where we could really test our bench and see how incredibly deep it is!