His stint in Detroit was marred by injuries and a good bit of team strife. According to interviews I’ve read recently, after lying to A.I. about their desire to have him to come off of the bench, the Piston’s management eventually let Iverson know that if he didn’t agree to play a 6th man role, his teammates would refuse to play with him. Huh?! It still sounds ridiculous now that I think about it, especially considering that the Pistons reportedly brought him in to help the team; in addition to, of course, making some salary room for the 2010 free agent class.  I mean, Rodney Stuckey and Richard Hamilton are good players but neither of them is Allen Iverson and if anything, Stuckey should have been coming off of the bench behind A.I. even if he is 33 or 34 years of age. Unfortunately, a similar situation evolved in Memphis as he again found himself coming off of the bench after coming back from a hamstring injury. I don’t want to hear any nonsense about A.I. being, old, washed up, or a locker room problem or team hassle. Some people are great at playing the 6th man role and simply shouldn’t be starters in the league. Others, like A.I., should never be asked to come off of the bench behind anybody let alone Michael Conley Jr. (not to be confused with his ex-triple jumper father) or Rodney Stuckey. No matter how difficult it may be to decide whether or not he should play the 1 or the 2 guard, you find a spot for him. I can’t blame him for being offended when asked to come off the bench!

So, it seems the Knicks are on the fence, after passing on A.I. during the summer. We’ve got too many small guards in my opinion to begin with, and Iverson’s addition would certainly shake things up with Cuttino Mobley, Nate Robinson, Chris Duhon, Larry Hughes and Toney Douglas already on the roster but whether or not A.I. is capable of replacing one of those guys isn’t much of a question. And on the matter of team chemistry, well that hasn’t been much of a concern for the team’s management in recent years and I feel it’s safe to say that he wouldn’t necessarily hurt chemistry since the Knicks don’t truly have any to begin with. In all honesty, what it boils down to for me is the fact that the team has 1 win. That’s ONE out of ten games. Bringing on an additional scorer could only help open things up for other players and with Iverson in particular it might even address the team’s biggest problem since he’s probably a better defender than the majority of the current team, regardless of the position in question! Additionally, if he were to stay beyond this year, which is possible since his contract wouldn’t hurt too much as far as the salary cap is concerned, Iverson might even help attract one or two of the big names in the free agent class. I don’t doubt that he’d play his heart out and love being in New York assuming he is treated appropriately. I’m just hoping that the Knicks make the right move and try to bring the Answer on board but that they remember to give him the respect he deserves! He definitely wouldn’t answer all of the team’s problems but he’d at least help them to some extent. I’m just sayin’…