by Christian Fann

Created on: January 24, 2009

I think the BETTER question should be which current player(s) fell off the most. But for the sake of discussion, we'll talk about what the title suggested. There are many players that fell off the most in my eyes. Just at a quick glance I would say, Tracy McGrady, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. If I had to choose ONE guy, however, it would, hands down, go to "I'm going to take a whole lotta shots" Allen Iverson.

In my view, he's fell off HARDER than any other available option. His trade to Detroit, to me, was laughable. I just think that putting Iverson (a small non-defensive guard) on a team known for their defense, well, it was a mistake of mammoth proportions. Plus, Iverson is too "independent" to want to take a back seat to anyone. If he's not in the starting five, by god, you might not hear about it now, but you will, listen to me, you WILL, hear about it before season's end. He'll talk up and down about his glory days as a Sixer, how he was the main scoring option on a dismal team. How he heroically willed his team to three wins from an NBA championship against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001.

Earth to Ivo, you STILL lost the finals. I respect the guy as a player, and he has what every gusty "little" guy in his career path looking to get noticed has, heart. During last season with Denver Iverson registered these stats: 26.4 ppg, 7.1 assists, 2.0 steals to 18.2 ppg, 5.6 assists, and 1.7 steals. Arguably, many could say that was the last stellar season Iverson had, so far, in the NBA. This season? 17.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, and 5.4 apg. I know it is only midseason, however those stats are very telling. Most players do not improve all that much from midpoint to voting time at the end of the season. In reality, you are who you are from beginning to midpoint of the season. So whatever you produced, barring a monster barrage of scoring and other contributing factors, that is who you will be at the end.

Iverson's vote into the All-star game, to me, it is laughable. I think players on GOOD teams should actually be voted in. Not former great players on so-so teams. Makes no sense to me how he could be selected in when a guy like Ray Allen deserves the spot so much more. Iverson, despite his mediocre performance this year, is getting by on rep, and that, friends, isn't right. Not by my standards. And it shouldn't be by any of yours.

Iverson is just a poor fit for the Pistons. He's too small to really body anyone that plays up against him. While he's still relatively quick, let's face it, he isn't twenty-six anymore. He's lost a step. If you think about it, putting him up against a guy like Tony Parker, another quick guard, would probably be a bad idea given the fact that Parker would run circles around Iverson. Iverson has always had the scorers' mentality; he'll never change. I just think he's still relevant but far from his prime years.

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