Why Allen Iverson Is OVERRATED!

if you're looking to buy a stacked NBA 2k account with max badges and more visit sports TM b.com he has been in the community for years and has hundreds of reviews click the first link in the description to get your account today oh boy well this is gonna be a rough one before you leave a comment I am going to be providing plenty of context for the things that I say in this video as you can see by the length of this video I'm gonna be talking a lot I'm not going to be just using the same blanket statements that many people do in regards to Allen Iverson if you are an AI fan even if I'm going to be saying some negative things about him in this video I'm going to be respectful about it because I definitely respect Allen Iverson though some of you may not view it as respectful because you're such a stand but with that said if y'all could counter the wave of dislikes that I know I'm going to get just based off of this title that would be much appreciated so please drop a like now on to the actual video Allen Iverson is widely considered to be one of the best players to ever play the game he won for scoring titles as well as having a season where he averaged 33 points a game where he did not win the scoring title because Kobe in 2006 was [ __ ] ridiculous he famously won an MVP in 2001 taking his team to the NBA Finals and he actually got a game in that Finals on the Shaq and Kobe Lakers and he did all of this while being 6-foot tall and not an inch taller I am taller than Allen Iverson now while yes that is mostly me just trying to flex the fact that I am 6 foot 3 it also highlights just how ridiculous Allen Iverson was but when you look deeper into the numbers ai's 2001 run in the finals was overrated and his scoring numbers weren't quite as impressive as they look in the box score so while yes AI accomplished a lot of great things I feel those things are overblown and that Allen Iverson is overrated [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] let's start this video off by going over some of Allen Iverson's career numbers first career he put up 26 points six assists and four rebounds and he did so on 42 31 78 shooting splits and for his prime from his third year to his last full season with Philly he put up 29 points a game on similar splits these numbers are obviously great nearly 30 points per game for an entire prime is very impressive there is no doubt about that but there is some context that needs to be applied to these numbers first of all Iverson's efficiency is something often talked about and well [ __ ] on but I don't think it's as bad as people make it seem now 42% for the field is obviously not good I consider 45% to be the baseline average okay field goal percentage for a guard that's not good or bad but when you get to 43% or below it is bad so 42% for your entire prime and career is obviously not good however you have to consider the context of his era and his size and his health what made Jordan more impressive of a scorer than Kobe is that Jordan had a 50% shooting percentage for his prime while Kobe had a 45% for his prime under similar circumstances in terms of pace space and era Kobe scored very similarly to Jordan but missed 5% more shots in the context of when a eyes play was most prominent to the early 2000s the league's pace wasn't where it is today but more much more importantly the spacing was nowhere near where it is today not just from a lack of talent that shooters but from a lack of respect for that aspect of the game for an example of how little shooting was valued in the NBA at this time Allen Iverson's teammate Kyle Korver was traded for money to buy a new copy machine one of the best shooters to ever play the game was traded for a copy machine and Iverson had poor spacing even worse than what was typical in his era in 2000 the Sixers were dead last in threes a game taking just eight threes a game and shooting the third worst percentage at 32% think about that there are a couple of play in the NBA right now who shoot more threes at a better percentage than the Sixers did in 2000 buddy hield shoots ten threes a game at 36% James Harden shoots 13 threes a game at 38% Devonte Graham shoots 9.5 threes a game at 39% dame shoots 9.6 at 36% Trey young shoots 37% on nine point three attempts Kemba Walker shoots nine point one on 40% Davis Burton shoots eight point six on 43% that is seven players who shoot more threes at a higher percentage than that 2006 13 the 2001 Sixers were 29th in attempts 26 and percentage in 2002 they were 30th in the temps and 30th and percentage at [ __ ] 29 percent 29th in attempts in 2003 to 28th and percentage then finally an improvement as 24th in attempts and 17th and percentage in 2004 2005 was another improvement and then for the second best shooting percentage of his prime where a I shot 45% from the field in 2006 the Sixers were 12th and 3-point percentage so the best spacing of his prime led to the second best field goal percentage of his career the season where he shot his best was 2008 with the Denver Nuggets who were 10th and 3-point attempts and at an at least not garbage 19th in percentage but 10th also equal twenty three point attempts per game which was double what AI was getting for most of his tenure in Philly and I really don't hope that I need to explain why spacing is so important for a player's field goal percentage but I will anyways for some of the ignorant few the more for spacers you have the less help defense you have to worry about the more help you have to worry about the lower percentage you will shoot and the more turnovers you will get another issue Ireson was criticized for with Iverson averaging three point eight turnovers a game for his prime well once again I think that was a matter of circumstances because of a crazy high usage percentage and being one of the few ball handlers on his team AI had the ball in his hands a lot which equals a lot of turnovers so I do think that AI is over scrutinized for his shooting percentage and for his turnovers his field goal percentage was not great for the situation he was in but it was also not perfectly adequate not something for him to be criticized or praised for what I do feel is the biggest reason why AI is overrated is his minutes in Iverson's Prime he averaged an absolutely absurd 42 minutes a game he led the league in minutes played seven times now I understand that it is impressive that Iverson was not burnt out by having to play this many minutes it speaks a lot for the type of athlete that he was but this does lead to inflated scoring numbers since Iverson had a weak offensive help something we'll talk about in a second he was in the game a lot because the offense was the worse than the NBA when he sat so while yeah Ireson was a really great scorer him barely ever sitting was the main reason why he got to 29 points per game per 36 is an iffy stat when talking about a player's numbers when that player gets way less than 36 minutes per game but I do feel it is a perfectly appropriate stat for rounding a player's a minutes down because more minutes equals more opportunity to screw up so less equals less if Iverson played 36 minutes per game for his career which is typical of a player in the modern NBA his prime averages would be 25 points per game which obviously isn't nearly as impressive as his 29 again give Iverson normal minutes and he is a six-foot guard who scores 25 points a game on 42% shooting those numbers are similar to like Kemba Walker or Damian Lillard those are two really good players but not the type of guys who are going to consistently be in people's top 40 and even top 30 players of all time I do want to make one thing clear I have no interest in taking away for Iverson's impact on the game mostly because I can't Iverson made many players fall in love with basketball including LeBron James Iverson was a lot of current players favorite all-time player and then there was the style and tattoos before Iverson every NBA player was dressing like Tim Duncan I obviously know nothing about fashion you guys see what I wear in my videos this is an $8 Walmart watch but the impact there is undeniable for many people and many players a I was the NBA and that is very important and that impact has huge side effects but as an actual talent Allen Iverson was not good enough to be treated like this godlike legend figure that he is now I can already hear you guys saying what about the 2001 season well that one was also overrated in a way Iverson in 2001 averaged 31 points per game and 4.6 assists as well as a league-best 2.5 steals a game shooting 42% from the field and 32% from three now again 30 points per game for someone who is 6 feet tall is very impressive but he averaged 42 minutes a game per 36 he averaged just 27 points a game which means from at least a box score standpoint I ever since 2001 season was no more impressive than Isaiah Thomas's 2017 season I actually argue that at least from a box score perspective Iverson in 2001 was not as good as Isiah Thomas in 2017 again just box score because Thomas put up 29 points in just 34 minutes and shot 46% from the field and 38% from 3 on 8 attempts as an even shorter player at just 5 foot 9 he also averaged 1 point 3 more assists even with the context of Iverson having much worse spacing I do think that Thomas had a better year box score wise then when you consider the factor of Iverson carrying the 2001 Sixers he really didn't the Sixers won 56 games which was good for the first seed in the Eastern Conference and this roster was not nearly as bad as it was made out to be dikembe mutombo was only there for 26 games due to trade but before him there was Theo Ratcliffe in his place who was an all-star that year averaging 12 8 and 3.7 blocks a game dikembe was a better player but Ratcliffe was far from a bad option at center they Erick's know who yes is mostly known for being crossed into a new reality by Dwayne Wade but he was SL a good starting caliber player not a great scorer but a good passer and defender averaging seven assists per game that year often being the one passing it to AI for the famous Iverson cut play George Lynch was a decent rebounding small forward and a good defender Tyrone Hill was a good defender and rebounder this time at the four spot and they had the six man of the year that year Aaron McKie whose numbers might not stand out to you that much but he was a stabilizing force for the Sixers team and he filled the role as literally the only other guy who took more than point seven threes a game outside of Iverson the shooting was really that bad this was a solid NBA roster with a superstar on it the reason people seem to think that this Sixers roster was so bad is the thing that I like to call offensive bias there are two sides of basketball while offensive players are more valuable than defensive players actual offense versus defense is pretty close in value a great defense with two ok offensive players in a superstar offensive player is a great team a great defensive team with two ok offensive players and one great superstar offensive player is a good team it's similar to the 2011 Chicago Bulls or the 2017 OKC Thunder another roster that is over criticized a top-tier defensive team is not ever a bad team it is not ideal to only have one great offensive player but it does not make the team automatically bad and it's definitely not in this case and then for those 2001 playoffs in the first round the Indiana Pacers had the foundation of becoming a really good team but they were not there yet they made the finals last year but were just the eighth seed this year the Vince Carter Raptors gave these Sixers a good fight with the series going to seven games but again it was not a great team they only won 47 games that year and then in the Conference Finals versus the Bucks the other 50 win team in the conference led by Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson to really good but not quite superstar level players both averaged 22 points and shot 47% and they had Sam Cassell at point guard who was a eighteen point seven assist guy now this series is commonly considered to be rigged but I actually do not buy that the biggest point of contempt there is that the Sixers shot like 50 or 60 more free throws in that series and the Bucks dead but the thing is in 2001 the Sixers were fourth and free throw attempts a game while the Bucks were 25th and the Bucks were seventh and foul as a game and the Sixers were 26 and fouls so we have a team that fouls a lot and doesn't draw a lot of fouls themselves versus a team that doesn't foul and draws a lot of fouls that explains the disparity pretty well so I don't think that series was actually rigged there might have been a few wrong calls here or there but you can find those in any series but that said this Bucs team really was not that great the East and the early 2000s was straight-up [ __ ] it's an under talked about aspect of why the Lakers were so dominant the Pacers were not a great team but they made it out of the East the Sixers weren't a great team if they made it to the finals and nor were the 2002 Nets those were good but not great teams that made it to the NBA Finals people love to talk about how [ __ ] the Eastern Conference was and it is but in the early 2000s the East is the worst that it's ever been probably the worst that any conference has ever been so the path to the finals was not that challenging for the Sixers and Allen Iverson then if we look at the actual finals there's no doubt that a is Game one forty eight point performance is very impressive I have no intention of taking anything away from that it's one of the best performances in NBA history and he did very well for the rest of the series outside of Game two where he went 10 for 29 and scored 25 points he put up 35 in game 3 and Game four and 37 in Game five however I feel that game one performance has contributed a little too heavily to ai's legacy more than actual championships have contributed to star level players legacies like I think most people would rank ái way above Tony Parker someone with four rings with that game one in the 2001 finals being one of the main reasons why kanuti error I'm recording this another day later this video is really [ __ ] long so I had to split it into two parts but anyways that game won for AI was an amazing performance but I do not understand why it has contributed as much as it has to his legacy the iconic step-over tyronn lue probably helped that a lot but to include what I've said so far Iverson's crazy point averages mostly came from inflated numbers but for my point so far Iverson's numbers came from an insane amount of minutes and by the way those of you who complain about Iverson's lack of offensive help cannot complain about me criticizing his minutes the lack of help offensively is why a I played so damn much if Allen had someone like Chris Webber on his team for his entire career he wouldn't have played 42 minutes a game for his prime and his scoring numbers would not have been more than like 24 points per game which wouldn't have won him many if any scoring titles if he has another great score on his team for all of his career I can't imagine a world where he gets a scoring title it's a two-way street there would not have been the legendary crazy amount of points core allen iverson with more offensive help you don't get both you either get a guy who puts up crazy numbers with a poor offense around him or a guy who puts up good numbers with a good offense around him and I do want to say that I do not knock AI for never having won a championship well I do think that that oh one roster wasn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be it definitely wasn't a great roster and they definitely were not going to beat the Lakers that year there was no roster that AI was on that was realistically winning a championship outside of maybe the Denver Nuggets in 2008 with Melo but even then that was probably a stretch AI was out of his prime by then but I do not take issue with him getting praised as a player who never won a championship it would definitely help me think better of him but I'm not gonna knock for it no if I can address what's in the thumbnail the thumbnail obviously says that AI is not a top 5 shooting guard it's not as cut and dry for me as the thumbnail makes it seem I really have two guys tied for fifth and those two guys are obviously Iverson and then Clyde Drexler I go back and forth between the two Drexler I feel is one of the most underrated superstars of all time for his career he averaged twenty six and five on 47% shooting he was a crazy athlete a good shot creator and playmaker and capable shooter a better one than Iverson later in his career because another problem with Iverson's game was that he was not a good 3-point shooter and for the best five-year stretch of his career in Portland Clyde averaged 25 points seven rebounds and six assists on 49% shooting while playing just 37 minutes a game which if you remember correctly is pretty similar stats to Iverson's except with more rebounds while being a better defender and a 7 percent more efficient scorer now most of that stemmed from the fact that Clyde Drexler was six foot seven and AI was only six foot but at the end of the day those numbers are better fair or not Iverson had better peak years and a longer prime but I don't think the difference between the two is nearly as big as some people make it out to be and yet Iverson is talked about and made out to be a much better player than Clyde Drexler was so in conclusion ai's numbers were inflated by crazy minutes as 2001 run was overblown by getting through a week east and having one great game versus a dynasty team his 2001 MVP was kind of overrated as well because of a weak East and inflated numbers and finally he is no better than the 5th best to guard ever with Jordan Kobe Wade and harden ahead of him in that order the guys on the same level as like Damian Lillard or Kemba Walker and that's fine well he gets treated like one of the 30 best players in NBA history when he simply is not that I hope this video did not come off as disrespectful because Iverson is a really fun player to watch and I really liked him but passing on this video please be sure to LIKE and subscribe for more NBA content like this and cue the action music [Music] [Music]

Channel: Rusty Buckets

Views: 136,057

Rating: 4.2316265 out of 5

Keywords: allen iverson, allen iverson highlights, allen iverson mix, allen iverson practice, allen iverson vs lakers, allen iverson crossover, allen iverson crossover michael jordan, allen iverson steps over tyronn lue, ai vs lakers, allen iverson documentary, dikembe mutombo, dikembe mutombo sixers, 2001 nba finals, 2001 mvp, allen iverson mvp, allen iverson football highlights

Id: _3PVnFzHKOI

Length: 20min 23sec (1223 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 03 2020