Sports Commentary

New Chapter, Same Novel.
by: Legstrong Williams , for Sports

Luke Ridnour?

Shane Battier?

Above all others, those were the names I couldn't quite comprehend.

Not that the others really helped the situation, but I'll always remember those as being the ones that made it feel like less of a slight, and more like a slap.

This past winter, USA Basketball, led by the newly appointed duo of managing director Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski, named a squadron of NBA players that were to represent the "new" brand of elite American basketball. Colangelo made it clear that all prospective players would have to make a three-year commitment and the final rosters for the 2006 World Championship and 2008 Olympics would come from an extended pool of players selected by Colangelo and his board of advisors. Eschewing the star-studded rosters of years past that resulted in a sixth-place finish at the 2002 World Championship and a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics, the powers-that-be decided the future was a team made up of a few stars and role players, a similar makeup to the NBA’s top teams.

This meant players like Luke Ridnour, and his 9.8 ppg and 5.3 apg career numbers, and Shane Battier, whose career at Duke under Krzyzewski is the only logical reason why he was even included on the extended roster, had an opportunity to represent their country while castoffs from the 2002 and 2004 teams such as Stephon Marbury and Paul Pierce were left out in the cold. However, there was one snub so baffling, it teetered the line between absurd and laughable: Allen Iverson.

The same Allen Iverson who is one of the league’s all-time greats, no matter how much we try to convince ourselves he isn’t.

The same Allen Iverson that has lived under a cloud of pessimism regarding his work ethic, since his now infamous diatribe on practice, which happened over four years ago.

The same Allen Iverson that has always been derided as selfish and a player who doesn’t have true leadership qualities despite having played with multiple injuries in the 2001 NBA Finals which in turn inspired teammates like Eric Snow, Aaron McKie and George Lynch to play through painful ailments and openly exclaimed that Iverson’s drive helped them gain the determination to do so,

The same Allen Iverson who was co-captain of the 2004 Olympics team, and represented his country to the utmost, whether it was through his leadership, play on the court or his open willingness to share to all who would listen about how much being on the team meant to him.

"It's an honor to be named to this team," Iverson said. "It's something that you should cherish for the rest of your life. And honestly, this is something that I will cherish even without winning a gold medal. I feel like a special basketball player to make it to a team like this."

While his coach in Athens, Larry Brown, was busy pointing the finger for the team’s lackluster play and did just as much to bring the team down as Iverson did to try and put it on his back. Much like did for his entire career in Philadelphia, Iverson’s efforts weren’t enough and the team finished third behind Argentina and Italy.

Despite their disappointing finish, many took notice of Iverson’s play and his continued growth as a leader on and off the court. He openly stated his intentions to play on the 2008 Olympic team and even issued a challenge to the NBA’s elite to join him.

"For as anybody who grew up in the U.S., and was able to be a basketball player in the NBA, you understand the things that your country has done for you and your family," he said. "It gave you an opportunity to be able to support your family and be recognized as a household name. It was just an honor to be able to do something like that, and I would advise anybody selected to a team like this to take that honor and cherish it.”

"It shouldn't be a question in your mind. When you get a chance to represent your country, what's better than that?"

Despite all of this, when it came down to Colangelo and Krzyzewski selecting the extended roster for imminent future of USA Basketball, Iverson was excluded.

Luke Ridnour and Shane Battier.

They were invited to try out. Iverson wasn’t.

Fast forward to the present, and once again, the slaps keep coming.

Embattled Sixers general manager Billy King, in all of his bald-headed reasoning, decided against trading Iverson this past offseason.  Despite the fact he could have received Carlos Boozer and a lottery pick in return, King obviously believed that a team comprised of the trash he surrounded Iverson with could compete. However, he was wrong, as usual, and not even 20 games into the season, Iverson pleaded to King and head coach Mo Cheeks for changes, on offense and in personnel. King decided the time was right to make a move, and put Iverson on the trading block. Iverson’s locker was cleaned out and his image was removed from all Sixers promotional items within days. To top it all off, “Bronze” Brown, the same coach he thanked publicly at every turn for his MVP season, was brought back in an advisory role to help King decide what exactly to do with Iverson.

After more than a week in limbo, Iverson was eventually traded to the Nuggets where he’ll team up with Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith to provide one of the most talented triumvirates in recent NBA history once Anthony and Smith return from suspension.

Despite the fact that their games complement each other perfectly, the cries that their partnership is doomed even before it starts have become almost standard, despite the reality that Iverson will finally have the chance to play with someone he can truly identify with. Much like Iverson, Anthony is the rare player whose makeup says winner yet has dealt with a media that seemingly wants to se him lose at every turn.

It doesn’t matter  if you donate $1.5 million to help fund a youth center in your hometown of Baltimore, like Anthony, people want to see you lose.

Nor does it matter that you offer to help pay for the funeral of Kevin Johnson, a young man who recently died, due to complications from a shooting three years ago, after he refused to hand over his Iverson replica jersey to a group of teens, like Iverson did, people want to see you lose.

Despite your immense abilities and yearning desire to win above all else, people assume that you’ll be the fictional brat that drove Larry Brown out of town. That you’ll be unable to suppress your penchant for chucking as if you don’t have the sensibility to adapt to the players around you, because people want to see you lose.

No matter how much Allen Iverson has grown over the years not just as a player, but as an adult, who is comfortable with the burden and responsibilities of being a husband and father, people want to see you lose.

In the end, Nas’ defining line from Hate Me Now sums it up best:

“Niggas fear what they don't understand, hate what they can't conquer/
Guess it's just the fury of man.”