How does it happen? One day you’re a beloved, iconic figure, playing in a city where you were once the star of stars in the NBA All-Star Game, literally the answer to a team’s basketball and box-office woes.
The next day you’re shipped to a place where the whispers began almost as soon as you got off the plane. Where you weren’t an exclamation point, but rather a question mark — with things deteriorating to the point that, at playoff time, you’re simply asked to just go away.
And now, exactly a year later, you’re thisclose to being one of the most cringe- worthy phrases in sports — a journeyman — perhaps even lucky to land a deal in Memphis, expected to be one of the most cringe-worthy teams in the league.
Allen Iverson, this is your life.
“I didn’t expect this, but then again I never had let my guard down either,” Iverson said early Sunday afternoon before the Nuggets’ 133-123 victory over the Grizzlies. “I understood that it could happen because it had already happened before.
“Leaving Philadelphia was something that I never thought could happen, but when that happened (Iverson was traded to Denver in 2006 after more than 10 years with the 76ers), I’ve always thought that anything could happen, so I always prepared myself for the worst.”
Walking through the recesses of the Pepsi Center, the 34-year-old admitted he felt “strange,” and “different, after being here day in and day out and having some success. There are a lot of memories.”
Sunday wasn’t the first time Iverson had been back in Denver. In January he scored a team-high 23 points in leading the Detroit Pistons — to whom he was traded for Chauncey Billups — to a 93-90 victory.
But what kind of sardonic sense of humor would it take for the basketball gods — and NBA schedulers — to bring Iverson back to Denver almost exactly one year after he left? To the Pepsi Center, where the team’s march without him to last year’s Western Conference finals still permeates the air like residue fireworks smoke, a palpable reminder of how, despite some unquestioned excitement, things ultimately didn’t work out.
Instead, that January victory against Denver was quite possibly the highlight of Iverson’s season. He played only 54 games with the Pistons, eight after the all-star break, and averaged a career-low 17.4 points a game.
Pointing figures at Iverson
But even worse than the raw numbers was how ill-suited Iverson appeared to Detroit.
For years the Pistons had played like a symphony conducted by Billups, who created harmonic movement with Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Throughout his 13 years in the league, Iverson has perhaps been the NBA’s foremost jazz soloist.
By the end of the season, the Pistons returned to the playoffs, even though there was little chance they would be a factor. Even so, the team decided it would be better off without Iverson. Citing a back injury, he was left off the playoff roster.
“His style of play, maybe it just didn’t work with what we had going on at the time,” said Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo, who played with Detroit last season. “But I don’t know, man. I think in some ways, Allen was something of a scapegoat for what happened last year. There were a lot of things going on — we had a new coach (Michael Curry); Chauncey had been traded, so we had a new guy at the point (then-rookie Rodney Stuckey).
“There were a lot of different relationships that would have had to jell. It wasn’t all his fault, but Allen’s always been who he is and so he got the blame, but he’s used to that.”
Economic fallout effect
As it turned out, Iverson would have to become a lot more accepting. The end of last season also marked the conclusion of a contract that paid him somewhere around $21 million in its final year. With questions about his age and willingness to deal with a lesser role bubbling, Iverson was also entering the free-agent market during what was clearly a looming downturn in NBA finances.
“I think there’s an economic atmosphere out there that’s against everybody, not only superstars like A.I.,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “That means there’s changes about contracts given to 33-, 34-, 35-year-old guys. There’s probably a philosophy that they won’t sign those guys, just like there are some teams that are near the luxury tax that won’t spend a lot of money and go over it.”
While there was talk of flirtations with the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats, the start of free agency last July came and went without the phone exactly ringing off the hook — a jarring new reality for a player who had spent more than a decade as part of the NBA elite.
“It probably hurt him a little when you consider the stature that he’d risen to in this league,” said Lionel Hollins, coach of the Memphis team that eventually signed Iverson — in September, at a price of just over $3 million for this season. “He’s scored 27,000 points, averaged 27 points a game, played 14 years, been a 10-time all-star, all that stuff, and to be treated the way he was treated in free agency probably hurt. I’m sure it would hurt anyone.”
While he has yet to play with the Grizzlies because of a partially torn left hamstring, Iverson, says Hollins, has been a vocal leader and is expected to act as a mentor to the team’s young guards, Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo.
On Sunday, there were fans at the Pepsi Center eager to send well-wishes his way, but at game time, Iverson remained in the visitors’ locker room.
“I think, deep down inside, A.I. likes to play basketball, and he was going to play basketball,” Karl said. “Memphis was probably the best opportunity to get minutes and be on the court and lift a team.
“He’s still a great competitor; I’m sure he’s still going to have some great nights this year. I’m going to be rooting for him for 78 games this year.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
