The Answer is not easy to assign. He poses a unique challenge, a player beloved by many, who stood as a totem for both the league on the floor, and the culture of the game off the court. He scored a ridiculous amount of points and yet none of those baskets resulted in a Championship. There are those who would argue he was a ‘chucker’ and those who would argue he was a gunner who didn’t have the right gang behind him. Although I personally believe the now infamous 01 Sixers were much better than given credit, he was the lead dog on a less than stellar Finals team. In most people’s eyes winning game one in the 2001 Finals, against a vastly superior Lakers squad marked the pinnacle of Iverson’s career.
Regardless of how you feel about Iverson; whether it be his controversial contributions, his impressive accolades, and less than impressive team accomplishments he was a polarizing figure who helped define the game we all love. For that alone he will be remembered far, far, far into the future. The Hall is calling Mr. Iverson.
The Resume:
First Overall Pick 1996 – Philadelphia 76ers
11x All-Star
7x All-NBA
4x Scoring Champ
2x All-Star MVP
MVP
How did the guys rank him?
The Flag Bearer: Shane Young (21).
The Barn Burner: Josh Eberley (Did not Rank).
How did the other guys rank Iverson: Brian Geltzeiler (25), Jacob Noble (28), Lang Greene (35), Matt Drappel (38), Justin Rowan (38), Marc Griffin (39), James Holas (40), Robert Littal (41), Justin Termine (41), Justin Salkin (45), Adi Joseph (48), and Will Reeve (48)
#37 Tuesday, September 1st.
Don’t like it? Think we got it wrong? Maybe, just maybe we got it right? Let us know using the #HCHot50 hash-tag. Or give the contributors hell, contact info below. Any tweets with #HCHot50 may be featured on the site going forward, tweet us your feedback!
Contributors:
Josh Eberley – hoopscritic.com / Host of the @PullUpPodcastHC, @JoshEberley
Jacob Noble – hoopscritic.com / Host of the @PullUpPodcastHC, @JacobNoble_HC
James Holas – hoopscritic.com / BballBreakdown, @SnottieDrippen
Adi Joseph – sportingnews.com, @AdiJoseph
Matt Drappel – sportsnet.ca, @MattyD416
Justin Rowan – fearthesword.com / hoopslounge.com, @Cavsanada
Robert Littal – blacksportsonline.com, @BSO
Shane Young – hoopshabit.com, @YoungNBA
Justin Termine – Sirius XM NBA / cinesport.com host, @TermineRadio
Marc Griffin – hoopslounge.com / sportsnet.ca, @montrealmarc
Lang Greene – basketballinsiders.com, @LangGreene
Justin Salkin – hoopscritic.com / brooklynsbeat.com, @brooklynsbeat
Will Reeve – awfsports.com / Host of the All Weather Fan Podcast, contributor for hoopscritic.com @WillReeveJr
and of course,
Brian Geltzeiler – hoopscritic.com / Sirius XM NBA / the-cauldron.com / 120sports.com, @hoopscritic
Links to previous #HCHot50 pages: