The Philadelphia 76ers boarded a plane for a three-game West Coast swing this week, but Allen Iverson did not join them. He may not join them again this season on the court as the team may cut ties with the icon, according to Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo.
Iverson is with his family to deal with medical issues concerning his daughter, but his constant in-and-out of the lineup this season has led team officials to believe a permanent break is best for the organization. Sources said Iverson went to team officials over the weekend and said he needed to leave the team again.
Sources say Sixers coach Eddie Jordan addressed the players on Sunday, and told them there’s a chance Iverson may not return to the team. However, Sixers ownership, general manager Ed Stefanski and Jordan haven’t sat down and formally come to that decision, but sources with knowledge of the Sixers plans believe the franchise is leaning in that direction.
Iverson started 24 games (played in 25) for the Sixers this year and was who we thought he was -- he scored 14 points a game but needed nearly 12 shots a game to do that, hitting 41.7 percent of his attempts. He was giving them 4.1 assists per game, but their offensive flow was not there with him.
When he left the team to deal with his daughter’s illness the first time, Jordan went to a lineup of Willie Green and Jrue Holiday in the backcourt that gave then Sixers better defense and some matchup advantages. And they won. They looked like a team that could grow. Iverson simply does not help that growth along.
Allen Iverson is in a tough spot on the court -- he needs to accept that he is now a role player, but he can’t bring himself to do that. He was driven out of Memphis because of it. (On a side note, that whole experience forced the young Grizzlies players to bond and step up in a way they hadn’t before, and that may have helped them on the court this season.)
Iverson is a bad fit on a young team. He’s a bad fit on a contending team until he can accept a role. When he’s ready for that, he can join some team’s plane.