Getty NBA Hall of Famer Allen Iverson
In an interview with Marc Spears of Andscape, Philadelphia 76ers legend Allen Iverson gave his thoughts on the analysis of the modern NBA, name-dropping Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns.
When asked about the modern NBA, Iverson explained why basketball analysts should not have their thoughts dismissed because they never played.
“I think one of the worst comebacks to an analyst or something is this guy never played the game, this guy. So what?
“If you watch it … you could watch Mike Tyson and know that Mike Tyson knocks people out. His thing is knocking people out. The eye test says this is what he do, from just watching. You don’t have to be a boxer to be an expert and know that Mike Tyson knocks people out. And I don’t like when basketball analysts get a bad rap because they never played the game. That don’t mean that they don’t know the game. So my whole thing is I can look at the game and say certain people, like [Kevin] Durant, makes it look easy. Steph [Curry] makes it look easy. He makes it [look easy], but it’s not.”
Iverson last played in the NBA in 2010 when he reunited with the Sixers during the 2009-10 season, around the time Curry’s and Durant’s careers had just started – 2009 and 2007 respectively.
Iverson’s Thoughts On If He Played Today
Iverson told Spears that he doesn’t know how he would have done if he had played in the modern NBA.
“I don’t know, man. And I don’t look at it like that. I look at it [like] I respect these players. I respect the players and I respect the game so much that I don’t have a definitive answer to that. I don’t actually know what I would’ve done.,” Iverson said.
Though Iverson is not sure if he would have been better in today’s game, he believes he would have made the necessary adjustments.
“I would adjust to however you play, whatever it took to win or be successful on the basketball court. And from my knowledge of the game and knowing how to play, I just know that I will be able to adjust now,” Iverson said.
A key adjustment would have been becoming a reliable three-point shooter. Iverson was a career 31.3% shooter from three and never shot better than 36% from distance in one season. That only happened once during his last NBA season, and he shot 0.9 attempts a game.
Iverson’s Thoughts on Comparing Eras
Iverson made it clear that while he believes he would adjust to the modern NBA, he has no idea how he would have done if he played in today’s game.
“And for me to say, ‘OK, well, I averaged all this through my career and if I would’ve played in this era right here I would average blah blah,’ would be … I have a hard time being modest, but I wouldn’t just be like, ‘OK, I would average 40 in this era.’ Just that I think I would adjust,” Iverson said.
He then added that he could play in an NBA era and let those who watch the game determine how he did.
“I could play it in any era. And I would let everybody else that talks about the game or whatever, I’ll let them determine whether I would’ve did this or I did that, ’cause we’ll never know. Right now, we still comparing Mike and Kobe.”