Get Your Popcorn: Here Comes the Show

If you haven't heard yet, Allen Iverson is again a Sixer. Known for his scoring, chest pounding and.. explicit rapping, Iverson is back in a Sixers uniform to squeeze any magic that he may have left on to the floor of the Wachovia Center. With "The Answer" back in town, Philadelphia is slightly interested in the team that has the second worst attendance record in the league, I ask myself; am I the only one who didn't and still doesn't want A.I.? While I push out the image of Iverson infamously stepping over Tyronne Lue in the 2001 Final out of my head, I remember that were not talking bout a game, but practice.

While I may be in the minority in Philadelphia, I consider myself an actual Sixers fan who stays interested for 86 games (82+the four that it takes the Number 1 seed to beat us in the first round of the playoffs). This season, the Sixers are going through what every franchise in every sport goes through, save the Bronx Bombers, which is a rebuilding process. It is a time for young players like Jrue Holiday, Jason Smith, Thaddeus Young, and Lou Williams to get some minutes, get some experience and ultimately get their feet wet in the NBA. It is evident that the Sixers title run is not going to come again for some years, so why waste our time on someone like Iverson? Why hinder this process in which we breed our young players to mature into competent NBA players? There is a time to add question mark veterans who can make or break your team, and for the Sixers that time is not now.

While I will be on my feet like everyone else when A.I. hits a jumper at the top of the key to tie the game, or split the defenders to draw the foul while making the basket, I still wonder am going to be wondering why. What is Iverson going to bring to this team that will benefit the future? And with the team we have in Philly the future is where our eyes should be. If Iverson comes in and starts to drop thirty a game and we sneak into the playoffs yet again, I could be looked at as a naysayer who has been proven wrong; but to me, that is not the kind of success we need. We need to make sure that when the time comes, that these young players can be basketball players. That was supposed to start now, Iverson will certainly delay the process.