Why can't dominant Point Guards win ships?

[The Iron Fist]

Larry Brown made AI the two and they built a team around him that allowed him to do what he did best which was score. What's negative about that? It worked perfectly and they did great. He realized that's how he was most effective and used that to their advantage. Their finals run was great and he had a great season that year. He had already tried to be a PG and that was an abject failure and Brown realized this. That's not a negative thing. Lots of scorers can't play PG. Just because he was short doesn't mean he had to be a PG. He was one of the best scorers of his era. He was not great with the ball. He got assists but he was not a court vision kind of guy. No one would ask jason kidd to score 30 and it was dumb trying to make AI into a PG.

Let's get something straight about that team. It wasn't a bunch of scrubs. What it was was a team assembled around their best player that complimented him best. His defensive liabilities were covered up by a lock down defensive team. They had a great sixth man and great defenders at every position. Defense wins championships. He didn't play well w Stackhouse because Iverson wasn't a PG and neither was Stackhouse. No biggie. So they brought in players who complimented him. He was best with the ball in his hands and you live and die with that. They were very close and a very good team for a few years. Not everyone can win a championship. As a Sixer fan I can happily live with that. He had several good years here and I enjoyed watching those years.
As far as negative things go, I'm a realist. HE PLAYED AS HARD AS ANYONE EVER. However, he was not loved by his teammates for his practice habits. Even under Larry Brown he barely practiced and this caused lots of internal problems. How you can view that as a good thing I have no idea. When Billy King left the organization and talked about the insanity there while AI was a sixer it was crazy. As you probably know, most of the greats from Magic to Bird to Jordan to Kobe to Hakeem to Lebron are all gym rats who are not only the MOST TALENTED on their respective teams but who are also the hardest workers. AI was not a hard worker and it but him in the ass. When he was 25 it didn't really matter but as he got older and the athleticism faded it took its toll on his game. Lots of players who rely on athleticism make adjustments to their game as they get older like Nance, Barkley, Jordan and Hakeem and this adds many years to their career.
Stop being so butthurt about this dude. I wouldn't trade his best years as a Sixer for any other player. It's ok to like someone and still be realistic about them. He's not a god he's just some dude who played basketball.

[RaininTwos]

Larry Brown made AI the two and they built a team around him that allowed him to do what he did best which was score. What's negative about that? It worked perfectly and they did great. He realized that's how he was most effective and used that to their advantage. Their finals run was great and he had a great season that year. He had already tried to be a PG and that was an abject failure and Brown realized this. That's not a negative thing. Lots of scorers can't play PG. Just because he was short doesn't mean he had to be a PG. He was one of the best scorers of his era. He was not great with the ball. He got assists but he was not a court vision kind of guy. No one would ask jason kidd to score 30 and it was dumb trying to make AI into a PG.

Let's get something straight about that team. It wasn't a bunch of scrubs. What it was was a team assembled around their best player that complimented him best. His defensive liabilities were covered up by a lock down defensive team. They had a great sixth man and great defenders at every position. Defense wins championships. He didn't play well w Stackhouse because Iverson wasn't a PG and neither was Stackhouse. No biggie. So they brought in players who complimented him. He was best with the ball in his hands and you live and die with that. They were very close and a very good team for a few years. Not everyone can win a championship. As a Sixer fan I can happily live with that. He had several good years here and I enjoyed watching those years.
As far as negative things go, I'm a realist. HE PLAYED AS HARD AS ANYONE EVER. However, he was not loved by his teammates for his practice habits. Even under Larry Brown he barely practiced and this caused lots of internal problems. How you can view that as a good thing I have no idea. When Billy King left the organization and talked about the insanity there while AI was a sixer it was crazy. As you probably know, most of the greats from Magic to Bird to Jordan to Kobe to Hakeem to Lebron are all gym rats who are not only the MOST TALENTED on their respective teams but who are also the hardest workers. AI was not a hard worker and it but him in the ass. When he was 25 it didn't really matter but as he got older and the athleticism faded it took its toll on his game. Lots of players who rely on athleticism make adjustments to their game as they get older like Nance, Barkley, Jordan and Hakeem and this adds many years to their career.
Stop being so butthurt about this dude. I wouldn't trade his best years as a Sixer for any other player. It's ok to like someone and still be realistic about them. He's not a god he's just some dude who played basketball.

Did I offend you in some way?

They didn't even begin to build around AI properly. Stop the non-sense. He's a slashing superstar who can score buckets every night, inside and out. They had no perimeter shooting on that 01 team. None. That's not building around a superstar properly.

Also, having a team full of one dimensional hustle players isn't that hard to conceive. It's actually what some of the worst teams are made of. The 6ers GM should have tried to get AI a dependable shooter plus some additional scoring instead of having teams focus on AI and make his life a living hell.

Just because he carried that team to the finals, doesn't make that team the best fit for him. He was just that good.

Yes. By far. Check their triple doubles.

Check to see how many wins each got in the finals with "scrubs".

The teams aren't even comparable, but that's not how I judge players either.

[chocolatethunder]

Did I offend you in some way?

No. You started whining about how I have never said anything good about Iverson which isn't true. Don't try and call me out for something that isn't true and then when I tell you what's up try and backpedal.

[RaininTwos]

No. You started whining about how I have never said anything good about Iverson which isn't true. Don't try and call me out for something that isn't true and then when I tell you what's up try and backpedal.

That's not back pedalling at all. There is way to deny false accusations without sounding hurt. Figure it out.

[Artillery]

A point guad has not won a championship as the undeniable best player on the team since Thomas won. Generally Big men win titles Shaq - 3, KAJ - 3, Wilt - 2, Russell - 11, Hakeem - 2, the top 5 C's in NBA history have 21 titles between them as the best players on their team. Then we look at the PG's who have been the undeniable best on their team and you have Magic - 3, Thomas - 2, and that's it imo. Chauncey wasn't the best Piston, and Parker/Duncan were basically equals imo.

Wing players have been winning titles most recently though for some reason.

LeBron - 1, Kobe - 2, Wade - 1. Of the past 6 titles elite wing players have been the best on 4 of them.

Parker was never equal to prime TD. He was always the third best player on the '05/'07 title teams.

[AK47DR91]

Shaq
Alonzo
GP
Walker
Jason Williams
James Posey


Thats a great mix of veterans there.

Good support group but they were far from stacked. Definitely not as stacked as the teams I mentioned. The 2006 Heat is regarded as one of the worse championship teams in history for a reason.

Shaq was basically their #2, #3 and #4 option.
Zo was just a shotblocker by then. Payton was barely a starter.
Walker, Williams and Posey weren't #3 or #4 quality option guys either.