Empty the Bench

By Zachariah Blott

Okay, we all see what’s coming. Allen Iverson will soon sign with the Sixers for the remainder of the season. He’ll start at the point while Louis Williams sits for 8 weeks with a broken jaw. Then it’ll be the end of January and… oh shit.

Will the original Philadelphia AI gladly step back and give Williams his job back? Will he exert maximum effort in practice for a coach that the public, who still have #3 jerseys sitting in their closets, only knows as a loser? (This is Philly after all.) Will he blow up at assistant coach Randy Ayers, whom Iverson once had some serious run-ins with when Ayers was the head coach?

No matter what the details are, every basketball fan knows this situation will be a massive headache for the coaching staff—and probably the team—for the last 3 months of the season. Upper management sees dollar signs coming through the turnstiles and sweeping up new jerseys, so they don’t care.

In a perfect world, here’s what would happen: Iverson would indeed sign with the Sixers, but only for one game. Management can hype the game up to a frightening lather in the city. “He’s coming home” banners will hang from every window around the City of Brotherly Love. Get Sylvester Stallone, the Phillies, Dr. J, and the guy who gives tours as Ben Franklin to do TV spots pumping up the entire Eastern half of the state.

Allen Iverson Photo Credit: Icon SMI

Pick a winnable game that will have lots of running and bad defense, meaning plenty of opportunities for Iverson to score to his heart’s content. Say January 13 against the Knicks. Let Iverson start and allow him to play as many minutes as he wants. If he shoots every shot, so be it; the 76ers could probably still win the game. Take off the leash and let him run, drive, spin, whatever we all used to do with him in NBA Live 2002. Philly has enough of a fastbreak core that they could put on an entertaining show with AI in the middle of it all, lighting up the scoreboard to the tune of 40+ in his farewell game.

Fans will go wild. Media will descend upon it. The coaches will be able to bear it. The Sixers will make money. And Allen Iverson can go out with the team he should go out with, playing the way he’s always felt he deserved to play. Keeping him around any longer will do a disservice to all sides.

Zachariah Blott is a dish best served cold.

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