- Larry Kuzniewski
- Allen Iverson: Butt getting sore.
I haven’t had a chance to weigh in on yesterday’s Allen Iverson eruption until now, though a couple of my favorite NBA writers — John Hollinger and Kelly Dwyer — had strong takes on the issue.
Iverson’s post-game public reaction to playing 18 minutes off the bench — “I had no problems (with the hamstring). I had a problem with my butt sitting on that bench for so long.” — was not a surprise, but was still preposterous.
Two specific reasons:
1. Even if his role were not in question and it were clearly established that he were going to be a starter, in his first game back from an injury after a dormant offseason and not a second of game experience with this team, Iverson was going to come off the bench and play limited minutes. It was inevitable that Iverson would complain about a bench role if the team tried to keep him there. But to complain about it after this game is an act of extreme self-absorption.
2. The comical “my butt hurts” quote has understandably gotten the attention. But I’m more bothered by this:
“If we’re winning games with me in that (reserve) role, I would be a (jerk) for fighting that,” Iverson said soon after pointing out: “I came off the bench and we still lost.”
Iverson cites this game as evidence that the team is better with him as a starter? Not only is this one game, but it’s his first game back from injury, it’s the second night of a back to back on the road, and the team lost in overtime. And this is somehow definitive proof of how he needs to be used and gives him license to be outwardly disruptive after the game?
