Imagine you are a Denver Nuggets fan, and you get to open the latest Christmas present, left under the Nuggets’ tree. Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson is the most-wanted gift floating around the NBA this year. Teams and fans everywhere, it seems, want Santa to drop Iverson from his sleigh and into their arenas.
So, the big day finally arrives, and you, the Denver Nuggets fan, get to unwrap the biggest present of all. You’ve heard the possibilities of Iverson coming to Denver in a true blockbuster NBA trade.
On the day of the big event, you race to the newspaper and rummage past the business, metro and entertainment sections. You toss away the unwanted paper, and your eyes bulge open wide, like a four-year-old, who’s just shredded the wrapping on a shiny new Radio Flyer wagon.
There’s a full-page, color picture of Allen Iverson, adorned in his new Denver Nuggets jersey, complete with his old number 3.
Your jaw drops, and for a moment you’ve lost all reason and comprehension.
It’s the ultimate dream come true – your Radio Flyer, your NBA Live 07 video game or your new set of Calloway golf clubs. For one dizzying moment, you believe you’ve gotten what you always wanted – the great Allen Iverson is now a part of your Denver Nuggets team.
Then the euphoria of this Christmas-day miracle begins to fade, and you begin to come to your senses.
Like the kid who tires of the Flyer after a couple of days or the man who curses his Big Bertha driver the second he slices it into the woods, you are just as quick to wonder if your dream Christmas present isn’t really the proverbial lump of coal.
You consider how things were going in Denver, before Iverson’s arrival. . .
- You already had the leading scorer in the NBA to cheer, in Carmelo Anthony.
- The Nuggets had one of the NBA’s top veteran point guards in Andre Miller, now gone to Philadelphia as part of the trade for Iverson.
- Denver had two first-round picks in the 2007 draft – predicted by many to be one of the deepest in recent years. Of course, these, too, were sent to Philly for your once-coveted Allen Iverson.
- You had a nice, solid NBA team, mixed with veterans, like Miller and Joe Smith (also traded to Philadelphia), and young stars, like Anthony, Nene and Reggie Evans.
- Your Denver Nuggets were a very respectable 14-9 and in second place in the NBA’s Northwest Division at the time of the trade.
- And, best of all, your Denver Nuggets were unselfish, balanced and fun to watch.
Now, you ponder your Nuggets team with Allen Iverson, considered by many to be one of the most selfish players and biggest gunners in the history of the NBA.
Visions of Iverson lambasting the media for questioning his incessant absence from practice and Iverson arguing with one head coach after another flow rapidly through your head.
You suddenly realize that Iverson is in his 11th NBA season, and you begin to wonder if your Denver Nuggets didn’t mortgage their future for a tiny point guard, on the wrong side of 30, who launches over 24 shots per game and makes only 42 percent of them.
Memories of recent ESPN highlights invade your thoughts – a mortifying montage of younger players zooming past Iverson, who would have a hard time guarding Fat Albert, followed by sobering images of Iverson driving into the teeth of four defenders, disdaining the kick-out pass for the off-balanced, fall-away jumper.
All things considered, you finally ask yourself if Carmelo Anthony will ever see the basketball again.
Then, you flash forward to the 2007 draft – one that once held such promise for Denver – and you see yourself waiting endlessly for the second round to arrive, in desperate hope that every NBA GM will be stupid enough to pass on Greg Oden.
Your reverie now complete, you toss the picture of your new Christmas present into the fireplace, and as your dream of making the playoffs crackles into brittle ash, you start a letter to Santa Claus for next Christmas.
You think carefully, then you very politely ask Santa to bring your Denver Nuggets a time machine.
