Allen Iverson = Denver Nugget

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

PG - Iverson
SG - JR Smith
SF - Carmelo Anthony
PF - Nene/Eduardo Najera
C - Marcus Camby

Wow. Three basketball players whose names I recognize. Im sure theyre gonna have a good year.

[onpoint]

Please, Carmelo Anthony would beat Collins like his dog in any kind of a real fight. "Running scared" is not how I would describe it. Not defending his actions, but to call his manhood into question is a pretty lazy addition to the argument in my opinion. Watching 'Melo play this season has been a breath of fresh air for a franchise that floundered in mediocrity (or worse) for most of the last 15 years. The team's progress has been entirely based on his maturation as a leader and a player. He is tough, he makes shots, he goes to the rim, he runs the break, he plays (decent) defense. With the addition of AI, this team has a real shot at contending this year (although I would agree, they aren't as good as PHX, Dallas and San Antonio) and even if they don't, the franchise is firmly planted near the top of "must see" teams in the NBA instantly. "Carmelo is a p***y" is a weak-sauce argument. "Carmelo is an idiot" is one I could much more readily agree with.

[bste_lax]

For those NBA fans, a shameless plug for a Mavs/NBA site I run with some friends and a story I just wrote for it about Iverson/Western Conference:

http://www.mavscentral.com/showarticles.php?id=77

Resume your Water Cooler viewing.

[Sonny]

I'm surprised there are actually real, live NBA fans out there.

[bste_lax]

I'm surprised there are actually real, live NBA fans out there.

See what happens when the Hawks are your local team.

[Sonny]

I'm surprised there are actually real, live NBA fans out there.

See what happens when the Hawks are your local team.

Who are the Hawks?

[bste_lax]

I'm surprised there are actually real, live NBA fans out there.

See what happens when the Hawks are your local team.

Who are the Hawks?

You don't have a Zaza Pachulia jersey?!

[CATLAX MAN]

I'm sorry but "idiot" is not enough to describe his actions in that "brawl." It does a disservice to all the idiots. He throws a punch at a guy with a player in between them and even the middle man could not hold on to him long enough to keep Anthony from running away like a scared rabbit. Cheap shot artist would be charitable. Coward is more to the point. Too bad Mommy wasn't there....he could've hid under her skirt. Class act.

[KnoxVegas]

<SIDEBAR>

Atlanta is the worst sports city in the world, followed closely by Miami.

My favorite Iverson moment of all-time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI

[Beta]

<SIDEBAR>

Atlanta is the worst sports city in the world, followed closely by Miami.

My favorite Iverson moment of all-time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI

Eh...explain this one. Hockey (Thrashers), Baseball (Braves) and Football (Falcons) games are all hot commodities to ticket-buyers here. Too bad we dont have a basketball team tho.

[KnoxVegas]

Think beyond this year. The Braves barely sell out playoff games, if they sell them out at all. They won their division for 15 straight years, meaning their are high school freshman that for their first time on this planet are living in a time when the Braves were not a NL division winner. That is an astounding feat, yet the Braves struggled to sellout home playoff games.

The Hawks are horrible. The Thrashers are decent for the first time in their history. The Falcons used to have their games blacked out at in their home market as late as five years ago. Just because there are professional teams in your city, it does not mean that it is a great sports town.

Atlanta is notorious throughout the leagues as a great place to live as an athlete but a terrible city to play in. It is getting better but has a long way to go. The Sporting News in 2006 ranked Atlanta #13 in their list of great American sports town, right behind Raleigh-Durham (http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=113586). In 2003, ESPN.com ranked Atlanta #22 best pro sports town in North America (http://www.indygov.org/eGov/Mayor/PR/2004/1/20040106a.htm). Nashville(#7), with its carpet bagging football team ranked higher and Tampa (#15) with the Devil Rays ranked higher. A fan poll on Sportsbook.com ranked Atlanta dead last amongst the sites patrons (http://www.sportsfanmagazine.com/sfm/articles.html?id=3058).

R.I.P. Jason Collier

[Beta]

Ok so what defines a great sports town?

Every team everywhere has problems with certain things. The falcons games used to be blacked out on occassion I cant remember the last one that was, now those tickets are the hottest in town. Thrashers games are more fun than old Bruin games in the Garden, and (pains me to say) Whale games at the mall..not to mention the crowds at those games are ridiculously charimatic. Hawks...eh...yeah...the Hawks. They're 9-14 right now...improvement at least. But does a team's record dictate the city's love for sports? Def not. It only dictactes the attendance, most of the time. The Braves are famous for floundering in the playoffs yes. But of the last 7 years, the braves' attendance averaged 4, 6, 8, 7, 10, 10, 9 out of the 16 teams entering the postseason. That doesnt mean the 6 teams behind them in their worst years arent baseball towns.

I guess the point Im getting at is...Ill let some ESPN writers blasting Atlanta, hangin out in Greenwich, C-town...crying about the Whale being better down south...while I go to a Thrashers game, while avoiding a Hawks game, because I cant afford/find Falcons tickets, talkin bout goin to Braves games in the spring.

[onpoint]

While this probably belongs in the other topic re: the Nuggets this week, Collins was literally asking for it and in my opinion got what he deserved. I just wish it would have been someone other than Anthony who did it. Carmelo snapped and smacked the guy - and if it HAD been a fair fight, I'm taking Anthony and the under.

It's easy to take shots at his character. It's also easy to forget about his charitable donations to Syracuse and Baltimore youth basketball. Calling him a coward and classless is a lazy argument as I said before. It's not even relevant to the discussion we are having here, which is that with the addition of AI the Nuggets are now one of the most relevant franchises in the NBA.

Yes, I am a biased Nuggets fan, but all you are doing CatLax is flaming the topic because you know it will get a rise out of people. I suspect that if there were any Knicks fans in here, you would be quick to jump on their backs as well. It's pretty easy to cast stones from far away. How about the unsportsmanlike behavior of Isiah Thomas? What about the scary loss of control by Nate Robinson? What about the blatantly dangerous play of Marty Collins, not to mention the scaredy-wimp behavior of hiding behind all his boys while he runs his mouth - if you are going to act tough, why do you need to hide behind your 50 year old coach? Was Carmelo supposed to Kermit Washington the guy and end his career? Would that have been more "manly?" He was an idiot for getting involved at all, not a coward and not a wimp. (BTW the real manly thing to do would have been to stay out of it completely, I will grant that, but I will never fault someone for sticking up for their teammates.)

I think it's a little hypocritic to call into question someone's class while calling them a coward and ripping them anonymously on a public forum. That does not smack of "class" at all, but it seems to be a common trump card played from the West Coast on these boards.

By the way, what's that we are all talking about right now? What is every sports channel and sports talk radio host talking about ad nauseum? It's the Denver Nuggets. This is one of the most pathetic franchises in the history of the league basically pulling a New England Patriots and becoming immediately relevant in both the NBA and the national sports scene.

Anxiously awaiting your last word . . .

[Sonny]

Alex,

I disagree. It was a cheap shot. And the only reason the Nuggets are "relevant" now is due to an ugly brawl. The Patriots are relevant for winning 3 Super Bowls in 4 years. Way different story there.

[CATLAX MAN]

I was not trying to comment on what he has done for the community, etc. My comment was solely about his behavior on the court in that one particular instance. You were the one that tried to characterize it as something other than a cheap shot, cowardly action. I was disagreeing with that opinion. The fact is, in that particular instance, there is no other way to describe his actions. The film of it says it all......case closed.

While you're calling out the actions of Isiah and others on the Knicks, how about looking at George Karl's role in flaming the situation? He knew exactly what he was doing there......and it was done intentionally. I'm not excusing anyone on either side who was involved in this situation, but if you're going to call people out, call them all out.