We're Not Talking About Practice...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2923306

So evidently Allen Iverson is saying he didn't fight anyone outside of a club in Washington, D.C., and it's all a get-rich-quick scheme by the suitees. Suppose Iverson wasn't involved in the fight and he is found to be not guilty. Then again, what if he is guilty. Is it time for David Stern to take a Goodell approach and clean house with these repeated off-the-court incidents, not just with Iverson but many NBA players?

 

Not for players like Iverson, who has a spotless record.

 

yes. Stern should be ashamed that a guy like Ron Artest is still allowed to play pro ball. The NFL is right--playing pro sports is not a right, but a privilege.

 

I agree with everything you just said. If Stern began to clean house, how many players in the NBA would be left?

 

I always thought he did his best work at bowling alleys.

To be honest, what would be left of the NBA if guys were kicked out for doing this?

Would Barkley have even been able to finish his career?

You know, the more I think about this...

Why can't the NBA have more Shaqs, Wades, Duncans and Odens (how many guys would be smiling ear-to-ear if they were drafted in the Northwest)? I don't think Stevie Francis was that happy.

Would the league be better off without Iverson, Melo, Ricky Davis, Kobe, Artest and Stephen Jackson? Would it be better off without Wallace and O'Neal? You would of had to of banned them as well.

I dunno.

 

93Devil, Oden already got his off-the-court problems out of his system by the time he was 23. But yeah, the NBA would look very different if many of the players were suspended or kicked out. Many of the top scorers are not the most law abiding citizens.

 

kobe went through the legal process and was found innocent (or whatever it was..eother way, he wasn't found guilty of rape)...LeBron, Arenas, Duncan, KG, Wade, etc...all clean records...league looks pretty good if you only got rid of guys who are continually getting into off the court trouble. I would keep a guy like Rasheed in the league--he's a prick but when he breaks NBA rules he gets punished for it. As far as I know, he's fine off the court (i think)

 

By all means, all I have to do as a drunk in a bar to end a guy's career is get him to swing at me. Then I can collect big money, too!

 

I don't seem to remember many legal problems for Gilbert Arenas (third last season), Dwyane Wade (fourth), LeBron James (fifth), Michael Redd (sixth), Ray Allen (seventh), Allen Iverson until this (eighth), Vince Carter (ninth) or Yao Ming (10th).

If memory serves me right, after Kobe and Melo at the top, you would have to go all the way down to Zach Randolph at No. 15 to find someone with legal problems. Maybe my memory is terrible, but it seems like perception doesn't match reality here.

 

I was talking about Greg Oden.

KG had his trouble in high school, but I'm pretty sure he has been a model pro.

 

And I love this guy

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/arenasmug1.html

HOF

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/pippenmug1.html

HOF

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/kiddmug1.html

Ugh...

I have a feeling that this happens so often that it is not even news.

Dog bites man.

 

You have Kobe, Melo, Iverson (throwing his wife out of his house, drug charges), Pierce has had his problems if my memory serves me correct. If you shot that point of mine to hell, then why not make the statement that many of the game's biggest stars would be gone, thus changing the landscape of the league.