[Chief Rum]

I guess I can understand Karl's hating on Iverson, and I'm not going to sit here and say AI was the perfect player or the perfect person. He certainly was not. And there was a time when he represented to me exactly what was wrong with the NBA in the late 90s and early 2000s; when there seemed to be a lot more "me" players, and a lot more nods to the thug mentality. I couldn't stand him at that point.

Since then, since the 2001 Finals and his trade to Denver, I have come more to appreciate just how hard Iverson played on the floor at all times, and how much he wanted to win, and, really, how incredibly brave he was. He was a terrific player who was fun to watch and gave it his all out there. Sure, he needed to be brave because ke kept putting himself in harms way with bad decisions, and his teams were always limited in what success they could have because his bad shot decisions would often keep other teams in the game or let them pull away.

But I can always respect effort and courage and talent, and he did have all of that. It's a shame he has to go out like this, and I will actually missing having him somewhere in the league.