Note that the contract is not guaranteed and the Sixers can cut him at any time. So the risk is all Allen's.
His mouth and his desires are not the Sixers problem. The Sixers want to win games and think that Allen can help them. So do I.
He will be given the opportunity to play extended minutes if his production is better than what another player could provide. Which is all any basketball player has the right to expect.
I doubt AI wants to embarrass himself by playing badly or making things worse. It is more likely for all concerned that he wants to make this thing work, to shut up all his detractors and showcase his skills for a contender. It is also in the Sixers best interests for Allen to do well. It's hard to be a fan when your team isn't winning and the building is empty when the Sixers are home.
This isn't about AI and his mouth. This is about winning ball games. Weak coaches and fragile ego's make the addition of a player like Iverson problematic, but nothing he says matters. The only thing that matters is what he does on the court.
Ziggy, the last thing any coach should do is coddle a player or have him dictate how the team should play. But AI expects to play and thinks he's better than the other players at his position on your team. Detroit was stupid to bring him in and not play him, and their coach got fired after AI left. Detroit still sucks 'cause their guards suck. Iverson would have helped them if they supported him, and his frustration is understandable, since Detroit lied to him about his role. Memphis was also stupid. You don't bring in a player to a team and then not play him or give him a chance to compete.
This is the same thing happening to Miller in Portland. Who's team is it anyway, Roy's or the coach's? The coach has an obligation to try to win games by putting the best available team on the floor. I don't know enough about Portland to know who should play, but I do know that they went out and signed Miller and I know that Miller is a better guard than Blake. It doesn't make sense to bring in a free agent who started last year and then put him on your bench. Does it?
That's the only question you need to answer and them you can distinguish between a team that knows what it's trying to do, and a team with no real vision of how to be successful that's degenerated into a team being run by the players and their ego's rather than a coach. No good coach takes crap from his players. He tells him to shut up and sit down. Lots of times that's what it takes to be a good coach. Players don't see themselves objectively, and they never think losing is their fault. Popavich never takes crap from his players and neither does Sloan or Jackson. That's why they manage to keep winning, season after season. They get rid of old players and add new ones, give them specific roles and play them based on performance. That's what good coaches do. Is McMillan doing that?
