Sixers Season thread 2

[SunMo]

ok, nevermind. 

[SunMo]

Dan Gross | A.I.'s casino confrontation

ALLEN IVERSON's not a big guy, but around A.C. he's known as a "whale." That's what they call a gambler who bets major money on each hand.

On a late-night visit to the Trump Taj Mahal after the Sixers bested the Charlotte Bobcats Friday, sources say, Iverson, after winning a hand at a three-card-stud poker table, was overpaid approximately $10,000 in chips by a dealer.

When the dealer quickly realized the mistake and requested the chips back, Iverson, we're told, refused to hand 'em over, and a head-turning argument between him and casino staff began.

The Taj yesterday declined to comment.

A top executive at another casino told us yesterday that if a casino makes a payout mistake, a player must give back any money that was not legitimately won.

When we tried to speak with Iverson in the Sixers locker room after last night's win over the Hawks, he would not talk with us. However, referring to Your Humble Narrator, Iverson told his spokesman Gary Moore, "Tell him to kiss my ass."

He continued: "Tell him to write the most devilish story he can write about me. If he says I did something, just tell him all those things are true. And say I hit somebody, too, and cursed at a nun."

We were 15 feet from Iverson as he spoke to Moore. His rant was also heard by more than a dozen other media types.

When we pulled Moore aside, he confirmed that the Taj had overpaid Iverson for a bet and says that Iverson has given back the extra money, and was given a Taj gaming voucher for a comparable amount. Moore says he did not know if any argument had taken place between Iverson and Taj staff, nor did he know how much Iverson had been overpaid.

[MDS]

Way to go home and see the kids, Al 

another arest rumor: salmons, ollie, hunter for artest. thats it. king...you suck.

[hunt]

Dan Gross | A.I.'s casino confrontation

ALLEN IVERSON's not a big guy, but around A.C. he's known as a "whale." That's what they call a gambler who bets major money on each hand.

On a late-night visit to the Trump Taj Mahal after the Sixers bested the Charlotte Bobcats Friday, sources say, Iverson, after winning a hand at a three-card-stud poker table, was overpaid approximately $10,000 in chips by a dealer.

When the dealer quickly realized the mistake and requested the chips back, Iverson, we're told, refused to hand 'em over, and a head-turning argument between him and casino staff began.

The Taj yesterday declined to comment.

A top executive at another casino told us yesterday that if a casino makes a payout mistake, a player must give back any money that was not legitimately won.

When we tried to speak with Iverson in the Sixers locker room after last night's win over the Hawks, he would not talk with us. However, referring to Your Humble Narrator, Iverson told his spokesman Gary Moore, "Tell him to kiss my ass."

He continued: "Tell him to write the most devilish story he can write about me. If he says I did something, just tell him all those things are true. And say I hit somebody, too, and cursed at a nun."

We were 15 feet from Iverson as he spoke to Moore. His rant was also heard by more than a dozen other media types.

When we pulled Moore aside, he confirmed that the Taj had overpaid Iverson for a bet and says that Iverson has given back the extra money, and was given a Taj gaming voucher for a comparable amount. Moore says he did not know if any argument had taken place between Iverson and Taj staff, nor did he know how much Iverson had been overpaid.

once a thug.................

[SunMo]

another arest rumor: salmons, ollie, hunter for artest. thats it. king...you suck.

did you make that up or hear it somewhere?

[MDS]

philliesphans had it in the sixers thread. reliable source of jemmage.

[SunMo]

philliesphans had it in the sixers thread. reliable source of jemmage.

just saw it.  if you are BK, how can you turn that down?

[MDS]

because they want no part of the artest freak show. cant say i blame them, but come on. the sixers stink. take a shot.

[SD_Eagle5]

Way to go home and see the kids, Al 

another arest rumor: salmons, ollie, hunter for artest. thats it. king...you suck.

For that he's worth the risk.

I'll be at tomorrow nights game (8 O'clock start is on ESPN for out of towners). My Uncle and I are in some 2 on 2 tourney at the Wach that starts at 3. I get to show off my mad whiteboy ball skillz.

[MURP]

ometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

If you had told me before the season that Allen Iverson would be the league's third-most efficient player, I would have laughed in your face. Allen Iverson? Mister "25 Points on 7-of-31 Shooting?" Surely, you jest.

Allow me to explain. One reason I developed a new type of statistics is that I wanted to be able to make fair comparisons of players -- regardless of position, number of minutes played, a player's image and so on.

In other words, I wanted all players to be comparable ... apples to apples, year to year, player to player.


One reason that helps us is that it allows us to see players objectively, apart from the mythology and stereotypes that have developed around each player.

As an example of how this works, let's focus on the Answer, one of the most visible players in the league.

Through the season's first month-plus, Iverson ranks third overall in Player Efficiency Rating (PER), my per-minute rating of a player's statistical performance -- barely behind only Elton Brand and LeBron James, and ahead of such masters of efficiency as Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki (not to mention reigning MVP Steve Nash, who currently stands No. 24).

That's quite a change of pace for the veteran guard, who has always been among the league's top scorers but normally ranked well down the list in PER because of his shooting inaccuracy. For instance, a year ago he was ninth overall, and the year before he was just 36th. He's never ranked higher than seventh during his illustrious career, even in his MVP year.

So what has he done this year to zoom to the top of the charts? Let's take a look, using the categories in ESPN.com's new, sortable PER leaderboard, which is now updated daily with the stats used in this year's edition of my "Pro Basketball Forecast."

The first category you see is "TS%", or True Shooting Percentage, and this is the most important one for a player who shoots as much as Iverson does. True Shooting Percentage measures what a player's shooting percentage would be if we accounted for free throws and 3-pointers, and in Iverson's case it would be 54.3 percent. That's not as good as Brand's stellar 59.7 percent mark, but it's still better than the league average of 52.6 percent.

Moreover, it's a big improvement on the rest of AI's career (click here to see what I mean). The past three years Iverson had cleared the 50 percent mark only once (53.2 percent last season). In fact, in five of the past six seasons Iverson's TS% had been below the league average, cementing his reputation as an unrepentant gunner.

For Iverson, the problem wasn't creating shots, it was making the ones he created. This year his field-goal percentage is up to 45.0 percent instead of his usual mark in the low 40s, and that accounts for the difference. There's an explanation for this, too. It seems he's realized how he can take better advantage of the defensive rules that limit hand-checking, and the result has been fewer tries with his iffy jumper and more drives to the basket. Iverson has cut his 3-point attempts significantly -- as a portion of his field-goal attempts, he's taking 28 percent fewer than he did a year ago. Instead, he's seen his free-throw attempts balloon to nearly 12 per game. It's rare to see a 30-year-old guard shatter his career high in free throws, and it demonstrates how well Iverson's speed has held up despite the nightly beatings his 165-pound body takes on those drives to the basket.

But that's not the only impressive dimension of Iverson's game. Look at the column labeled "TO." That signifies a player's Turnover Ratio -- the percent of possessions he uses that end in a turnover -- and a low score is the objective. Among players in the top 25 in PER, Iverson ranks second only to Dirk Nowitzki, which is amazing if you think about it. Iverson is running the point and driving to the basket all game long, which are two of the highest risk factors for turnovers. Yet he's managed to turn the ball over less than even a spot-up shooter such as Rashard Lewis.

This, too, is an area where Iverson has turned over a new leaf. His TO Ratios the past few years hovered around 11, which is adequate but unexceptional. Now he ranks 13th overall in this category through Wednesday's games, which is phenomenal for a player with this much offensive responsibility.

Speaking of which, that brings us to a third area where Iverson has been exceptional. The column titled "Usg" is a player's Usage Rate -- basically, how many possessions he uses per 40 minutes of action. Iverson has led the league in this category six of the past seven years and is again near the top, ranking second in the league at 32.6. Normally that would lead the league again -- the past two years Iverson was at 32.9 and 32.7 -- save for some extraordinary ball-hoarding by Kobe Bryant (34.6). Nonetheless, Iverson has been without peer in the past decade at creating shots, and he's maintained that talent this season.

The difference has been what he does with those possessions. Iverson always had the "quantity" part of the game down, it was the "quality" part that suffered. Now that he's converting a higher percentage of his shots and limiting the turnovers, he's having what is easily the best year of his career.

That's right: Allen Iverson, the poster child for "volume shooting," has suddenly become deadly efficient at the age of 30. Maybe old dogs can learn new tricks after all.

Code Select Expand

RNK Player GP Min FG% FT% TS% Ast TO Usg ORR DRR Reb PER
1 Allen Iverson, PHI 23 44.1 45.0 79.3 54.3 18.4 7.4 32.6 2.1 7.0 4.6 28.07
2 Chauncey Billups, DET 19 34.5 44.3 91.7 62.0 33.7 8.0 23.8 0.7 8.6 4.7 25.29
3 Gilbert Arenas, WAS 19 41.4 42.5 80.6 56.0 17.8 11.2 29.0 1.8 6.4 4.1 22.30
4 Tony Parker, SAS 21 35.0 53.6 67.6 56.8 21.5 12.0 26.6 1.3 10.8 6.3 22.10
5 Chris Paul, NOR 22 36.9 44.6 79.8 54.8 28.8 10.5 21.9 2.9 16.4 9.5 21.36
6 Steve Nash, PHO 21 36.0 46.4 96.5 58.2 34.9 13.3 24.5 1.6 9.3 5.5 21.26
7 Mo Williams, MIL 19 27.2 44.8 84.8 55.5 21.9 7.0 22.5 3.2 7.0 5.1 19.91
8 Jason Terry, DAL 20 33.9 48.3 76.9 57.3 19.0 8.7 21.3 1.4 5.6 3.5 19.69
9 Brevin Knight, CHA 22 32.8 42.2 77.3 48.8 37.3 8.3 20.4 1.6 10.3 5.7 19.52
10 Sam Cassell, LAC 22 35.4 43.1 89.6 52.6 28.0 9.9 23.5 1.7 12.2 7.4 19.05
11 Sarunas Jasikevicius, IND 20 22.7 46.7 94.1 66.7 25.5 15.0 17.6 1.6 11.3 6.6 18.99
12 Jason Kidd, NJN 21 37.7 40.8 77.0 51.8 30.4 10.8 20.0 3.8 17.4 10.6 18.93
13 Devin Harris, DAL 22 26.0 46.4 73.8 53.9 22.5 10.7 21.8 2.1 9.5 5.8 18.87
14 Speedy Claxton, NOR 20 27.4 43.5 81.3 53.4 21.8 12.0 23.8 3.5 8.7 6.0 18.70
15 Baron Davis, GSW 21 37.7 34.7 67.9 45.1 31.1 9.7 25.9 2.7 10.5 6.6 17.27
16 Mike Bibby, SAC 23 36.3 45.3 84.3 56.0 19.9 9.1 21.9 1.5 7.5 4.6 17.24
17 Steve Francis, ORL 16 38.9 42.4 72.3 50.7 23.1 12.3 23.5 4.4 11.3 7.9 17.14
18 Derek Fisher, GSW 22 27.5 45.4 87.7 59.3 19.0 9.4 19.1 2.0 8.3 5.1 17.13
19 Jason Williams, MIA 17 34.0 45.7 87.5 57.4 23.7 10.2 19.4 0.8 7.4 4.2 16.98
20 Andre Miller, DEN 22 34.7 43.8 71.5 51.6 32.9 13.6 20.7 5.2 10.8 8.1 16.78
21 Stephon Marbury, NYK 21 39.2 44.0 73.3 51.9 24.2 11.2 22.4 2.0 9.2 5.6 16.43
22 Bobby Jackson, MEM 19 21.9 39.6 69.0 50.1 16.3 10.0 24.4 3.7 10.4 7.1 15.77
23 Smush Parker, LAL 22 32.4 45.6 68.2 56.1 18.6 10.5 16.4 1.6 10.8 6.1 15.18
24 Earl Boykins, DEN 21 26.0 40.8 80.6 49.7 24.0 8.5 22.0 1.7 5.0 3.4 15.16
25 Mike James, TOR 21 34.5 44.5 79.7 53.9 21.1 9.6 20.5 1.6 8.8 5.0 14.99
26 Luke Ridnour, SEA 20 33.6 36.9 96.4 48.3 35.0 10.4 17.6 2.7 7.7 5.1 14.98
27 Damon Stoudamire, MEM 20 31.5 40.7 88.4 52.0 26.9 11.4 19.7 3.2 10.2 6.7 14.90
28 Nick Van Exel, SAS 20 16.7 43.3 75.0 54.2 22.6 9.9 17.6 1.1 11.0 6.3 14.37
29 Jameer Nelson, ORL 20 25.8 42.5 80.0 51.6 22.1 14.6 22.2 2.3 10.1 6.2 14.01
30 Chris Duhon, CHI 20 33.5 39.6 82.9 53.0 35.6 9.2 14.5 1.6 9.7 5.5 13.32
31 T.J. Ford, MIL 20 36.4 42.2 72.2 49.5 29.9 15.0 20.7 2.3 11.4 6.7 13.07
32 Damon Jones, CLE 20 24.0 40.7 82.4 57.2 20.0 7.2 14.1 1.2 6.5 3.8 12.86
33 Gary Payton, MIA 23 29.3 46.2 82.1 58.9 26.7 12.8 13.6 2.3 9.7 6.1 12.82
34 Tyronn Lue, ATL 19 23.5 43.3 81.0 54.0 21.6 11.6 19.0 1.0 7.1 4.0 12.80
35 Jose Calderon, TOR 22 29.4 42.5 87.5 49.6 41.3 14.2 14.7 3.3 8.5 5.8 12.63
36 Deron Williams, UTH 21 30.7 39.0 70.9 48.1 24.6 12.2 22.7 2.0 9.2 5.5 12.62
37 Carlos Arroyo, DET 19 14.3 37.0 62.1 41.6 36.4 10.2 20.4 3.5 10.8 7.2 12.60
38 Sebastian Telfair, POR 21 28.9 38.3 77.2 48.5 24.7 11.0 21.0 1.2 7.0 4.1 12.44
39 Raymond Felton, CHA 23 18.2 29.7 68.2 40.6 28.9 10.9 21.9 3.3 10.3 6.6 12.13
40 Jarrett Jack, POR 21 18.5 39.6 82.5 48.9 27.0 11.4 17.0 0.6 8.0 4.3 11.79
41 Eric Snow, CLE 20 27.3 48.6 71.4 51.2 46.3 9.6 9.0 2.6 8.2 5.3 10.65
42 Milt Palacio, UTH 22 18.8 39.3 67.4 44.9 30.0 15.2 18.5 1.1 11.4 6.2 9.63
43 Jeff McInnis, NJN 20 21.6 42.6 69.0 46.8 21.9 11.0 16.1 2.4 9.7 6.1 9.44
44 Jacque Vaughn, NJN 19 6.8 58.3 62.5 60.0 11.6 8.7 9.9 1.8 7.2 4.5 7.50
45 Antonio Daniels, WAS 19 22.6 30.6 74.4 41.4 28.2 12.1 12.8 0.8 5.8 3.2 6.82
46 Jason Hart, SAC 23 13.0 40.3 50.0 43.6 20.0 14.6 14.7 1.2 8.7 5.0 6.50
47 Kevin Ollie, PHI 23 10.7 33.3 87.5 38.4 26.6 9.8 9.3 2.8 11.2 7.0 5.96
48 Orien Greene, BOS 20 12.0 36.8 80.0 44.8 31.8 22.5 12.6 4.1 11.2 7.8 4.61

[MURP]

Code Select Expand

1 Elton Brand, LAC 22 39.8 54.1 77.3 59.7 9.6 7.6 23.9 10.8 18.8 15.1 28.79
2 LeBron James, CLE 20 41.3 49.0 78.6 58.9 14.4 9.9 30.1 2.0 16.1 8.8 28.46
3 Allen Iverson, PHI 23 44.1 45.0 79.3 54.3 18.4 7.4 32.6 2.1 7.0 4.6 28.07
4 Tim Duncan, SAS 21 35.8 51.8 68.4 55.9 13.6 10.1 25.0 9.8 28.7 19.7 27.75
5 Dwyane Wade, MIA 23 39.4 45.7 77.0 53.7 19.6 9.7 31.0 5.4 13.8 9.7 27.61
6 Dirk Nowitzki, DAL 22 38.3 45.4 87.7 56.2 7.7 6.4 27.7 3.4 25.5 14.4 26.71
7 Paul Pierce, BOS 21 39.2 48.7 80.7 60.1 14.1 10.0 26.5 3.7 22.0 13.1 26.42
8 Kevin Garnett, MIN 20 39.9 53.2 74.8 57.9 18.5 8.7 23.7 4.9 24.5 15.0 26.14
9 Chauncey Billups, DET 19 34.5 44.3 91.7 62.0 33.7 8.0 23.8 0.7 8.6 4.7 25.29
10 Kobe Bryant, LAL 22 40.4 43.5 81.1 51.2 11.7 7.9 34.6 4.0 11.7 7.8 24.37
11 Marcus Camby, DEN 21 34.9 51.9 77.6 55.8 7.9 11.7 19.4 9.4 32.8 21.3 23.20
12 Jermaine O'Neal, IND 20 36.7 47.4 73.8 53.2 8.7 11.0 26.2 9.2 24.9 17.3 22.99
13 Chris Bosh, TOR 22 39.0 47.6 82.8 56.7 10.3 9.2 23.0 9.4 20.7 14.8 22.93
14 Michael Redd, MIL 19 37.8 45.0 82.1 57.9 10.2 7.2 25.9 3.7 9.7 6.6 22.92
15 Yao Ming, HOU 20 33.7 49.8 83.6 56.9 6.5 13.3 25.2 9.9 21.4 15.9 22.50
16 Rashard Lewis, SEA 20 37.6 47.2 83.2 59.0 10.8 7.7 21.9 4.0 15.1 9.4 22.36
17 Gilbert Arenas, WAS 19 41.4 42.5 80.6 56.0 17.8 11.2 29.0 1.8 6.4 4.1 22.30
18 Tony Parker, SAS 21 35.0 53.6 67.6 56.8 21.5 12.0 26.6 1.3 10.8 6.3 22.10
19 Zydrunas Ilgauskas, CLE 19 29.2 48.5 87.9 57.6 5.3 12.6 21.0 14.8 16.2 15.5 21.89
20 Manu Ginobili, SAS 18 29.1 47.2 76.7 57.9 16.5 11.0 22.3 3.6 13.9 9.0 21.71
21 Carmelo Anthony, DEN 21 33.8 46.6 81.7 55.7 11.1 10.7 27.5 5.6 11.3 8.5 21.69
22 Pau Gasol, MEM 21 37.1 46.3 64.8 51.1 16.0 11.7 24.7 7.9 21.0 14.5 21.47
23 Chris Paul, NOR 22 36.9 44.6 79.8 54.8 28.8 10.5 21.9 2.9 16.4 9.5 21.36
24 Steve Nash, PHO 21 36.0 46.4 96.5 58.2 34.9 13.3 24.5 1.6 9.3 5.5 21.26
25 Channing Frye, NYK 20 27.9 52.2 87.0 57.7 6.7 10.1 21.5 8.7 17.5 13.1 21.18
26 Ray Allen, SEA 20 39.7 41.7 89.0 54.4 13.8 8.2 26.2 2.7 10.9 6.7 21.12
27 Shawn Marion, PHO 21 39.6 49.1 68.8 54.8 8.1 8.1 19.0 8.9 22.8 16.0 21.09
28 Rasheed Wallace, DET 19 33.8 44.9 81.1 56.6 16.7 7.9 18.9 5.1 17.8 11.5 20.92
29 Vince Carter, NJN 20 36.1 45.2 81.1 53.9 13.4 10.0 26.6 6.1 12.4 9.3 20.73
30 Caron Butler, WAS 18 27.7 46.2 85.5 53.7 13.3 10.2 23.2 4.1 16.2 10.1 20.00
31 Mo Williams, MIL 19 27.2 44.8 84.8 55.5 21.9 7.0 22.5 3.2 7.0 5.1 19.91
32 Lamar Odom, LAL 22 39.5 46.1 70.3 54.9 25.0 10.8 18.9 7.9 19.9 13.8 19.88
33 Mehmet Okur, UTH 22 35.1 48.0 76.1 56.6 9.0 10.0 21.9 8.6 19.2 13.8 19.85
34 Dwight Howard, ORL 20 36.5 49.1 59.6 53.2 8.1 12.6 19.4 11.5 32.5 21.9 19.82
35 Richard Jefferson, NJN 21 39.8 49.6 76.8 60.9 18.0 12.7 20.4 4.0 21.9 12.9 19.74
36 Wally Szczerbiak, MIN 20 36.1 49.4 85.1 59.7 13.9 8.2 20.4 4.0 10.8 7.5 19.71
37 Drew Gooden, CLE 20 29.5 52.4 74.2 57.0 6.0 9.0 15.3 13.6 23.7 18.4 19.70
38 Jason Terry, DAL 20 33.9 48.3 76.9 57.3 19.0 8.7 21.3 1.4 5.6 3.5 19.69
39 Brevin Knight, CHA 22 32.8 42.2 77.3 48.8 37.3 8.3 20.4 1.6 10.3 5.7 19.52
40 Richard Hamilton, DET 19 36.8 50.8 86.4 57.5 10.6 9.9 25.5 4.4 7.0 5.7 19.31
41 Shareef Abdur-Rahim, SAC 23 34.7 54.2 79.8 60.7 18.6 10.4 17.9 6.6 15.9 11.3 19.19
42 Brad Miller, SAC 23 35.4 52.3 86.8 60.6 31.1 11.5 17.3 4.1 20.4 12.4 19.17
43 Sam Cassell, LAC 22 35.4 43.1 89.6 52.6 28.0 9.9 23.5 1.7 12.2 7.4 19.05
44 Sarunas Jasikevicius, IND 20 22.7 46.7 94.1 66.7 25.5 15.0 17.6 1.6 11.3 6.6 18.99
45 Jason Kidd, NJN 21 37.7 40.8 77.0 51.8 30.4 10.8 20.0 3.8 17.4 10.6 18.93
46 Devin Harris, DAL 22 26.0 46.4 73.8 53.9 22.5 10.7 21.8 2.1 9.5 5.8 18.87
47 Ron Artest, IND 16 37.8 46.0 61.2 53.4 9.5 11.7 22.9 5.3 9.8 7.6 18.85
48 Shane Battier, MEM 20 35.4 54.0 71.0 62.5 13.8 9.0 14.4 6.7 10.3 8.5 18.82
49 Speedy Claxton, NOR 20 27.4 43.5 81.3 53.4 21.8 12.0 23.8 3.5 8.7 6.0 18.70
50 Alonzo Mourning, MIA 23 27.9 55.8 52.1 56.5 1.9 16.4 16.1 12.6 19.9 16.3 18.69

[hunt]

you 2 should make out.





and my eyes hurt.

[MURP]

mhunt, wrong yet again.  ha!

[SunMo]

Moreover, it's a big improvement on the rest of AI's career (click here to see what I mean). The past three years Iverson had cleared the 50 percent mark only once (53.2 percent last season). In fact, in five of the past six seasons Iverson's TS% had been below the league average, cementing his reputation as an unrepentant gunner.

so, i've been right about the past, and he's changed this year

[bowzer]

According to someone on another board who has an inside source, the Pacers offered us Artest for Hunter, Salmons, and Ollie, and BK declined. 

I know that it sounds like BS, but this poster broke the scoop on the webber trade last year, so he's got some validity.