With today’s spacing and rules, he would be even better.
sanfranchristo
He’d be given a lot of space to shoot and if he didn’t improve from 3, I don’t think he’d be sniffing an MVP with his usage rate.
crs7117
many scores
MostHighNebi
He getting locked up by duo backcourt guards
Fvckyourdreams
30/6/5 on 48/34/80s.
Randvek
I mean, I don’t see a lot of teams thriving with a ball-dominant iso guard (edit: and short) doing 1 on 1s. Yeah, AI was among the best there was at that, but there’s a reason that’s dead.
HolyRomanPrince
Im at the point I do the Abe Simpson to any thread on an early 2000 star. True shooting percentage this, efficiency that. Basketball isn’t played on a goddamn spreadsheet, kids.
william4534
Very Westbrookian playstyle. Pretty ineffective off ball and the ceiling on ball isn’t high enough to construct a championship level offence. There’s a reason his only playoff success came in a year where the league had to literally rig the conference finals for him to make it out of the east.
StopGlazingMe
Iverson would be a different player today. In his MVP season, **61%** of his shots were mid range jumpers. That is an absolutely insane amount. If he was playing today half those mid range jumpers would be 3s, and his efficiency at the rim would be way higher because there wouldn’t be two bigs in the paint on every drive.
AI’s efficiency would skyrocket just based off these two things alone. This goes for pretty much every star from the early-mid 2000s
SquirtDoctor23
Iverson would benefit so much from positionless basketball.
Him at the 1 with someone else in the starting 5 as primary playmaker would be tough
Tongen420
Prime AI with Embiid would be fun to watch. It’ll be a tough mvp race but he’ll be getting buckets easily.
Potential-Rope-3342
His game just isn’t winning basketball especially in this era. He would have probably the same or worse career with much better numbers in this era.
Snub33
He would kil it!! Defence is les physical and more open spaces.
Vatfagyna
Bro would be hella rich….that’s for damn sure
LyonsKing12_
Lord let the season start asap
FazeRN
Shaq is corny
LyonsKing12_
About the same tbh.
film_editor
Honestly he would struggle massively. His efficiency was always bad, and below league average in his own era. His TS% was only 51%, and the league average over his career was around 53-54%. It’s only gone up since then. He also took a massive amount of mid range jumpers, around half of his shot attempts, at below average efficiency.
In his MVP season AI shot 26% from 3-10 feet, 33% from 10-16, and 42% from 16-three.
That efficiency just fundamentally doesn’t work in today’s game. You’re going to have the worst offense in the league by far if you have a guy putting up 30 per game but getting it by shooting that inefficiently. He was also only a 31% three point shooter.
AI would need to either almost completely abandon his mid range game and develop into an elite passer and/or 3-point shooter (unlikely) or improve his mid range shooting by about 20% (impossible).
Maybe AI somehow totally changes his game and could adapt. But even in his own career he started to struggle a lot when teams began to get more efficient and he wasn’t on a stacked defensive team.
Alive_Star9852
Smaller Ja morant with a better jumpshot
Kafka_pubsub
Why did shaq call himself Big Aristotle?
MoooonRiverrrr
My goat
bball_nostradamus
Depends on if he practicing or not
Least-Hamster-3025
A better trae young
paulogrupp
Is the style of Jalen Brunson comparable to AI’s style?
Tekhniquetv
Imagine if this dude practiced!
aamartt
If only he showed up for practice
Some-Bit-1225
He would blow whole competition away
BeeGeeReverse
now I understand it’s an interview but did she have to get that close to A.I.? with that intimate voice?
Sct_Brn_MVP
He’d be like a much better Boston Celtics Isaiah Thomas right
Jbrozas2332
Humble giant
butterflyl3
Unplayable. No 3pt shot and too small.
TexasVincent512
On the offensive side of the ball, today’s spacing would benefit him considerably and he’d also live at the FT line, but he’d be a bit of a liability on defense. With all that said, one of my favorite players to watch play the game.
averyfinefellow
If he learned to shoot even a serviceable three he’d be unbelievable
TheConboy22
I think he’d be at about De’Aaron Fox level.
CupOfHotTeaa
trae young but worse shooter and more athletic
earrow70
Unpopular opinion: Nothing about Iverson’s game involved the rest of his team. Everyone has to stand around and crash the boards after he takes on 3 or four defenders. It’s a waste of cap space to pay a high level second offensive option
str8jeezy
The big thing is the fouls. He would get so many foul calls now. Plus with stretch bigs he would have so much room to drive.
Ok_Simple9009
He would average at least 45ppg and 10apg
Seabass_Says
Peak Iverson was must see TV. Truly an Icon. Was a menace driving in the lane. Was such a dog. Loved watching him play. No one in a sixer’s uniform has compared since. Embiid’s cool now. Iverson was different. More raw.
AvailableMilk2633
He’d need to work on his 3 ball, like a lot. And he’d be hard targeted with tons of pnr action.
pointguard22
No one could stop him then, no one could stop him now.
Serizilla_602
Some of the nephews here clearly did not watch AI in his prime. As a young kid growing up in the 00s, AI was THE SUPERHERO going up against goliaths. For context – he’d basically be Ja Morant today as his absolute floor. But add kyrie’s handles and double Brunson’s shiftiness and that’s Iverson. So Ja Morant level athleticism + Kyrie handle + Brunson’s game = AI.
Proof-Bad-8195
Career minutes per game..41.1. So in this era, that’s rare..
43 Comments
With today’s spacing and rules, he would be even better.
He’d be given a lot of space to shoot and if he didn’t improve from 3, I don’t think he’d be sniffing an MVP with his usage rate.
many scores
He getting locked up by duo backcourt guards
30/6/5 on 48/34/80s.
I mean, I don’t see a lot of teams thriving with a ball-dominant iso guard (edit: and short) doing 1 on 1s. Yeah, AI was among the best there was at that, but there’s a reason that’s dead.
Im at the point I do the Abe Simpson to any thread on an early 2000 star. True shooting percentage this, efficiency that. Basketball isn’t played on a goddamn spreadsheet, kids.
Very Westbrookian playstyle. Pretty ineffective off ball and the ceiling on ball isn’t high enough to construct a championship level offence. There’s a reason his only playoff success came in a year where the league had to literally rig the conference finals for him to make it out of the east.
Iverson would be a different player today. In his MVP season, **61%** of his shots were mid range jumpers. That is an absolutely insane amount. If he was playing today half those mid range jumpers would be 3s, and his efficiency at the rim would be way higher because there wouldn’t be two bigs in the paint on every drive.
AI’s efficiency would skyrocket just based off these two things alone. This goes for pretty much every star from the early-mid 2000s
Iverson would benefit so much from positionless basketball.
Him at the 1 with someone else in the starting 5 as primary playmaker would be tough
Prime AI with Embiid would be fun to watch. It’ll be a tough mvp race but he’ll be getting buckets easily.
His game just isn’t winning basketball especially in this era. He would have probably the same or worse career with much better numbers in this era.
He would kil it!! Defence is les physical and more open spaces.
Bro would be hella rich….that’s for damn sure
Lord let the season start asap
Shaq is corny
About the same tbh.
Honestly he would struggle massively. His efficiency was always bad, and below league average in his own era. His TS% was only 51%, and the league average over his career was around 53-54%. It’s only gone up since then. He also took a massive amount of mid range jumpers, around half of his shot attempts, at below average efficiency.
In his MVP season AI shot 26% from 3-10 feet, 33% from 10-16, and 42% from 16-three.
That efficiency just fundamentally doesn’t work in today’s game. You’re going to have the worst offense in the league by far if you have a guy putting up 30 per game but getting it by shooting that inefficiently. He was also only a 31% three point shooter.
AI would need to either almost completely abandon his mid range game and develop into an elite passer and/or 3-point shooter (unlikely) or improve his mid range shooting by about 20% (impossible).
Maybe AI somehow totally changes his game and could adapt. But even in his own career he started to struggle a lot when teams began to get more efficient and he wasn’t on a stacked defensive team.
Smaller Ja morant with a better jumpshot
Why did shaq call himself Big Aristotle?
My goat
Depends on if he practicing or not
A better trae young
Is the style of Jalen Brunson comparable to AI’s style?
Imagine if this dude practiced!
If only he showed up for practice
He would blow whole competition away
now I understand it’s an interview but did she have to get that close to A.I.? with that intimate voice?
He’d be like a much better Boston Celtics Isaiah Thomas right
Humble giant
Unplayable. No 3pt shot and too small.
On the offensive side of the ball, today’s spacing would benefit him considerably and he’d also live at the FT line, but he’d be a bit of a liability on defense. With all that said, one of my favorite players to watch play the game.
If he learned to shoot even a serviceable three he’d be unbelievable
I think he’d be at about De’Aaron Fox level.
trae young but worse shooter and more athletic
Unpopular opinion: Nothing about Iverson’s game involved the rest of his team. Everyone has to stand around and crash the boards after he takes on 3 or four defenders. It’s a waste of cap space to pay a high level second offensive option
The big thing is the fouls. He would get so many foul calls now. Plus with stretch bigs he would have so much room to drive.
He would average at least 45ppg and 10apg
Peak Iverson was must see TV. Truly an Icon. Was a menace driving in the lane. Was such a dog. Loved watching him play. No one in a sixer’s uniform has compared since. Embiid’s cool now. Iverson was different. More raw.
He’d need to work on his 3 ball, like a lot. And he’d be hard targeted with tons of pnr action.
No one could stop him then, no one could stop him now.
Some of the nephews here clearly did not watch AI in his prime. As a young kid growing up in the 00s, AI was THE SUPERHERO going up against goliaths.
For context – he’d basically be Ja Morant today as his absolute floor. But add kyrie’s handles and double Brunson’s shiftiness and that’s Iverson. So Ja Morant level athleticism + Kyrie handle + Brunson’s game = AI.
Career minutes per game..41.1. So in this era, that’s rare..