Allen Iverson & Stephon Marbury – Guards Paralleled

I had planned today to do some writing about Stephon Marbury – only to find this article halfway through what I had intended to post, so I scrapped my origina plan and decided on something else.

The author of said article was John Krolik and it was written for SLAM Online. Again, it is very well done and is titled – Requiem for a Shooter: How Did Steph Get To Where He Is Now?  – seriously click over and read, it is well worth the time.

And since a piece on Marbury has been done, I am going to go in a slightly different direction.

In the 1996 Draft, Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury were taken three spots apart. Iverson #1, Marbury #4.

In the years following, they both were seemingly one in the same. Brash, young small guards. Unbelievable skill and undeniable talent. Loads of athleticism and fast twitch muscle packaged into compact frames. They both loved to shoot, to score. Both players thrived with the ball in their hands. They both had handles which stand up next to anyones. They both wore number 3, they both were covered in tattoos.

They both ushered in the sort of “hip hop” era into the NBA, albeit Iverson moreso than Steph. They both were equally praised for their talent yet inevitably criticized for their selfish play.

They both played the game in a similiar way too – a sort of reckless abandon, constantly attacking. While I think you can make the argument that everyone in the NBA plays hard (ok well maybe not Eddy Curry) but with AI and Steph the game just seemed to mean more to them. They played with their heart on their sleeves – tattooed or armed. As a Net fan I remember when Steph made his lone All-Star appearance, in the 2001 game. As he was announced to the crowd as a reserve, I distinctly remember the pure joy on his face as he stood in the entranceway with his hands up. You almost could feel the joy he had, as in his mind his career was finally validated, he was a star.

To get a great idea of these two players ability to play the game of basketball, you need to look no further than that 2001 All-Star Game. With the Eastern squad trailing in the game, it was the backcourt of AI and Steph that led them back to victory – Iverson winning MVP honors and Marbury making the two clutch three’s to seal it. (Highlights). Maybe it was only fitting that it was this “playground” type game in which both guards were thriving.

Now here we are today. Iverson’s career has always been a lightning rod for criticism yet it never quite took on the levels of weirdness that Steph’s did. Either way, after enjoying various degrees of individual success, both Marbury and Iverson had a fall from grace pretty abruptly. In the 2008-09 they both played bit parts for teams they never looked natural in (Celtics and Pistons) and they both sat out portions of the season, Marbury the beginning, Iverson the end.

This off-season, the two have made headlines for the wrong reasons: Marbury for his reported strangeness on UStream and Iverson for his lack of appeal amongst NBA GM’s and now possibly an offer from Greek team Olympiakos.

In the end, I think it is very interesting how Krolik pointed out in his article in SLAM how the hand check rules have effected these two – taking away their one on one dominated skills and putting more of an importance on drive and pick point guards.

Either way I think the rise and fall of these two players falling continually falling in sync is fascinating. The only real question left is how much, if any basketball do these two have left in them?

ONE FINAL REMINDER – Last chance to get in your vote for One Game To Win – subject being which point guard you would choose if you had one game to win. Maybe this Iverson/Marbury talk inspired some out there? As always you can comment on that article, this article, or simply send me a tweet to vote. Results out Wednesday.

(Justin DeFeo is a co-lead blogger of Sir Charles in Charge. For more basketball updates you can follow him on twitter.)