AI missing PRACTICE

But that was Flip, so it was understood.

Rasheed could have assaulted him and rubbed dog poop in his face and he would have had people on this forum sticking up for him.....

The defense would have centered on the statement:

"Hey, it's Flip! He deserves it!"

Practicing with your teammates is essential to building the chemistry needed to be a winning team. AI was basically saying f u teammates; I'm the "franchise player", I'm above you. Also when you refuse to play in a game, i'm pretty sure that game was a game (as well as others) that he sabotaged their chances in winning. Showing up in flip flops late; same thing. AI may be be giving 100% in games, well the ones he's allowed to play in anyway, but there's more to being a good teammate than trying hard when you have to.

It's the main issue right now with our team b/c he is on our team.

AI has been on a team that wasn't good (PHI) and a team that was (DEN). And talent aside he played a big role in why those franchises didn't win. DEN didn't just change personnel over night. There's a reason he's never won anything in his career and it doesn't just have to do with teammates.

As for Billups comments on Sheed, i think there is a mix of truth and mix of bitterness as to why he was the one traded. However, if what MC says is correct (and even Billups who mentions a "few players") Sheed wasn't the only one having "behavioural problems".

What Sheed did or didn't do is over and done with. Just like this practice thing is over and done with. And hopefully we never see this topic posted again. :fingerscr

I'm pretty sure people criticized Sheed heavily. In fact all off season, Trade Sheed! was the most constant sentiment around here. When Sheed has done something like that, (being late for practice, missing, whichever) i've criticized him as well. Where i give Sheed the benefit of the doubt is when people are saying he's a cancer, or a shot-chucking loser who we should trade for peanuts because he's hurting the team or his hypothetical "motivations" for things, he didn't dance in the huddle, see he's tanking!. Bringing up Sheed is not going to change the fact that AI missed practice.

Anybody got a link to these Billups comments? Or did I miss it?

This seems a little too simple to me, at least if I understand you correctly. I think it's kind of hard to figure out with any certainty what, if anything, Iverson meant to "say" to his teammates by missing practice, either about himself or about them or about his relative importance to the team. Maybe he does think the way you are saying, and maybe that's what he meant to convey by missing practice, and maybe that's what his teammates took as the message. But I don't know how we could know for sure. I, for one, kind of doubt it, if only because it seems unlikely they'd be so ready to move on if what they really believed (in the wake of his apology) was that he meant to say, basically or otherwise, "f u teammates; I'm the 'franchise player,' I'm above you."

And, just to be clear, I'm only disagreeing with this part of the post. Overall, I agree that he should not have missed practice. I'm just kind of interested in the different ways we are talking about it, and the issues it brings up for us fans.

Chauncey Billups talks about trade, Flip | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Anyone have a link to the incident where Sheed rubbed dog poop in Flip's face?

Okay.

You did see where I quoted your initial post and said "agreed", right?

Billups interview was sour grapes. Leave out sheed in this situation. Practice was called, allen should have been there. He apologized. Lets move on.

I'm not implying that's necessarily what he meant to say, but how it comes across or how it could possibly be interpreted by his teammates who are hearing those quotes. Obviously, i don't know him so i'm going by a superficial impression of something i got out of listening to it. Who knows how his teammates really felt about ?

Oh and for clarification, i don't mean the Pistons, i'm specifically talking about PHI and the comments he made in the presser where he was talking about "How am i going to make my teammates better by practicing?"

Kinda like the LBJ situation with the NY frenzy and him saying the Cavs weren't championship caliber yet. I know what i would get hearing those quotes, but there's no way to know if his teammates are really affected one or another.

I'm currently trying to find that for you.

Rasheed Wallace assaults Coach, rubs poop in face | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Yes. But i kinda took the post about Flip as referring specifically to me excusing Sheed for everything b/c of Flip. Mistaken assumption on my part. My bad.

Gotcha. I missed that in your original post.

I think that's outrageous but it seems that Flip wasn't all that upset about it:

Chauncey never said it was Sheed who had the problem with Flip that cost them games. He merely said his name over and over and over and over like any great leader would.

Anyone remember CB saying Flip was too soft after one playoff ouster?

So AI is an anti-leader. Street cred. goes up.
If he comes back contrite, all is good.
Bucks better watch out.
He is who we thought he was.
Now let him off the hook.

Ah....the best post of this thread by far. Go Prof. I love that critical thinking.