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Allen Iverson still wants to help the 76ers

By Will Osgood

Mar 1, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers former guard Allen Iverson during his jersey number retirement ceremony at halftime of game between the 76ers and Washington Wizards at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers former guard Allen Iverson during his jersey number retirement ceremony at halftime of game between the 76ers and Washington Wizards at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Philadelphia 76ers great Allen Iverson would like to join the front office in some capacity.

No player has been more synonymous with the Philadelphia 76ers in the last 20 or so years than Allen Iverson. Historically, there are only a handful of players who have had as much of an impact on one of the league’s more well-recognized franchises than Iverson.

And Iverson would like to keep that relationship going in some form. In fact, earlier this week, Iverson–who earned the nickname AI as a player–told CSN Philadelphia that he’d like to join the 76ers’ front office.

“I would like to even be in that war room”, Iverson said, speaking of the room a team’s front office inhabits the night of the NBA draft. “Even if they don’t go with my decision, or whatever, just to have an opinion and putting out what I think and trusting the organization to do what’s right.”

Of course, if Iverson were granted his wish, he and the 76ers would be quite busy on the eve of the draft and through out the actual annual selection meeting. That’s because current Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie has made a series of moves since taking over his general manager post to secure seemingly thousands of draft picks.

You can try deciphering this chart to figure out just how many picks the Sixers will have over the next five years.

Either way, Hinkie’s motive behind collecting picks is a “moneyball” type of approach. As a result, the Sixers are currently among the lowest cap rosters. The result is a rather unimpressive NBA team now.

The idea is bottoming out to the point that the team has four or five elite young players and with their second round picks can find analytics-friendly bench players and role players.

But one thing that approach often neglects is viewing a player’s heart, toughness and grit. That is what Iverson would likely add to the Sixers’ front office evaluation abilities.

In fact, when asked about it, he answered that way, “Their fight. The fight in a guy. I’m the biggest [Russell] Westbrook fan I think there is. You know what I mean? Because he reminds me so much of myself as far as his heart and laying it on the line night in and night out. Just a guy who’s going to bring it every single night.”

Iverson had his No. 3 jersey retired by the 76ers on March 1 of last year.

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