76ers' Iverson: The NBA's least wanted superstar

Here is a message to all you doubters, skeptics, critics, pessimists, naysayers and fault finders of the NBA -- that includes commissioner David Stern and NBA administrators: Leave Allen Iverson alone.

People just don't seem to like Iverson. Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Dennis Rodman and even Elvin Hayes have, at one time, offered disparaging words his way. At the All Star Game, more players and fans took shots at Iverson than Glenn Rice did on the court.

That may have been the first time Iverson was outshot.

Half these people never met Iverson, they were just spoonfed the lies the media told. Those who have met Iverson -- like Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach, who coached the rookie team spearheaded by MVP Iverson -- tell a different story.

"They were all good kids," Auerbach told ESPNET. "Geez, I had no problems with any of them -- really. They listened, and whatever I told them to do, they tried to do it. They were good, really good. Respectful. No problems, no mouthing off, no wise guys, no lack of respect."

Some still think Iverson is a criminal for spending time in jail for allegedly involving himself in fight at a bowling alley. And despite his recent acquittal, the perception still remains. Since that incident, critics have put a bull's-eye on his back, just waiting for that one mistake so they can take him down.

Iverson's rapport didn't improve when he went to play for Georgetown, since a majority of people misconstrue Hoya coach John Thompson to be some racist activist who gives scholarships to criminals. (May I add these are the same people who watch Hoya basketball from their two-floor, five-bedroom house, two-car garage in the D.C. suburbs.)

The sports media -- being the conglomeration of white, overly-opinionated male sports fans that it is -- have left a time bomb in Iverson's back pocket and are waiting for the ticker to wind down.

Iverson doesn't have Grant Hill's personality, Michael Jordan's charisma, Juwan Howard's smile or Joe Dumars' demeanor. But he does have their talent, and that scares the white-collared NBA execs.

Instead he does things a slight bit differently. He wears baggy clothes, a backwards hat and his hair in cornrows. And so do his friends, who have his back wherever he goes. Instead of being glad his friends occupy his time, the NBA is trying to restrain them.

On the outside it looks like the NBA is worried about their young superstar. But on the inside, it's racism at its finest.

"We always get harassed, like people want us to react," Iverson's long-time friend, Rahsaan Langford, told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I don't know why. Maybe it's our appearance. I guess I don't look like I'm supposed to look. I don't know how that is. It's not like we go around fighting."

In reality, the NBA and media don't like his friends because they are urban blacks. They don't like his cockiness because it's portrayed as a "street attitude." But what they are afraid to come right out and say is they don't want him to be every kid's role model -- because, after all, Iverson isn't "white" enough or is just "too black" to model to our nation's youth.

If Jesse Jackson wanted to find a real controversy in the NBA, he would take a closer look at this one.

The NBA loves the marketing value that Hill and Jordan possess, because they appeal to the heavy consumers -- Caucasians. Stern knows come Christmastime, thousands of kids, mostly white, will want the newest Jordan and Hill uniforms and parents will be quick to dish the pretty penny.

So Stern will criticize Iverson's actions and the media will follow. Sports writers will twist and turn every word Iverson says to make him look as inhumane as possible.

Take the first meeting between Jordan and Iverson. Iverson told Jordan, on the court, he didn't have to respect anyone. What he meant was that -- on the court -- he didn't have to respect anybody because that would lower himself to his opponent. But the media took Iverson's statement to mean he has no respect for anyone in the NBA.

Why should Iverson have respect for anyone in this league? It's obvious nobody has any respect for him.