When a player signs a six year deal for $80 million, he should be “the man” on his or her respective team, right? Or does it?
What if you were told that same player only attempted two shots in the first half of a close game. Next, you found out that his third field goal attempt came in the third quarter with a little over three minutes left while he only attempted four shots for the entire game. Doesn’t sound too impressive does it?
Well, that’s exactly what Philadelphia 76ers forward Andre Iguodala did when the Sixers hosted the Portland Trailblazers Tuesday night. The Sixers defeated the Trailblazers 88-79, earning them consecutive wins for the first time since March 24-26 2010.
When Sixers Head Coach Doug Collins spoke about Iguodala’s performance he said, “Andre Iguodala was spectacular. He was our ace of spades tonight even though he did not score that many points.”
That may be true on the defensive side of the ball, but at times it looked as if he was just another guy on the floor on the offensive side of the court.
Sure enough, Iguodala helped contain Portland’s stud guard, Brandon Roy, to only 10 points (Roy scored two points in the second half). But when a guy makes that much money, you expect him to at least attempt more than just four shots from the field.
“That’s just the flow of the game,” said Sixers assistant coach Aaron McKie. “At the end of the day, you just want to win basketball games. So whether you get 20 shots or just five shots, when you’re a team that stuff doesn’t matter.”
So maybe it’s just time for fans to lower their expectations for Iguodala. Maybe you shouldn’t expect to see him average 25 points and eight rebounds. Some people are born with it and some aren’t.
Maybe his role on the team is no longer to be the “go to guy.” Maybe he is best fit to be a veteran/leader on the floor for the younger guys and not to score 25 points every night.
Maybe if everyone just accepts him for what he is, there won’t be as many people complaining about how he doesn’t do this and how he doesn’t do that.
Maybe they will learn to cheer on a guy that is one of the best on the ball defenders in the league instead of criticizing him for what he lacks.
Sounds good, but unfortunately for Iguodala, in this town when you’re making that type of money, the fans expect way more from you than just seven points and only four shot attempts.
Is that fair? Probably not. But hey, lifes not fair. All he can do is continue to give his supporters a leg to stand on by playing excellent defense and continuing to fill the stat sheet.
But wow, $80 million is a lot of money to pay a guy that’s mostly a defense.
Well it’s not his fault that the sixers overpaid him. Just because you give a guy a lot of money doesn’t enhance his skills. I do understand the notion that a player that makes that amount of money should be the man, but I think you have to be the man first then get the money. The sixers did the opposite, they gave him the money and now want him to be the man. He’s always been what he’s always been and that’s not his fault that’s the sixers organization. By giving him such a ridiculously comical contract for a player of his caliber they place expectations on him that he would never be able to meet.
i agree. He is not the man and was paid as if he is the man. The guy can play basketball and is one hell of a defender. He just needs to be a little more aggressive on the offensive side of the court
The 76ers have a history of overpaying players and then get stuck with them…
I think back to players like D Coleman, E Snow, and more recently S Dalembert, E Brandt,
Iggy and plenty of others that I have long forgot (which is why I hate the NBA)
But anyways, Iggy has never been a natural scorer and if he takes 5-7 shots a game and they win
any fan should be happy so why complain about his lack of scoring when they just won back to back games… hhis value comes from playing tough defense, running the floor and getting people involved
Anyone remember that big white guy whose knees were shot and the 76ers signed him to big bucks back in the day.. (he has a couple of All-Star Seasons with the Washington Bullets back in the 80’s)
and wasn’t able to play much for the Sixers for he he bone on bone and arthritic knees
Rick somebody…
Nevermind,
I just thought of it… Jeff Ruland….
Can’t have a Sixers overpayment conversation without Matt Gieger……