Derek Bodner’s Blog

(Reposted from my PhillyArena.net blog)

Now at over 30 years of age, Allen Iverson continues to amaze even his most ardent fans. He is having quite possibly his best year to date. His scoring average of 32.8 points per game through 13 games is the highest of his career, and his 44.1% field goal percentage is well above his career average of 41.8%. His assists are at an all-time high, and he continues to be among the league lead in thefts per game. However, the most impressive statistic in all might be his turnovers. Despite playing the most minutes of his career, and dishing out the most assists of his career, his current rate of 3.08 turnovers per game is the second lowest of his career, only 0.03 behind his best average established in 1997-1998, his second year in the league.

His critics will argue that he still 13th in the NBA in turnovers per game. They will say this is too high, and needs to be controlled. However that number is skewed because of the sheer amount of minutes Iverson plays. Iverson leads the league in minutes played up to this point in the season. When you look at turnovers per 48 minutes, Iverson is not even in the top 125. There are over 125 players in this league who turn the ball over more times per minute than Iverson, which is truly remarkable considering how much ball handling the little guy does.

Iverson’s improved decision making is having a direct effect on the team. The 76ers’ 12.5 turnovers per game is second in the league, bested only by Detroit at 11.4 per game. For a team that continually gets outrebounded, this is a crucial statistic to try to keep the number of possessions close.

Allen Iverson deserves a lot of credit for his play in many facets of the game this year. The turnovers are the ones that have impressed me the most.