Sixers Legend Allen Iverson Believes Philly Will Have a Shot at the Title
Former Philadelphia 76ers point guard Allen Iverson is never one to shy away from his opinion. While he didn't always say the right thing, he most certainly never said what he didn't feel. Therefore, a conversation with the legend is always brutally honest -- for better or for worse.
Recently, CBS Sports' Michael Kaskey-Blomain had the opportunity to talk with the Sixers legend over the All-Star break. While the NBA was hosting its series of events with some of the best players in the league, Iverson was hosting his own event with some of the best High School players in the nation, while remaining involved in Chicago as well.
Iverson is typically tapped in with all of the current athletes around the league as he's an icon, but the former Sixers legend still pulls for the team that retired his number no matter what. Considering he's always paying attention to how his old organization is doing, Iverson was in the position to offer up his honest opinion on this year's 76ers.
"Sky is the limit for us," Iverson said when asked about this year's Sixers at this point in the year. "We just have to get healthy. We haven't had a chance to be [fully] healthy and have our guys together all at once. Once we put it all together and get healthy, everything will be good."
Iverson wasn't lying about the team's health. Throughout the year, the Sixers have had their fair share of setbacks when it comes to injuries. Joel Embiid and Josh Richardson are the two starters who have missed a good chunk of games throughout the year so far, and a couple of other prominent names such as Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle have missed time at some point as well.
When the Sixers return from the break, they intend to have a healthy roster. With 27 games left on the regular-season schedule, Philly hopes to turn things around a bit and work their way up from the fifth-seed in the Eastern Conference. While they are well-out of the running for the No. 1 spot, it still doesn't mean the Sixers aren't a championship-caliber squad. According to Iverson, they are still Finals contenders.
"Oh yeah, for sure," was Iverson's response when asked if he genuinely believed Philly had a shot at the title this year. While they haven't been a winning team on the road this year, they've been the best team when playing at their own arena with an impressive home record of 25-2, beating some of the top teams in the league with ease.
It's going to take notable improvements along with luck in the health department for the Sixers to put everything together and go on a hot streak for this next stretch of games, but it's surely not wrong to consider them true contenders this year. They might've underperformed during the regular season, but their progress in the postseason is where they needed to improve this season anyway.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
