Iverson may not be the answer the Sixers are looking for after all. The fans are rightly bored with this team, but that doesn't mean the franchise should stop searching for a way to make people pay attention.
Forget what the Sixers can (or rather can't) achieve this season. The chances of their doing something significant this year are about the same as those of Tiger Woods' escaping his golf-club-wielding wife.
The Sixers need something to keep the fans interested while simultaneously distracting them from a team that has just six sad wins and the fourth-worst attendance in the NBA. They need a big personality to get the city talking about pro hoops again. They need to make a bold move. They need to hire Charles Barkley.
A few months ago, Barkley told the Boston Globe he'd like to become a general manager. It's Charles, so you have to wonder how sincere he was when he made that statement. In the past, he has said he'd like to become a lot of things when he grows up, among them the governor of Alabama and a professional golfer, but it's still an intriguing notion.
"It's time for me to be a general manager," he told the Globe. "I think everybody around me knows it's time for me to take a different challenge. . . . I need to grow as a person, and it's time for me. And certainly I can do a better job than some of these guys have been doing."
As the old Latin saying goes, "In Barkley veritas."
The idea of hiring Charles as the Sixers' GM feels right - like finding those old parachute pants in the back of your closet and slipping them on for a little impromptu Hammer Time. It's not as if anyone's watching, anyway.
