He's probably right about Iguodala's personality. He can come off as reticent or awkward at times. As Donovan McNabb learned, that sort of disposition can make things difficult around here. The part that stuck with me, though, the part I can't shake, was the line about how he's "more respected outside of Philadelphia."
Maybe he's right. Maybe executives all over the NBA hold him in high regard. But even if that's true, I wonder whether his peers feel the same way.
In Game 5 of the playoff series in Miami, Iguodala had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. It was best performance of the series - right up until the end when he took and missed a crucial shot with the Sixers down three and only 16 seconds left in the game. Doug Collins said he didn't mind the shot, but the miss seemed to validate the biggest and most often heard criticism of Iguodala - that he wilts under the hot lights of important, pressurized, late-game situations. After the Heat advanced, LeBron James implied as much.
"He hit some tough shots, the same shots he's missed over the course of the series that I've made him take," James said. "Those are the shots that I want him to take, the step-back jumper, the crossover jumper. I'm playing the numbers."
Ouch. He's right, though. It's a simple matter of math: LeBron James + his lack of respect for Iguodala's game = a pretty damning insult. Real, as they say, recognize real.
If there's one indisputable truth about the NBA, it's that you need at least one, if not more than one, superstar to win a championship. As I've pointed out in this space in the past, only eight different teams have won the title over the last 30 years. Just one of those squads - Larry Brown's 2003-04 Pistons - managed to secure a parade without an obvious future Hall of Famer on the roster.
