In some sick, yet cool twisted way, I think Larry Brown wants to torture Allen Iverson just a little bit.
Why else would Brown, who battled with The Answer on a daily basis, be pulling for the Sixers to add the legend to their front office.
In a move that would either cause laughter or adulation, Brown is lobbying 76ers brass to hire A.I. as the teams assistant GM under Sam Hinkie.
Can you imagine Hinkie and Iverson discussing analytics?
“I just wish there was some way that he could be involved,” Brown said in a telephone interview Friday. “Just teach him about the organization and let him figure it out, figure out how he can help. He can certainly judge talent. He certainly has people’s respect. Kids will listen to anything he said. He’s certainly bright as hell.
“Just teach him how to be involved with the NBA, whatever level you want, but I think ultimately I’d like to see him get into management. I think he’d be a huge asset.”
The idea took shape during a Sixers game in March — where Iverson expressed an interest in joining the team’s front office:
“I would like to be even in that war room – even if they don’t go with my decision or whatever, just to have an opinion and putting out what I think and trusting the organization to do what’s right.”
“I’ve talked to David about a number of things,” Brown said, “but not specifically about Allen.” But Moore talks to Blitzer frequently, to maintain the connection between Iverson and the franchise, and Moore and Brown have known each other since Brown began coaching the Sixers and Iverson in 1997. So through Moore, Brown can make a more impassioned appeal for Iverson, to remind people about that 2001 run to the NBA Finals and the spectacular scoring displays, to ask them to forget everything else.
“What did he mean to Philly?” Brown said. “What does this franchise need more than anything right now, besides players? It needs a shot in the arm, something where you can say, ‘They’re trying to do it the right way.’ “
The Sixers, through a team spokesman, declined to comment.
