Last night, Allen Iverson and Chris Webber embarassed the 76ers franchise by showing up 90 minutes late to the Sixers-Nets game on Fan Appreciation Night. In addition to disrespecting fans and teammates, the not-so-dynamic duo further aliented Maurice Cheeks, whose position as coach is untenable at best.

The incident, combined with Sixers dreadful season, have prompted me to reprint my “Trade Allen Iverson” blog that I originally posted right before the February trade deadline. (Note: I no longer believe in Samuel Dalembert and hope that he is traded to the Lakers for Jack Nicholson, 50 dollars cash, and a bag of basketballs to be named later). Here it goes:

The NBA trade deadline is quickly approaching and most fans are waiting to see what their favorite teams will do to make their teams better. I, on the other hand, have a different request for my Philadelphia 76ers: PLEASE TRADE ALLEN IVERSON. I know that it won’t make us better in the short term and it’ll kill ticket sales. Still, it must be done while he still has value. The fact is that in spite of his brilliance, A.I. simply doesn’t have a skill set that is compatible with a championship team this side of San Antonio or Miami. Pound for pound, A.I. is arguably the best guard ever. Unfortunately, there is no middleweight division in the NBA. As such, Iverson is a defensive liability and a world-class ball hog. I’m not saying that he’s selfish, as that would be far too simplistic an explanation. The fact is, anyone that small who scores 30+ points per game needs to have the ball far too much to get his shot off. This makes it impossible to keep everyone involved. Could Isaiah Thomas have scored 30 a night if he wanted? Probably. But it would’ve been at the expense of Lambeer, Dumars, and others. My suggestion: trade Allen for young players now! This way, the Sixers can build around its young guys like Iguadala (who got robbed at the All-Star game), Korver, Green, and Dalembert. Who knows, maybe he’ll get sent somewhere that can use him better, like a team that has a dominant center. Ask Kobe how helpful that is.