Iverson's 'sidekick'?

Well, Well, Well who saw this coming? Better yet who DIDN'T see this coming? When the Denver Nuggets acquired Allen Iverson last year immediately my thoughts were that sure now they would be real contenders but what's going to happen when you bring someone use to leading a team and put him in a situation where he becomes second fiddle. Unsuprisingly there were little to no problems last year as Iverson took the reduced role with humility; I mean after all it wasn't "his team"(not yet at least). Fast forward to this season and here we see what I thought would eventually happen; Iverson is now the leading scorer for the Denver Nuggets. Let me firstly say that I have tons upon tons of respect for "The Answer" as I think he is, second to Kobe Bryant, possibly the greatest scorer in the NBA since the Michael Jordon era. When Iverson is on fire he is almost unstoppable and he is the only player currently playing in the NBA that has averaged 20 points or more EVERY season since he was drafted and has the most points scored(by any player) since his entry into the NBA; and he does this with all 6'0 of himself. I'm no historian but I'm sure that noone this "short" has ever been such an offensive monster in the league before. With this said, why am I 'complaining'? Well in my eyes Carmelo was poised to be an offensive powerhouse in the league. Last year he almost won the scoring title and was very consistent in finding his offense and making opponents pay. This year...not so sure. With Iverson "taking over" as the leading scorer it leads me to this question, will Carmelo ever reach his full potential while playing with someone like Iverson? For me, no and his roll for the rest of the season(and possibly Iverson's tenure at the Nuggets) will be one of Iverson's 'sidekick'. When looked at holistically this isn't necessarily a bad thing and may prove to be beneficial in the long run for the chances of Denver doing something substantial in the playoffs. On an individual perspective though, 'Melo may become less of a threat to opponents and may morph back into the person he became in his second season, a great player who largely goes unnoticed by the public (eg. Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, Andre Iguodala etc.). What does this ultimately mean? Less endorsements, less recognition and possibly blowing any shot at breaking records or making Hall of Fame. With his draft year producing the greatest superstars of this era (post-Bulls) and with the other members of the 'big four' (LeBron 'King' James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade) already accomplishing great feats (Wade's championship, LeBron's finals appearance) or experiencing a vast growth in recognition (Bosh), 'Melo may become 'the one that never quite made it/or did anything signifiant'. I mean 'Melo was actually on the same 'level' with James in his rookie season; now he is the ONLY member of that four that has less than 100 double-doubles and in with the lowest chance of making the all-star games( though that may be due to his being in the West). At the end of it all if 'Melo wants to go down in history then he needs back his starring role on that team, even if he has to take it back. But who knows, the season is early yet and 'Melo will probably heat up and maybe even surpass Iverson. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want them getting into ANY disagreementor squabble over scoring because as long as they're winning it shouldn't matter. All I'm saying is that 'Melo should probably step it up a bit more as I would love to see him back in the form he was last year (not that it's not IMPRESSIVE watching Iveron massacre teams such as his 51 point performance against the Mavs). They are both TREMENDOUS players and hopefully their 2-man combo will continue to perform well.


I personally rather this Carmelo


THAN THIS:



SO WHICH ONE IS 'MELO AMD WHICH IS 'THE ANSWER/A.I."?