Is Iguodala overrated?
You might have seen the SI Players NBA Poll in the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated.
Is Iguodala overrated?
You might have seen the SI Players NBA Poll in the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated.
The magazine asked 173 NBA players who was the most overrated player in the league.
Tracy McGrady was the leader with 9 perecent of the vote, followed by Danny Granger with 4 percent.
After that, six players each received 3 percent of the vote, including the Sixers' Andre Iguodala.
The others: LaMarcus Aldridge, David West, Gilbert Arenas and Cleveland teammates LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.
SI does not say when the survey was taken, although you would assume it was recently. It would be interesting to see if NBA players equate overrated and underrated with salary vs. performance or hype vs. performance. You might recall Slam magazine named Iguodala the 26th best player in the league in the offseason, based on expected production.
Comments (83)
dunks and alley oops don't make you a great player he's way overrated and over paid 80 mil. please !!!!!
truphan, your the one gaging him by his stats. he can't shoot(.320 2 pt pct on his J), can't handle the rock under control, and cannot finish in traffic. to compare him to lebron is ridiculous. iggy is a 4th-5th option on a championship team, and he's getting paid like a #1-#2. iggy needs to stop shooting, get his points on the fast break, and concentrate on playing solid D. do you want the ball in iggy's hands down 1 with 10 seconds to go? i sure don't. he's either going to clank one, or dribble it off his foot. he cannot create his own shot. anyone getting paid 14 million/year that cannot shoot a J, or create his own shot is overrated.— imfriel- 20-9-8? Every night? That guy who commented that is crazy. Iguadala is over-rated as far as the big stats. The worst thing is how he is content to disappear on most nights. Only some nights does he show up. He sucks.— Philly19131
- If this constitutes as a news article then I could come up an entire series for this column.....Should Reid lose weight? Is indoor soccer lame? Are cheerleaders hot? Is the internet awesome?.....you decide— HoofHearted
- Very overrated...I'm convinced that if Rodney Carney got Iguodala's minutes and touches, he'd have the same ppg, rpg, apg...if Iguodala ever gets over himself, he may actually improve!...it's one thing to say that You Are The Man, it's another to actualy Be The Man!— Just_B_Cause
- I always see the 20-9-8 type stats to defend him but they forget his percentage this year hasn't been very good, and he's doing this on a bad team. If this team was chock full of talent, he wouldn't be over 15-5-4. On a championship Detroit-like team from a few years ago, he would be a decent player, but not the leading scorer. Until we get that guy with a great shooting touch-please don't say Kapono-, AI2 will try to be THE MAN and continue to fail.— xing
- franval...you donno squat. Iggy isnt the best player by any means, but to say he stinks just shows you know NOTHING about basketball. 18 pts a game, a few assists..8+ rebounds..2+ steals..2-4 blocks..yeah he reaally stinks.— Will.i.Am
- TruePhan, you sound like a very Intelligent person and A Great Student of The Game. I agree w/EVERYTHING you've been saying, up until the part about "the gm".— Anguilla Al
- you damn well right he's overrated! the sicksers have the worst front office and coaching staff in the league....— mightyonk
- to be honest we can go down the sixers roster and some more names need to be on that list but that is due to bad management. Andrea was put in a crazy position insteady of management trying to replace Allen they should have been grooming Andrea as a second or third option and playing his rightful position at the 3 insteaad of the 2. Everyone is not made to be center stage and he is just one of those guys. Just something to think about— markjcampbell56swp
- I don't think he's over-rated. Iggy is a good player, he reminds me of Lebron, I think he's Lebron-Lite. As talented as Lebron is I think he's also a very hard worker and he thinks he's the best(I think that title goes to KOBE), so he wants to go out and back it up, he's determined and won't rest. Iggy probably is satisfied w/his progress. Iggy needs to work on his game, right now he's just a superior athlete and decent ballplayer, his game needs to catch up to his talent, that's where the off-season work comes into play. Iggy needs to develop a jump shot, that's what's holding him back, at one point Lebron had NO jumper, but he steadily improved and now it's pretty good, it seems as if he put's in the work, that's what I think Iggy needs to do. Iggy is a good player and it's a shame the way the fans treat him.— Anguilla Al
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he is not overrated, just overpaid...big difference- incog69: That's because he had a true PG last season, a facilitator. Even now, when he and Jrue Holiday are on the floor together, even with Iverson, he looks like the 08-09 version because he's not being forced to play second-fiddle to a dumb player. Whenever Lou steps on the court, Andre completely changes, as does every other player playing with Lou, because Lou doesn't accept his role. His comments the other day should've made the Sixers realize he needs to be traded. He talks about being one of the elite players in the NBA yet he plays like a high schooler. He was handed the keys to the team without earning them and that caused a problem. The Sixers need to do what the Kings did with Martin and trade Lou to a team that needs a scorer because Lou keeps costing them games and it's only going to get worse. People talk about having a guy like a Kobe or a Tyreke Evans or an OJ Mayo or a T-Mac, or whatever but they seem to not realize that all of those guys play on the West Coast because the only #1 on the East Coast is LBJ and he's the exact same player as Iguodala, albeit a much much much better version in every way possible. Every other #1 in the East is either a PG or a big man(with the exception on D-Wade but are the Heat even an elite team anymore?) because you can't win in the East with a combo guard running things. Iguodala is an Eastern Conference #1 who's being held back. Accept it already. Trade Lou while he's got the highest value he can have if he doesn't accept his role, get a legit shot blocker, and see how good this team is. Stefanski knows what he's doing and he's doing everything right, so far. This offseason and this draft will be a huge one though.— TruePhan
- Although it has probably gone to his head, Igadoula did not pay himself that 80 million...so the team overated him because at the time they had nothing. Other than that I do not believe he is overated. If anything all of those superstars in the NBA like Kobe who cries if someone plays tough defense on him in the playoffs are overated because they are allowed to get away with almost everything. But again that is the fault of the league who have allowed them to dictate the way it is going to be.— BCRock
- jefuuetsukusura: I've been saying this for a long time and I'll say it again: These casual fans are not real Philly fans. They don't even watch the games and a lot of them who watch them only started because the Sixers brought back AI. Even the writers are clueless most of the time. I mean seriously, John Gonzales gets paid to write here? That right there makes your paper lose credibility. The fact that your main Sixers "beat writer" panders to the idiotic, over-opinionated casual fans who only care about reenforcing their overinflated, delusional sense of self-importance doesn't really help either. I weep for sports and for journalism in general everytime I see some of the articles in the Inquirer, which is a shame because they do have some very knowledgable contributers, most of whom don't cover the Sixers(with the exception on Bob Cooney and Phil Jasner, the latter being a local basketball treasure).— TruePhan
- Iggy is slightly over-rated as a scorer, but he is under-rated as a passer. He is also a heck of a rebounder and defender. And he is one of the best in transition in the league. His free throw shooting is decent but could be better. This season, his FG percentage is way down, so I could see why he could be considered over-rated at the moment. However, looking at his career body of work regarding offensive production and efficiency, he has been very solid. Even last year when he shouldered a larger load and scored more, he was more efficient than this season.— incog69
- No, he is not overrated. What he gives you is something that only guys like LeBron can give you and because of that you pay him whatever anybody else is even rumored to be willing to. People forget that he used to be built like a guard and then he put on 15 lbs of muscle over one offseason and ever since has been built closer to LeBron than anything. Because of this, he shoots the ball like LeBron used to before this season, or like a big man, and when you do that, you're almost trying to will your shot to go in because it's not guaranteed to the way a guard's shot is. He is a killer off the dribble though. Anybody who judges a player based on stats does not know basketball. It is not about stats, it is about how you get those stats. You see misses but you don't see that he has to take out of rhythm shots to bail them out because the shot clock is running out or that he has to put up shots because other players who aren't even that consistent are hogging the ball and causing bad posessions. You see Carney missed a three without realizing that he got a bad pass from Lou that took him out of rhythm. Andre isn't being utilized the way he should be, otherwise nobody would ever dare call him overrated. I will admit though, that he hasn't been the defensive beast this year that he used to be, blocking shots consistently a la LBJ, even though he's still a lockdown defender. And Andre could easily score 30 a night, he simply doesn't care about getting his and is more of a facilitator. He doesn't have the ball in his hands enough(controlling the offense, not getting a quick-usually poor-pass from a selfish teammate) to put up the kind of numbers you all want. He flirts with a triple-double on a nightly basis. He definitely needs a shooting coach though, somebody who was known as being a pure shooter.— TruePhan
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and just for the record its not his fault he is overpaid. If someone offered you more money than you knew you were worth NONE of you would turn it down. Stop crying about his money. Haters make the world go round.- Combo you shocked me. I thought you'd say yes for sure. He is not overrated he has played for a coach that know how to diagram a play either. To this point his best coach was Cheeks and I love Cheeks but he was not a great coach. If Iguodala played in an offense that exploited his best attributes his scoring would jump up. Just this year alone is the first time I saw him post someone up. In 7 seasons you don't think to put him on the block against a guard???????????? Coaching is everything. When you don't have the right type of leadership pulling players together you get what we have now.
- He has always been overrated!!— WhatNow
- He is a role player who is getting superstar money.— cuso20
- iguodala is a good number 2 option on a team that needs him to be a no. 1 and take 20 shots a game...any way you slice this hes set up for failure.— ShaneOO
- I'm surprised the number wasn't somewhere around 30%.— mfecani
- Yeah, he stinks. That's why he's invited to the Olympic tryouts and all. This town is full of idiotic fans that listen to what 610 says instead of actually learning sports.— brian2706
overrated? no. its the EFFORT AND SHOT SELECTION WITH THE OCCAISIONAL TURNOVER.— combocancer1975- iggy is a lousy offensiv player. good defender and roleplayer but that´s it in my opinion.— Sesam
- Who says SI are the experts? Iggy is overrated? Case in point- He's got the stats, but he is not a money player.Any of the guys that were mentioned are better than Iggy.Besides Lamarcus Aldrigde is a very good offensive player.
- exactly how is Iguidala overrated since the 76ers found NO TEAM to give us a good offer for him !!!— zen
- twizzler, his 2 pt jumpshot pct is .320, 5th worse in the nba. his 3pt pct is .301, 4th worse in the nba. oh yea baby, he can shoot the rock!!! he's thrown up more airballs than any other basketball player(jr high, high school, college, nba) than i've ever seen anybody throw up in my 36 years of existance.— imfriel
- He still cant dribble. He padded his stats last night to hog his way into getting pts at a pt where down 20. he is so so so soso overated. now back to olympic hockey cant wait till overatadala gets on usa sike.— Lotsh
- Is Brickadala overrated? Umm...is the Pope Catholic?— dasher
- yo twizzler, go check out all the nba rosters. he'd be the 5th option on 3-4 teams, the 4th on 8-10, the 3rd on all the rest. there is not one team in the whole league that he'd be the 2nd option on, not one!— imfriel
- asking philly fans to properly evaluate a player is like asking a moron to repair a space ship. Even if they were presented with proper information, they wouldn't know what to do with it.— jefuuetsukusura
- If you want an example of how dumb philly fans are, read about 98% of these comments. And yes, wil sim, if you can't see past scoring than you are nothing more than a casual fan, like most of the nitwits who post on here.— jefuuetsukusura
- Clankadala is not overrated...anyone who follows the Sixers knows that he can't shoot, can't create his own shot and is a terrible ball handler...he's not overrated; just over paid.— hope55
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- Iguodala was overrated by the Sixers. period. Its not his fault they made him the focal point of the team or that they paid him all that money. The guy is meant to play second fiddle on a team. It's just that simple.— riles1875
- PS: Twizzler is a dope. There is nothing wrong with his shot, he actually shoots a higher % J than the real AI shot when he was taking home scoring titles. He just doesn't shoot enough! What does he average 10 to 14 shots a game. AI #1 was putting up 20 to 30 a game.— zeekspeak
- Iggy is not a game changer,ie go to guy.He is more like a spoke in a wheel.Hard to figure why LeBron is seen as over-rated.— homer2811
- How can he be over rated? Who rates him highly? He's over paid! My problem with Iggy is: If you're the leader of the team, your team should never lose with you putting us less than double digit shots attempts. He never calls for the ball during scoring lapses. Go back and look at how many shots he puts up in losses. It drives me crazy!— zeekspeak
- He's a legend in his own mind.— clobal
Why would anybody in their right mind believe that Lebron James & Shaq are overrated? Shaq in his prime was pretty much unstoppable & nobody has the ability to slow down Lebron. They will arguably be in the top 20 once they retire, or probably even higher. I'm also curious as to why Delonte West is on that list, nobody even rates that guy.- Zeru77 Iggy is a Scottie Pippen clone then Dalembert is Bill Russell. I cannot believe that anyone would think of comparing the two. Scottie is about to be a hall of famer. Iggy IS NOT a poor man's Scottie Pippen, rich man's Jon Koncak. When AI was scoring tons on Philly Iggy wasn't even have a Scottie Pippen types of player then. Andre Miller, not Iggy was the Sixer's best player last year. You will see more out of Thaddeus Young than you do from Iggy. IMO Thad has more growth potential than Iggy.— WILSIM
- Oh Twizzler...talk about padding stats 17-7-6 is not like 20-9-8 in nobody's book. The man the was bench for Iggy averaged 20-6-4 for his career, was double teamed regularly and was an all star twice and never made more than 12 million a year. Then there is Scottie Pippen who did 20-6-6, was an all-star multiple times and won 6 titles and everyone's respect. Even James Posey has more value as a player than Iggy and tieams fought over him when he became a free agent.— WILSIM
- I am not just a casual fan and I think that Iguodala is overated. It is not anything special to be considered the best player on a mediocre team, i.e. Mitch Richmond. You say that he does things that the casual fan does not see. What things. Who does he make better. The Sixers were not beaten over the head with offers for Iggy. Iggy is a good player but there have been players that average 20 of the bench who have been better players like Junior Bridgeman, Eddie Johnson, who have been better scorers than Iggy.Iggy is not even comparable to former Sixer Andrew Toney. Opponent feared Toney "The Boston Strangler" when he had the ball and he was the teams third option. Iggy has not garnered that type of respect.— WILSIM
- Twizzler, you sound ignorant. Igoudala had those numbers a few games ago, he is not anywhere near those numbers on a nightly basis. Watch more than a few games before making silly comments.— JTallphilly
- Twizzler, you sound ignorant. Igoudala had those numbers a few games ago, he is not anywhere near those numbers on a nightly basis. Watch more than a few games before making silly comments.— JTallphilly
- Poor man's Vince Carter. And I've never liked Vince Carter.
- twizzler - he'd be a decent player, if he didn't decide to take nights off... he's too busy thinking about what he is going to tweet at lebron after the game... guy just doenst have the heart— main liner
- Twizzler...why post a lie? 20,9, and 8?? We can all look up his stats and see they are 17,7, and 6 on 43% shooting. He is a stat stuffer on a bad team and his stats are not really that great. Guys always have inflated stats on bad teams.— JonKap
- The only people who overrated him are Stefanski and Iquodala. No GM made him an offer as a free agent. No GM has truly tried to trade for him. Most fans said to let him play out his 1 year team option and prove his worth on the open market. Stefanski was his only suitor and paid $80 mil for a $50 mil player.— JonKap
- just tell him to take off those stupid glasses.— tg
- Yes, he is overrated. He is not a skilled player, typical of the present day NBA. He is just a very good athlete, who plays ball.— fillyfan
- YES!!!! He is so over rated! I would have traded him for a blind man with no arms... What would be the difference? the sixers would still suck. I rather watch bridezilla than watch those scrubs. Stefanski and Jordan have to go... Ed Snider and company should be embarrased.— freaknick215
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- The answer to the headline question is....YES! To think we could have gotten rid of his lousy contract. Good job Eddie Stefanski! As good as hiring Eddie Jordan.— Larry Brown
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- I think he is paid about what he is worth. The problem is that the Sixes use him as a first option. He doesn't shoot a jumper well enough for that. He does a lot of things well but he has the ball in his hands too much - a few too many turnovers and a few too many jumps shots.
- Oh golly! Is it Basketball season again already....?— TBear
- 80 mil for a guy that has never averaged 20 pts/game/yr or never made an allstar team. you tell me!— tremo12
AI2 sucks- He is the poster boy for the wages of winning crowd. According to their metrics, he should be an MVP candidate and leading the sixers to wins. Unfortunately they equate shooting percentage with creating shots. In the NBA there is a shot clock and someone has to shoot. If you can't create shots you can't really lead a team to victory.— jtj06
- Doesn't matter. Join "Sixers Fans For Change" on Facebook.— ArtMooney
- Yes he is overrated. He can't shoot and he can't handle the ball. He is overpaid and he is an athlete and not a basketball player. He simply is not a basketball player. He is holding up the progress of Thaddeus Young who is our small forward and they might as well let Meeks be the shooting guard and move on.— Horlet
Yeah Twizzler..Iggy had 23 pts last night..it's called padding your stats....game over and Iggy stays on the floor long enough to throw down a few meaningless dunks and no-pressure jumpers to manage to have a good stat line.— scmona- Iggy has no work ethic. Too happy with the big salary and not willing to work on jump shot in the summer and in season. Pride alone should get that done! Should have unloaded the contract at the trade deadline...chalk that up as another loss in this wonderful season!— NittyGritty
- What you people don't realize is that Iguodala isnt paid number 1 salary. He averages around 13 mill/yr. Look at his salary and compare it to the salaries to the players who are number 1's. Number 1's typically get paid around 20-25 mill/yr. His salary is for a player who is the 2nd best player on the team. If Igoudala is overrated it becuase he is the number 1 option on the team when he should be the number.— kundithomas
- he stinks. STINKS!!! he should be at the top of the list. only guy worse than him is stefanski for thinking he was worth all that money.— frenval
Is Chase Utley The Man?- Is Andy Reid too fat?— rockinrob
- He's overrated because while he doesn't struggle to score 20 points, he isn't capable of regularly scoring 30. And scoring is the number one barometer of success for most players, excluding some centers. If he was closer to a "pure shooter" or could score more easily in the paint with low post shots or drives, he would be the player he is needed to be.— jimmy76er
- All the guy does is go something like 20-9-8 every night. On a championship caliber team, he'd be considered a stud. But like all Philadelphia superstars, gets no respect because "his" team doesn't win. $80 million? Sure, maybe if E-Brand was earning his bread. But one guy alone can't carry any NBA team to the top (see MJ -- and throw out Kobe, because his supporting cast was just fine). And no one's ever said AIggy is in that class. He's just an outstanding NBAer.— Twizzler
- Yes, Iguodala is overrated. He is paid like a franchise player, but he is not a franchise player. I think Iguodala's problem is that he tries so hard to be "the man", when he is not fit for that role, that he puts himself in a situation where he consistently fails. There is no worse feeling then watching him rise up for a 20-footer at the buzzer to win or tie a game.— Vituperator
- Iguoadala is a decent enough player as like a 3rd option. but, for $80 mil, you should get 2 Iguodalas
Igloodalliance is de man!— pedge- if you listen to iggy talk hes convinced hes one of the top players in the nba— soliteryman
- 80 Million for a guy that can't shoot a jump shot and can't make free throws. MOST overrated player in the league.— CBent1
- the igster always had talent. he never had heart or desire. he,like the rest of this team, only goes through the motions.
- If it was a poll of players, you can be sure the answers were based on salary vs. perceived value. Not sure how it's possible to overrate LeBron, given that he's the best player in the NBA by almost any metric. With Iguodala, any site that uses advanced statistics rates him highly, because he brings a lot to the table that isn't noticed by the casual fan. For example, using Hollinger's EWA (Estimated Wins Added) statistic, Iguodala is 24th in the NBA this year, right around where the Slam article predicted. One thing is for sure, and I can't say this strongly enough: Iguodala is NOT overrated by typical Sixer fans. It isn't possible to overrate someone who isn't appreciated at all. Given the 95/5 negative/positive ratio of comments about Iguodala on philly.com, and the way he is blamed for every Sixer loss no matter how well he plays (e.g., see tbird's comments above), there's no question that Iguodala is UNDERrated by Sixer fans.— Statman
- not a single sixer made bill simmons top 40 players by trade value list...— main liner
- Andre deserves more than 3%. I'd give him at least a 25%. He and his teammates were pitiful last night against the Bulls. He couldn't shoot, blockout, or defend.— tbird
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Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
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