Is The Answer really the answer for 76ers?

You may have heard that the 76ers have signed Allen Iverson to a contract. The same 76ers who told him to stay home before trading him to Denver in 2006, having tired of a decade of drama -- the "We're talkin' about practice!" rant, the ball-hogging, the clashing with coaches, the occasional off-court incident -- now have decided to bring him back.

Iverson provided a lot of excitement over the years to go along with that drama, but he's now 34 years old. From all reports he isn't quite at the elite level he once was. He still thinks he is, however. That's why he ended up unemployed and temporarily retired after dismal stints in Detroit and Memphis (the latter lasting three games), as those teams wouldn't give him the amount of playing time he felt he deserved.

In his press conference today Iverson said all the right things, such as "All I told (GM Ed Stefanski) was give me an assignment and I will help you win basketball games." But when he hits the court, will those words be forgotten? What happens when guard Lou Williams, out eight weeks with a broken jaw and whose absence is ostensibly the reason the Sixers signed Iverson, returns? The Sixers have been emphasizing giving their young players experience in order to become a better team in the long run. Will Iverson accept playing fewer minutes? He hasn't the last two years.

And with a team who, under new head coach Eddie Jordan, is still trying to learn to play the Princeton offense, an offense that requires lots of passing, how is Iverson going to fit in? He's never been known for spreading the ball around. What happens if Jordan sits Iverson for longer stretches because he doesn't fit the system? Or, worse, what if Jordan revises the system to fit Iverson's needs?

I don't really see this working. To me, there is only one valid reason to bring back "The Answer," and if the Sixers were honest they'd admit it: they want to sell tickets. The team is 5-14, they've lost 8 in a row, and they're next-to-last in the entire NBA in attendance. They've been an afterthought in the minds of the sports public. But since word first broke that they were interested in Iverson, suddenly they're garnering a lot more pages of coverage in the papers and many more calls on sports talk radio (not to mention getting me to write all of this -- I hardly ever watch the NBA).

And the excitement provided by "The Answer" on the court in his first stint here has seemingly made a lot of fans nostalgic. Reports are that tickets are selling fast for their home games next week, when Iverson is expected to make his debut.

The problem is, historically the 76ers have not had as loyal a fan base as the Eagles and Flyers. If they're not winning they have trouble drawing big crowds. Even with Iverson, when the Sixers struggled after their peak of reaching the 2001 NBA Finals, attendance started to drop. Barring a miracle, bringing back Allen Iverson is a temporary solution -- both on the court and at the box office.