Allen Iverson is officially back with the Philadelphia 76ers  

After departing with the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2006-07 season, Allen Iverson is back with his former team. The 34-year-old former All-Star and NBA MVP re-signed with the 76ers after a troubling offseason and stint with the Memphis Grizzlies. Iverson made his official Philadelphia 76ers return during the 76ers game against his former team the Denver Nuggets. Iverson is already far from being the Iverson of old with the 76ers. He just finished with 11 points in 4/11 FG shooting, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists in an 83-93 losing effort. The 76ers had a good start and managed to keep the Nuggets at bay before the powerhouse Western Conference squad outscored Philadelphia 30-18 in the fourth quarter. It could be some rust that Iverson should shrug off in the next few games that limited AI to at least perform at what many people expect him to be. During the 2006-07 season, Iverson played 15 games with the 76ers before he was shipped to Denver for Andre Miller and he averaged 31.2 points and 7.3 assists per game for the 76ers in that 15 game stint. With the limited manpower the 76ers have, Iverson could take over and probably take the lead in scoring once again. At 34, he could still play some serious basketball. A fearless forecast, Iverson is still good to average at least 20 points a game for the 76ers for the 2009-2010 season and maybe, just maybe, lead them to a crack at the Eastern Conference playoffs (the 8th spot won't be bad enough) should the rest of the 76ers gel together. Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, and Thaddeus Young are all capable enough to step up and provide AI the support he needs to transform the 76ers into a better team. I'm a little bit optimistic about AI's return to Philadelphia should he swallow his pride and play a more team oriented basketball. AI is such a waste if he retires too soon.