Allen Iverson left a mark on the NBA that changed the game forever. He was the first hall of fame caliber point guard to play as a scorer first, as many people expect the point guard to always be pass first and focus on setting up their teammates.

His affect on the league has made LeBron James and others say he is pound for pound one of the best players to ever play his position and the game. Nuggets point guard Jameer Nelson is the most latest, as he wrote the following in The Players’ Tribune.

To me, Iverson was pound-for-pound the best guard of his era. No one competed harder than he did. As a teenager in the Philadelphia area, I watched him night after night. I kept hearing stories of how banged up he would get. People would literally beg him to take a night off, but being who he was and how big his heart was, he still played. Iverson left it all out on the hardwood every time.

He is right on that. Iverson competed harder then most during his time, and if you look at point guards to day, which Nelson notes in his article, most of them are score first guards. Iverson was the first to bring that to the NBA, starting a new era for guards.

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