ALLEN IVERSON
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Life is a metaphor. Sometimes for the good. Sometimes for the bad. But how would you like to own one of the slickest moves in the history of the game, the crossover, yet the moves you’re most renowned for are those that earned you the reputation of street slick hoodrat and thug? Such is the well-chronicled cross over from boyhood to manhood of Allen Ezail Iverson aka The Answer.
Allen Iverson (aka A.I.) is widely considered one of the most prolific scorers in the history of the NBA. His career average of 27.8 points per contest is third all-time behind only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Iverson’s trademark crossover is regarded as the best the game has ever seen (others would argue Tim Hardaway’s), making him a difficult cover for any defender in one-on-one situations. Iverson is also known for his ability to draw fouls, having the ability to seemingly get to the free-throw line at will. As a result, he is consistently listed among league leaders in free throws attempted, and in free throw percentage. On defense, Iverson is known for over-playing the passing lanes, making him a skilled ball-thief as well. He regularly ranks among league leaders in steals, averaging over 2.5 per game for his career. At only six feet tall, Iverson’s versatility – driving to the basket, drawing fouls, shooting from outside, and creating his own shot off of the dribble – has made him one of the most dominant small men in NBA history.
In high school, Iverson was a standout, multi-sport athlete. As a junior, he quarterbacked Bethel High School’s football team to the state championship. Unfortunately, Iverson was also rumored to be a thug who associated with the wrong crowd. After allegedly assaulting a young women in a bowling alley with a chair, Iverson caught a case, leaving him with a criminal record.* Nonetheless, Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson took a chance on him by offering him a scholarship in 1994. But he made it expressly clear to the immature Iverson, I won’t hesitate to send you back to Hampton if you fail to comply with my rules and the University’s strict honor code.
As a Hoya, Iverson won two Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards, a Rookie Tournament 1st Team honor, and a gold medal for his win at the World University Games in Japan in 1995. Iverson led all USA players in scoring and assists, averaging 16.7 ppg. and 6.1 apg. However, because his family situation was deteriorating financially, Iverson decided to turn pro. After only two years at Georgetown, Iverson was the first of just two basketball players (Victor Page being the other) to leave Georgetown early for the NBA under Thompson. Nonetheless, Iverson left the Hoyas as the program’s all-time leading scorer.
Iverson was selected first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1996 NBA Draft, and he quickly established himself as one of the premier point guards in the NBA. He also gained a reputation as a ticket-seller, helping fill the Sixers’ arena night in and night out. After a phenomenal rookie campaign, he was named the 1996 Rookie of the Year, as well as All-Rookie First Team.
Despite his play on the court, Iverson often experienced difficulty handling the media amid the pressure of his new celebrity status. He was criticized by players, coaches, and the press alike as having a general lack of respect for the greats of the game, and for being a ball hog. He also endured scrutiny from the league office, which was concerned with the excessive attention he garnered as a result of his thug persona, which included cornrows and a growing number of tattoos on his body. To make matters worse, his scoring dropped from 23.5 in the 1996-97 season to 22 in 1997-98.
In 1998-99, Iverson earned his first trip to the playoffs, starting all ten playoff games and averaging 44.4 minutes per game despite being hampered by a number of nagging injuries. To his credit, he led the Sixers to an upset over the higher seeded Orlando Magic, before losing to a veteran laden Indiana Pacers squad. That year, he averaged 26.8 points, earning his first scoring title.
The next year, Iverson averaged 28.4 points and once again led the 76ers to the playoffs. This time, Iverson averaged 26.2 points, 4.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.30 steals per game, with a high of 40 points in the first round opener over Charlotte. That season, he was the only player other than Shaquille O’Neal to receive an MVP vote. However, the Sixers were once again eliminated by the Indiana Pacers.
Iverson arguably had his best season in 2001 when he led the Sixers to victories in the team’s first ten games. He was also voted a starter and won All-Star MVP honors. The Sixers went on to post a 56-26 record, which was best in the Eastern Conference. He also averaged a then-career high 31.1 points, helping him earn his second NBA scoring title. For his efforts, Iverson was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player.
Redemption was also at hand, as in the playoffs Iverson and the Sixers defeated the Indiana Pacers in the first round, before meeting the Vince Carter-led Toronto Raptors in a tightly contested 7-game series in the Eastern Semis. In the Conference Finals, the Sixers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, also in seven games, to advance to the 2001 NBA Finals against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. Iverson scored a playoff high 48 in Game 1, which the Sixers won, but the Lakers won the next 4 games en route to the title. It marked the high point of Iverson’s time in Philadelphia.
After the defeat, Iverson’s Sixers would never again enjoy the success of the 2000-01 season. The next season Iverson again won the scoring title averaging 31.4 points, but the Sixers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the first time in Iverson’s career.
For most of the early portion of Iverson’s career, his head coach with the Sixers was Larry Brown. Iverson often praised Brown, saying that he would not have achieved so much in the sport without Brown’s guidance. However, Iverson reportedly had a love-hate relationship with Brown and the two frequently clashed, most famously after the 76ers were defeated in the first round of the 2002 NBA Playoffs. Brown criticized Iverson for missing team practices and Iverson defended himself with what would become a famous and oft-quoted monologue which some observers felt indicated a lack of appreciation by Iverson for the importance of practice. Said Iverson on May 8, 2002:
If Coach tells you that I missed practice, then that’s that. I may have missed one practice this year but if somebody says he missed one practice of all the practices this year, then that’s enough to get a whole lot started. I told Coach Brown that you don’t have to give the people of Philadelphia a reason to think about trading me or anything like that. If you trade somebody, you trade them to make the team better…simple as that. I’m cool with that. I’m all about that. The people in Philadelphia deserve to have a winner. It’s simple as that. It goes further than that … If I can’t practice, I can’t practice. It is as simple as that. It ain’t about that at all. It’s easy to sum it up if you’re just talking about practice. We’re sitting here, and I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re talking about practice. I mean listen, we’re sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we’re talking about practice. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last but we’re talking about practice man. How silly is that? … Now I know that I’m supposed to lead by example and all that but I’m not shoving that aside like it don’t mean anything. I know it’s important, I honestly do but we’re talking about practice. We’re talking about practice man. We’re talking about practice. We’re talking about practice. We’re not talking about the game. We’re talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you’ve seen me play right, you’ve seen me give everything I’ve got, but we’re talking about practice right now. … Hey I hear you, it’s funny to me too, hey it’s strange to me too but we’re talking about practice man, we’re not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we’re talking about practice … How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?
Nonetheless, when Brown left the 76ers in 2003, both he and Iverson indicated that the two were on good terms and genuinely fond of one another. As evidence, when Iverson went down and didn’t get up during a playoff game against Brown’s Pistons, Brown was the first man at Iverson’s side. Iverson later reunited with Brown as a member and co-captain of the 2004 United States Olympic men’s basketball team.
Iverson helped lead the USA to a 10-0 record, the gold medal, and a qualifying berth in the 2004 Olympics at the FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico. He started all eight games he played in, averaging a team second best 14.3 ppg., 3.8 apg., 2.5 rpg., 1.6 spg., while shooting 56.2 percent (41-73 FGs) from the field and 53.6 percent (15-28 3pt FGs) from 3-point and 81.0 percent (17-21 FTs) from the foul line.
In the USA’s 111-71 victory over Canada on August 25, Iverson accounted for an USA Olympic Qualifying single game record 28 points and made a single game record seven 3-pointers. All seven of his 3-point field goals were made during the final 7:41 of the third quarter. Iverson finished the tournament tied for 10th in scoring, tied for fourth in steals, fifth in 3-point percentage, tied for seventh in assists, and ninth in field goal percentage (.562). Unfortunately, Iverson missed the team’s final two games due to a sprained right thumb which he suffered in the first half of the Puerto Rico game.
The team’s performance at the 2004 Olympic Games, however, was a major disappointment for the Team USA program. During the exhibition period prior to the Games, Iverson and LeBron James were benched for a game for arriving late to a practice session. Team USA had played a dismal game versus Germany, which failed to qualify for the Olympics. And although Iverson won the game on a miraculous half-court shot in the closing seconds, the team continued to struggle. After being humiliated by Puerto Rico in round robin play, Team USA went on to win the bronze medal, falling well short of program expectations.
Soon after, the wheels came off Iverson’s stay in Philadelphia, starting with April 18, 2006, when Iverson and teammate Chris Webber arrived just before tip-off to the Sixers’ fan appreciation night and home game finale. Coach Maurice Cheeks notified the media that neither would be playing and general manager Billy King announced that Iverson and Webber would be fined.
Six months later, on November 29, 2006, following a conflict at practice, Iverson stormed out of the gymnasium. That same evening, he missed a corporate sponsor night at Lucky Strike Lanes in Philadelphia. All Sixers besides Iverson attended the mandatory event. Claiming to have overslept, Iverson was again fined an undisclosed amount by the 76ers.
On December 8, Iverson reportedly demanded a trade from the Sixers. As a result of the demand and a missed practice prior to a matchup against the Washington Wizards, Iverson was told not to play nor attend any further games.
On December 19, the Philadelphia 76ers sent Iverson and forward Ivan McFarlin to the Denver Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first-round picks in the 2007 NBA Draft. Since joining the Nuggets, Iverson has been a model citizen, if not a model of consistency as a basketball player, leading those who know him best to exclaim, “The boy has finally become a man.”
Iverson currently ranks third all-time in points per game. He has averaged 27.9 points per game in his career, trailing all-time leader Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain in this category by only 2.2 points per game. Iverson is one of only 30 players in NBA history to score over 20,000 points in his career, and he was the 6th fastest in the history of the game to achieve this feat.
As a testament to his loyal fan base, and despite switching conferences, Iverson was voted a starter in the 2008 NBA All-Star game in New Orleans, LA.
Today, there are many who admire A.I for the sheer way he plays the game, not just for his prolific scoring but for the way he scores. No one over the course of a career has taken more punishment than Iverson. The fact that he hasn’t missed more games is amazing given his small stature and style of play on both ends of the floor.
His contributions as a player and as a cultural icon cannot be understated. His impact on the game and this generation is far more positive than most give him credit for. Despite his faults and foibles, many see him as a man of steady growth, and a metaphor of change.
NBA SUMMARY
|
G |
FG% |
3PFG% |
FT% |
Rebs |
RPG |
Asts |
APG |
Stls |
Blks |
Pts |
PPG |
|
810 |
.425 |
.312 |
.780 |
3,096 |
3.8 |
5,097 |
6.3 |
1,839 |
153 |
22,516 |
27.8 |
Full Name: Allen Ezail Iverson
Born: 6/7/75 in Hampton, VA
High School: Bethel High School, Hampton, VA
College: Georgetown
Drafted: Philadelphia (1st Overall), 1996
Transactions: Philadelphia 76ers (1996-2006)
Nickname: A.I., The Answer
Height: 6-0; Weight: 165 lbs.
Honors: NBA Rookie of the Year (1997), All-Star Rookie Game Most Valuable Player (1997), All Rookie First Team (1997), NBA Most Valuable Player (2001), 2-time NBA All-Star, Game MVP (2001, 2005), 3-time All NBA First Team Selection, 3-time All NBA Second Team Selection, 9-time NBA All-Star.
* [Years later Iverson's record resulting for the bowling alley incident was overturned.].
Commentary in green print provided by Burger21.
References:
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Iverson
NBA.com - http://www.nba.com/playerfile/allen_iverson/
Basketball-Reference.com - http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/iversal01.html
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All Rights Reserved.
There are few people who can lay claim to being a greater admirer of AI than am I. It’s not just his prolific scoring; but the WAY in which he scores. No one over the course of a career has taken more punishment in going strong to the rim than has he, yet he still is plugging away on a HOF career. The fact that he has not missed more games over his career is amazing to me given his style play on both ends of the floor. I was never a huge Georgetown fan but I had to see every game he played from college through today. He is one of very few who makes me feel that way. One of the greatest highlight reels on YouTube! is of his many dunks ON people during his early years; and his lethal crossover was and remains the most devastating handle ever brought to the L by any guard.
His contributions as a player and as a cultural figure cannot be understated. His impact on the game and this generation is far more positive in my eyes than most will give him credit for. I am not blind to his faults and his errors along the way, but I do see him as a man of steady growth. May it be so for all of us – many of whom have condemned him through our own self righteousness.
Left by burger on March 12th, 2008