Former National Basketball Association guard Allen Iverson is ready to officially put his basketball career to rest. After two years in college at Georgetown University, Iverson opted for the NBA Draft as he was the first overall pick in 1996 by the Philadelphia 76ers. By 1999, Iverson helped the Sixers reach the playoffs for the first time since 1991. Along the way Iverson clashed with former Sixers head coach Larry Brown. After the 1999-2000 season, Brown threatened to trade Iverson to the Los Angeles Clippers, but cooler heads prevailed. Iverson returned for the 2000-2001 season with a vengeance. Iverson led the NBA in scoring that season at 31.1 points per game. Iverson would also earn the NBA’s MVP award that year as he led the 76ers to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1983. Philadelphia would go on to lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the 2001 NBA Finals that year as Iverson would never step onto the championship stage again.
With 24,368 career points Iverson will finish his career as the 19th leading scorer in NBA history. Iverson is originally from Hampton, Virginia, but he is world renown which is highlighted by him exciting people in Washington D.C. while at Georgetown and the city of Philadelphia embraced him as one of their own; not to mention that wherever Iverson stepped onto the basketball court it was always a show.
One of the things that separated Iverson from others was that he had style. As Michael Jordan was to the bald head, Iverson was to the corn rows. When these two NBA icons met for the first time in Iverson’s rookie season, the kid from Georgetown did the impossible; he made Jordan look human. Iverson hit Jordan with his signature crossover (twice) before hitting the jump shot on Jordan which was unheard of.
Iverson’s style earned him a lucrative endorsement deal with Reebok for the Question and Answer sneaker series. Iverson also unbraided his hair to do his signature photo for SLAM Magazine. Iverson’s street credibility was never questioned, but for all of his accolades some will still pose the question of what could have been?
Iverson was a shooting guard that was trapped inside a point guard’s body and for his career, Iverson averaged 6.2 assists per game, but he never made the players around him better.
Iverson was a four-time NBA scoring champion and he had four seasons in which he averaged more than 30 points per game. Along with being a one-time NBA MVP, Iverson was the NBA Rookie of The Year in 1997, a two-time NBA All-Star Game MVP, three-time NBA All-First Team, 11-time NBA All-Star, and he led the NBA in steals on three occasions. Iverson was worth the price of admission and he was a fantasy basketball owner’s dream as he would fill up the stats sheet in the regular season, but with the exception of 2001, he could never get his team over the hump in the playoffs.
Iverson was a star on the court, but he wasn’t always a leader off of it. Aside from clashes with Brown, Iverson also bumped heads with former Sixers head coach Jim O’Brien. O’Brien wanted a team practice after the NBA’s All-Star break in 2003, but Iverson wasn’t on board with the idea. Iverson went on a rant at his press conference where he famously denounced “practice”.
Iverson’s antics in Philadelphia had finally gotten old and former 76ers general manger Billy King traded Iverson to the Denver Nuggets in 2006. Iverson would put up big numbers in Denver as he would team with forward Carmelo Anthony, but the Nuggets wouldn’t make it out of the first round of the NBA Playoffs until 2009 when they sent Iverson to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for point guard Chauncey Billups.
After the 2008-2009 season, Iverson would sign with the Memphis Grizzlies after turning down an offer to join the Lakers. After just three games, the honeymoon was over and Iverson had left the building in Memphis. Iverson chose not to sign with the Lakers for the same reason why things didn’t work out with the Grizzlies. Iverson simply couldn’t face the fact that he was no longer the man. Iverson was asked to come off of the bench, but at 34-years of age he still wanted to be the man. Iverson ultimately returned to the 76ers to play the final 25 games of his NBA career as he averaged 13.9 points per game in his final NBA season.
Iverson’s professional basketball career continued in 2010 as he played for Besiktas of the Turkish Basketball League, but injuries caught up to Iverson after just ten games.
Iverson nearly hit rock bottom in 2010 as published reports surfaced of Iverson’s gambling and alcohol problems.
Iverson left everything that he had on the basketball court as he would play through aches and pains and he always played bigger than his actual size. Iverson was never afraid to mix it up in the paint with the big men. Iverson was never afraid to dive for a loose ball as well. When Iverson was on the basketball court, it might have been his escape from reality. One thing is for sure that it will be a long time before we see another basketball player like Iverson who kept us on the edge of our seats and it won’t be long before the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame comes calling for the native of Hampton.
Source:Basketball-reference.com
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