Shaquille O’Neal was there. So were Yao Ming, Tom Izzo and Sheryl Swoopes. Essentially a practice for Sept. 10’s Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech, Sept. 9 was the day for the future Hall of Famers’ Press Conference.
Allen Iverson’s chair remained vacant.
Apparently, A.I. had missed his initial flight to Springfield, Massachusetts, but I’d like to think that this was the final exclamation point on his eminent 2002 speech. Iverson had always hated practice; it seemed only right that he would show up late to his final one.
It’s easy to overlook Iverson, both in stature and play. As a 6-foot point guard, Iverson was almost always the shortest on the court.
The 2001 NBA’s Most Valuable Player never won a title. He bounced around the league after his ten years in Philadelphia.
He was never a pure point guard, nor was he a pure shooting guard. In fact, we still don’t know what he was. .
A.I. is perhaps the most polarizing player in NBA history, and I loved him for it.
There are two reasons I got into basketball. The first is because I always wanted to play, even if I had to wear rec-specs along the way. The second is because I always wanted to watch Iverson.
No one made basketball more fun and entertaining than A.I. Every crossover, ankle-breaker and fearless drive into the land of giants became must-watch television.
After being drafted in 1996, Iverson won the scoring title in 1998-99, and again in 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2004-05. His playoff career scoring average of 29.7 points per game is second of all time to Michael Jordan.
Without Iverson, there’s no way we would currently have point guards who look to score first. A.I. was the trendsetter in a league full of trendsetters.
With all of his accomplishments on the court, Iverson’s lasting impact is probably best found off of it.
In a write-up about Iverson’s career, Bethlehem Shoals truly isolated what made the Sixers’ leader so important.
“At the risk of sounding corny, he made it OK for players to be themselves, a form of empowerment that directly fueled say, LeBron James’ insistence on exerting control over all aspects of his career in every situation imaginable,” Shoals wrote. “Oh, and lest we forget, James is covered in ink and nobody even blinked an eye at it. Different as the two may be basketball-wise (and as public figures), you can draw a direct connection between Iverson and LeBron.”
At Allen Iverson’s Hall of Fame Speech on Sept. 10, A.I. spoke about many things: “The Chapelle Show,” Jadakiss, his love for his teammates and coaches, and his dedication to basketball. He choked up throughout his speech, and the emotion in the room was palpable.
A.I. may have been late for the Hall of Fame “practice,” but he definitely showed up when it counted ... his career in a nutshell.
gigottfr@umail.iu.edu
