Allen Iverson blog

Sixers surprised A.I. is overseas

2010-11-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

"It wasn't surprising to Allen Iverson's former Sixers teammates that he's playing basketball again.
It was surprising to them, however, that he had to go to Turkey to do it.
Iverson announced Friday in a press conference in New York City that he will join the Turkish team Beskitas, signing a two-year contract worth $4 million.
"I was surprised," Sixers guard Lou Williams said. "But he wanted to play. He's a competitor. He showed that by returning. I just wish him well."
Williams said he was also surprised that no other NBA team would take a chance on the 11-time All-Star, who has scored more than 24,000 points in his NBA career which began with the Sixers in 1996 when he was the first overall draft pick.
"The guy had a great career," Williams said. "I'm kind of surprised that every team in the league didn't think that he could help at all."
Iverson spent his first 10 1/2 seasons with the Sixers. Then he returned last December after Memphis had waived him and Iverson had retired briefly. He wasn't nearly as effective in his second go-around with the Sixers, averaging just 13.9 points per game, by far the lowest of his career.
He took two leaves of absences during the season to deal with family issues that turned out to be a daughter with an undisclosed illness and eventually a divorce from his wife.
Throughout the summer, Iverson had hoped that another NBA team would offer him a contract this season.
None did.
Now he's hoping to work his way back to the NBA.
"Let's hope that maybe him going over there will show that he's good enough to play, that he's got something in the tank, and it'll open up another opportunity here," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "I just want him to be happy. At the end of the day, there's nothing like peace of mind."
Williams said Iverson still has enough left to warrant another chance in the NBA.
"He definitely can still play and he'll show that over there," Williams said. "Who knows what his opportunity will be like after that?""

Allen Iverson to sign with Besiktas on weekend

2010-10-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

The president of Turkey's Besiktas basketball team says he has a verbal agreement to sign a $2 million contract with former NBA most valuable player Allen Iverson.
"I'm going to New York on Friday," said Seref Yalcin, the president of the Besiktas basketball team. "I talked to Allan and his manager yesterday, Gary Moore. He said there's no problem; he's able to sign. Friday, I'll be there, and we'll probably sign Sunday. And Monday, I'll bring him with me."
Yalcin said he was offering the former NBA star $1.5 million in addition to a half-million dollar signing bonus for a two-year contract.
"This is a major advertisement for Turkish basketball. Besiktas' value as a brand has increased. Everyone is talking about this and Besiktas," Yalcin said.
The Besiktas president predicted that Iverson would take his team to the top of Turkey's Champions League.
"He's going to bring lots of fans into our arena," Yalcin said. "If he plays with even 50 percent of his NBA capacity, that will be enough. This will also be good for Turkish basketball in general since he will inspire the youngsters here."
Yalcin said he has offered Iverson housing, transport, school for his five children and an assistant/translator who will be on call 24 hours a day to help the American athlete operate in Turkey's sprawling commercial capital.
Yalcin predicted that Iverson would be able to play with Besiktas in a game scheduled for November 7.
The Turkish basketball season has just begun, and Besiktas has a record of one win and one loss.

Iverson joined the NBA in 1996 and played 10 seasons in Philadelphia before moving among Denver, Detroit, Memphis and Philadelphia again.

Allen Iverson might be headed to China

2010-09-18T03:58:00.000-07:00

Allen Iverson 2009-10 season didn't go quite as he planned. After three games coming off the bench with the Grizzlies, he decided he hated coming off the bench for the Grizzlies and left the team. Then — afterAI's brief retirement — because they're suckers for nostalgia, the 76ers brought Iverson back for a 25-game stint that ended with Iverson leaving the team to address his 4-year-old daughter's health problems. A divorce and allegations that Iverson was gambling and drinking excessively followed. All in all, not a great few months for one of the NBA's biggest stars of the past decade.

This past July, Iverson Tweeted that he wants to "return to the NBA this season" and that he "[owes his] fans more than what they have seen of [him] the last couple seasons." Plus, his "family is rock solid and healthy" and he can "concentrate fully on what [he does] best." That's a quote festival, but it basically addresses everything that was troubling Iverson during last season.

Unfortunately for the Answer, there aren't a lot of NBA teams dying to sign a shoot-first 35-year-old who is going to complain about his role on the team if he's not happy. But that doesn't mean he can't get back to playing basketball professionally. There are good leagues all over the globe and new reportsvshed a little light on Iverson's possible plans.

"Allen Iverson could continue his career in China. The 35-year-old guard is in talks with Foshan (the new name of Shaanxi) for the next season, according to sources from the Chinese team. Iverson, still a free agent after not signing a contract with any NBA team, would have a "strong desire" to play in the CBA."

Hey, if there's a place that scoring guards can succeed both on the court and away from it, it's China. As Stephon Marbury has shown us, Chinese basketball for super-quick ball-handlers is all 3-pointers, alley-hoops and shoe franchises. And if Stephon Marbury can be an outrageous success, then so can a lot of other people.

Of course, there remains a month and a half before the NBA season tips and some teams might still be convinced that Iverson has some floaters left in the tank (gross metaphor). Plus, they always seem to be drawn to Iverson's ability to lure customers to the ticket booths, so there's a chance he could get a non-guaranteed veteran's minimum deal somewhere. But, at the very least, it looks like Allen Iverson is going to have a basketball job this season. For a guy who's had a pretty rough year, that's good news.

Time to release Iverson?

2009-12-28T03:36:00.000-08:00

Sixers should consider move for benefit of team.
When the 76ers signed Allen Iverson earlier this month, they said it was strictly a "basketball decision," thrust upon them because point guard Lou Williams was going to miss eight weeks with a fractured jaw.

Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski said the team needed someone to replace Williams' scoring, and Iverson was by far the best player out there.

Stefanski said that was the only reason why he changed his stance from last summer, when he had no interest in Iverson, who was a free agent at the time.

So why is Iverson still on the Sixers? They signed him to a nonguaranteed contract, which means they can release him anytime before Jan. 10 without his contract being guaranteed for the rest of the season.

The Sixers have an "out" to save themselves a few hundred thousand dollars. So if Stefanski felt he didn't need Iverson last summer, then surely he doesn't need a broken-down version of him now.

There should be no hard feelings. To his credit, Iverson has been a good soldier. But the Sixers haven't really benefited from his presence. And now that Williams, who was supposed to be out until mid-January, and forward Marreese Speights are back from their injuries, they don't really need him anymore.

The Sixers are 1-4 in the five games Iverson played in. His averages of 15.6 points and 4.2 assists per game are by far the worst of his 14-year career.

That was before he missed the past four games with an arthritic left knee, and he might miss even more. This came after he played through a stress reaction in his lower right leg.

Iverson blamed that on being out of shape following a month-long retirement.

He's not going to be in shape anytime soon now that he'll miss close to two weeks.

Iverson hasn't helped at the box office, either, which Stefanski denied as a motivation for signing him. Iverson's first home game was a sellout. Since then, the Sixers' attendance went back to its previous levels.

The Sixers came close to selling out a game Dec. 16. But that was because LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were the opponents.

Knicks curious about Iverson

2009-11-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

During the summer, the Knicks showed no interest in Allen Iverson when he was a free agent. But after the Knicks' franchise-worst 1-9 start, team president Donnie Walsh told The Post yesterday he will look into the possibility of signing Iverson and investigate why he divorced from Memphis.

In what was called a mutual agreement, the Grizzlies announced yesterday they have ended their one-year contract with the 10-time All-Star and former league MVP. Iverson complained about his playing time and a lack of a starting role before leaving the Grizzlies for personal reasons.

"Because of personal matters that forced him to leave the team on Nov. 7, Allen will step away from the game at this time, allowing him to focus on those matters," Memphis GM Chris Wallace said in a statement.

Memphis, off to an 2-8 start, will waive Iverson, who would become a free agent after 48 hours.

Walsh will do his due diligence and "check it out," but it seems a long shot the Knicks will make a move on the volatile guard, who carries excess baggage. During the summer, Walsh also investigated signing point guards Jamal Tinsley, Jason Williams and Ramon Sessions -- and balked.

But with a roster lacking talent, it's hard to blame Walsh for at least looking into an Iverson signing, especially because the guard's agent is Leon Rose, who also represents LeBron James.

Though Iverson has been a headache at almost all his stops and is the type of personality Knicks coach Mike d'Antoni detests, he could be a major gate attraction for a team fast becoming irrelevant.

The Knicks are curious enough not to shut any doors. Over the summer, Iverson referred to the Knicks as a potential suitor, though Walsh had no interest then. But that was before Chris Duhon began the season in disastrous fashion.

Walsh told The Post on Sunday that he was unhappy with the way the Knicks were executing their fast-break offense, feeling the players weren't running "full out." Iverson could help in that department.

If Iverson doesn't retire, he likely would be amenable to a one-year contract and would have no effect on the Knicks' plans following this season, when they hope to land a big-name free agent.

The 34-year-old guard began an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a personal issue after playing only three games, all in California.

Few NBA teams had shown interest in Iverson before Memphis signed him to a one-year, incentive-laden contract on Sept. 10.

Iverson didn't help himself much during his short stint with his fourth NBA team. He missed the preseason with a partially torn left hamstring and didn't debut until Nov. 2 at Sacramento.

Immediately, Iverson began talking about his distaste for coming off the bench and being on a rebuilding team filled with youth, from Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo to recent draft picks Hasheem Thabeet and DeMarre Carroll.

Allen Iverson no longer the "Answer", but a question mark?

2009-11-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

How does it happen? One day you're a beloved, iconic figure, playing in a city where you were once the star of stars in the NBA All-Star Game, literally the answer to a team's basketball and box-office woes.

The next day you're shipped to a place where the whispers began almost as soon as you got off the plane. Where you weren't an exclamation point, but rather a question mark — with things deteriorating to the point that, at playoff time, you're simply asked to just go away.

And now, exactly a year later, you're thisclose to being one of the most cringe- worthy phrases in sports — a journeyman — perhaps even lucky to land a deal in Memphis, expected to be one of the most cringe-worthy teams in the league.

Allen Iverson, this is your life.

"I didn't expect this, but then again I never had let my guard down either," Iverson said early Sunday afternoon before the Nuggets' 133-123 victory over the Grizzlies. "I understood that it could happen because it had already happened before.

"Leaving Philadelphia was something that I never thought could happen, but when that happened (Iverson was traded to Denver in 2006 after more than 10 years with the 76ers), I've always thought that anything could happen, so I always prepared myself for the worst."

Walking through the recesses of the Pepsi Center, the 34-year-old admitted he felt "strange," and "different, after being here day in and day out and having some success. There are a lot of memories."

Sunday wasn't the first time Iverson had been back in Denver. In January he scored a team-high 23 points in leading the Detroit Pistons — to whom he was traded for Chauncey Billups — to a 93-90 victory.

But what kind of sardonic sense of humor would it take for the basketball gods — and NBA schedulers — to bring Iverson back to Denver almost exactly one year after he left? To the Pepsi Center, where the team's march without him to last year's Western Conference finals still permeates the air like residue fireworks smoke, a palpable reminder of how, despite some unquestioned excitement, things ultimately didn't work out.

Instead, that January victory against Denver was quite possibly the highlight of Iverson's season. He played only 54 games with the Pistons, eight after the all-star break, and averaged a career-low 17.4 points a game.

Pointing figures at Iverson

But even worse than the raw numbers was how ill-suited Iverson appeared to Detroit.

For years the Pistons had played like a symphony conducted by Billups, who created harmonic movement with Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Throughout his 13 years in the league, Iverson has perhaps been the NBA's foremost jazz soloist.

By the end of the season, the Pistons returned to the playoffs, even though there was little chance they would be a factor. Even so, the team decided it would be better off without Iverson. Citing a back injury, he was left off the playoff roster.

"His style of play, maybe it just didn't work with what we had going on at the time," said Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo, who played with Detroit last season. "But I don't know, man. I think in some ways, Allen was something of a scapegoat for what happened last year. There were a lot of things going on — we had a new coach (Michael Curry); Chauncey had been traded, so we had a new guy at the point (then-rookie Rodney Stuckey).

"There were a lot of different relationships that would have had to jell. It wasn't all his fault, but Allen's always been who he is and so he got the blame, but he's used to that."

Economic fallout effect

As it turned out, Iverson would have to become a lot more accepting. The end of last season also marked the conclusion of a contract that paid him somewhere around $21 million in its final year. With questions about his age and willingness to deal with a lesser role bubbling, Iverson was also entering the free-agent market during what was clearly a looming downturn in NBA finances.

"I think there's an economic atmosphere out there that's against everybody, not only superstars like A.I.," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "That means there's changes about contracts given to 33-, 34-, 35-year-old guys. There's probably a philosophy that they won't sign those guys, just like there are some teams that are near the luxury tax that won't spend a lot of money and go over it."

While there was talk of flirtations with the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats, the start of free agency last July came and went without the phone exactly ringing off the hook — a jarring new reality for a player who had spent more than a decade as part of the NBA elite.

"It probably hurt him a little when you consider the stature that he'd risen to in this league," said Lionel Hollins, coach of the Memphis team that eventually signed Iverson — in September, at a price of just over $3 million for this season. "He's scored 27,000 points, averaged 27 points a game, played 14 years, been a 10-time all-star, all that stuff, and to be treated the way he was treated in free agency probably hurt. I'm sure it would hurt anyone."

While he has yet to play with the Grizzlies because of a partially torn left hamstring, Iverson, says Hollins, has been a vocal leader and is expected to act as a mentor to the team's young guards, Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo.

On Sunday, there were fans at the Pepsi Center eager to send well-wishes his way, but at game time, Iverson remained in the visitors' locker room.

"I think, deep down inside, A.I. likes to play basketball, and he was going to play basketball," Karl said. "Memphis was probably the best opportunity to get minutes and be on the court and lift a team.

"He's still a great competitor; I'm sure he's still going to have some great nights this year. I'm going to be rooting for him for 78 games this year."

Sign-and-trade deal with Gordon could send Iverson to Bulls

2009-07-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

Ben Gordon to the Pistons is a done deal. The method by which he will get there is still under discussion.

CBSSports.com has learned that the Bulls and Pistons may yet revisit Detroit's agreement with Ben Gordon and instead investigate a sign-and-trade that would send Allen Iverson to Chicago.

Discussions have not yet reached the highest levels of both organizations, but the revised look at how Gordon goes from Chicago to Detroit would benefit Gordon and the Bulls. Gordon would get an extra year, and thus more money, by signing with the Bulls and getting traded. The Bulls, who currently are getting nothing for losing him, would get Iverson -- a fading future Hall of Famer who would get to finish his career in a major market as long as he's willing to accept a secondary role.

It's a farfetched scenario, and not everyone involved would be on board -- particularly the Pistons. The major sticking point would be how to sweeten the deal for Detroit, which would only consider such an option if it would provide significant cap savings. The Pistons took themselves out of the 2010 free-agent sweepstakes by agreeing to terms with Gordon and Charlie Villanueva on the first day of the free-agent negotiating period. Those agreements are not binding until July 8, when the league-mandated moratorium is lifted and the league and players association agree on the salary cap and luxury tax for the 2009-10 season.

A person familiar with the situation said the Pistons would flat-out refuse to entertain a sign-and-trade for Gordon unless it provided significant savings. The Bulls, too, may not be eager to do business with Gordon, whose agent did not give the team a chance to match Detroit's offer.

The Bulls also would want to know that Iverson, 34, would be totally committed despite not making the $20 million he's accustomed to and without playing the primary role he enjoyed for his entire career until he was traded to the Pistons forChauncey Billups last season. Iverson did not adapt well to diminished minutes with the Pistons, and late in the season vowed to retire before he would come off another team's bench.

But Iverson apparently is invigorated by the prospect of getting past the Detroit experience. He wrote on his Twitter account Thursday, "For those of you who thought that I was done, think again! ... My only preference will be to play for a coach that knows what I bring to the table and that I am going to bring it every night."

It has been widely speculated that Iverson would land in Charlotte with his former coach, Larry Brown, with whom he had a rocky relationship in Philadelphia. But the two men respect each other, and Brown recently gushed about his time coaching Iverson. Beyond teams with cap space (Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento) who wouldn't be interested in signing a veteran like Iverson, the options for A.I. are limited to sign-and-trades and, more likely, a deal for the mid-level exception or less.

While the sign-and-trade scenario with Detroit is farfetched, Iverson is exploring all options to find one more landing spot in an often tumultuous but Hall of Fame career.

Camby sees Iverson remaining in Denver

2008-06-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

Nuggets center Marcus Camby ran into teammate Allen Iverson on Wednesday. Iverson sure didn't sound like a player about to bolt Denver.
The deadline is today for Iverson to opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent July 1. While there was no word Thursday from the Iverson camp, and a Nuggets executive declined comment, most NBA observers don't expect Iverson to opt out of a deal that would pay him $20.84 million.
"I'm pretty sure he wants to stay," said Camby, speaking at Lucky Strike Lanes in Denver before an event involving his Marcus' Mentors program. "He was talking about us as a team next year and that he's going to be a part of it."
Iverson, 33, continuously has said he wants to remain in Denver. In a May 30 interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Iverson's personal manager, Gary Moore, reiterated that and said his camp has had discussions with Nuggets brass about Iverson possibly signing a multiyear deal.
That would seem to be the only scenario in which Iverson would opt out. The 6-foot guard would become a free agent, then sign a longer deal with the Nuggets.
But no indication surfaced that such an event was about to occur. For that to happen, Iverson would need to take a pay cut for next season, much as Vince Carter did last offseason when he made a similar move with New Jersey.
It is within NBA rules for both sides to agree to extend Iverson's opt-out deadline to as late as June 30, but neither side has spoken publicly about possibly wanting to do that.
Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien declined comment.
"We were talking (Wednesday) about how Boston won the championship and how (the Celtics) were really together as a team," Camby said about his talk with his teammate, in which Iverson didn't specifically mention the deadline to opt out. "We were just talking about how we need to become like that, not just spotty, but on a daily and nightly basis. . . . I hope (Iverson) comes back."
As to whether Camby comes back is another story. Speaking with the News shortly after the season ended, a source said Camby was the Nuggets' most likely big-salary player to be dealt this offseason.
"I've been in the league 12 years, and I heard (rumors) every summer," Camby said. "You deal with it. My stance has always been the same. I love it (in Denver). I don't want to go anywhere, but I always want to be where I'm wanted. Bottom line.
"I still think I'm productive, even at 34. So, like I said, I want to be where I'm wanted."
Camby also has heard trade rumors involving Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony. He has talked with Anthony and doesn't believe the speculation has affected him.
"I hope (Anthony) doesn't go anywhere," Camby said. "He's the franchise. . . . He's our go-to guy. Everything we do revolves around him, especially offensively. He's a great kid. He's going to be a future Hall of Famer. I would like to see him here for a long time."
With questions swirling about what the Nuggets might do this offseason, Camby hopes the team's core remains intact.
"I just hope I'm here, and I hope everyone else is here," Camby said. "We've got a lot of work to do. We got a lot of coming together to do also. But I still feel confident with the roster we have now."
ETC.: A source said the Nuggets are deep in negotiations to play Toronto in an October preseason game in Edmonton, Alberta. . . . With trade rumors heating up leading to the draft Thursday, ESPN reported the Nuggets have discussed sending forward Linas Kleiza and the 20th pick to Memphis for point guard Kyle Lowry and the No. 28 pick. Denver had interest in Lowry before the trade deadline in February.

Iverson's 38 points put away Sixers

2008-01-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Allen Iverson insisted that facing his former teammates was nothing special. Denver Nuggets coach George Karl said before the game that Iverson did not trust his three-point shot. The Sixers vowed after Friday night's 31-point ambush by the Los Angeles Lakers that they would be ready to bounce back against the Nuggets.

Wasn't anybody at the Pepsi Center telling the truth?

Iverson might not have felt it was a special game, but he played with a purpose and certainly looked adequately motivated last night. With Iverson scoring 38 points and adding eight assists, Denver defeated the Sixers, 109-96.

It was the third straight loss for the Sixers (14-20), who ended their six-game road trip with a 2-4 mark. Andre Miller, included in the trade for Iverson, had 22 points and six assists for the Sixers.

"The things he did tonight is what he does, and has been doing it for as many years as he has been in the league," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "What he does is Allen Iverson - and is pretty good."

Before the game, Karl said he believes that Iverson could be a good three-point shooter but that he doesn't trust his shot or work on it.

Iverson laughed when he heard that before the game and then drained three key treys to keep the Sixers at a manageable distance.

After settling for mostly jump shots in the first half, the Sixers started attacking the basket with a purpose in the third quarter. What a difference it made.

They trailed by as many as 15 points in the second quarter and were down by 53-43 at halftime.

After the Sixers tied the score, 62-62, on Miller's jumper with 5 minutes, 9 seconds left in the third, Iverson took over.

He hit consecutive treys and added assists on the next two Nuggets baskets, extending the margin to 72-63.

"I think that helped as far as our momentum and gave us a big boost," Iverson said about the two three-pointers. "I got two good looks."

Maybe Iverson will tell Karl he can shoot the three.

"Once I start saying that, I'll go 0 for 5 or something," Iverson said with a smile. "I will take them when they are given to me."

When the Sixers cut the lead to 88-80 on Willie Green's layup with 7:54 left, Iverson came back with a driving layup and the Nuggets remained in control the rest of the way.

Sixers guard Rodney Carney, who started the first four games on this road trip, was inactive last night. Cheeks said to not read anything into it, but it is hard to ignore.

The coach explained that he wanted another bigger body, so he activated Louis Amundson.

One wonders if Carney's athleticism could have slowed Iverson down just a little. Then again, probably nothing would have worked against a player who appeared on a mission, even though he would not admit it.

The Sixers received their second straight strong effort from first-round pick Thaddeus Young. Coming off a 16-point effort against the Lakers, Young collected 11 points and eight rebounds, and might be earning even more playing time. Center Samuel Dalembert had 10 points and 15 rebounds, while Andre Iguodala scored 14 points but took just 11 shots.

As for the Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony had 23 points and Anthony Carter added 15 assists.

Still, this evening was all about Iverson, who had 15 points in the first quarter. He shot 14 for 25 from the field and 3 for 6 from beyond the arc for the game.

"He got it going early, and any time you get it going early and get in a rhythm and start shooting free throws, it's tough," Miller said. "He got to the foul line, and that opened the game up for him."

And it closed a sour trip for the Sixers.

Iverson regrets bad talkin' bout practice, bad talkin' bout practice

2007-09-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Among the many ways Philly sports fans will remember Allen Iverson's long and tempestuous tenure here is that jaw-dropping May 7, 2002, press conference that turned into a rant about practice.

It's an episode that Iverson now says he regrets.

"It was just being young and definitely immature. I wish it wouldn't have ever happened," he says during an appearance on Fox SportNet's "Best Damn Sports Show Period." The interview, which took place Wednesday, will air tonight. "But you learn from experiences like that . . . I think it sent the wrong message, especially to kids. You can't be a scoring champion and an MVP and an All-Star and all of that without practice . . . I didn't want kids to get the message that you don't need to practice because when you're not practicing, someone else is out there practicing, getting better."

As you no doubt recall, Iverson and coach Larry Brown sniped at each other through a disappointing 2001-02 season that ended with a five-game playoff loss to the Celtics. After being criticized by the coach for, among other things, missing practice, A.I. met with the media. His frustration boiled over into one of the most riveting and entertaining press conferences this town has ever seen in which Iverson was "talkin' about practice" and used the phrase over and over again.

Brown tried to defuse the dustup with an equally memorable press conference the next day.

Iverson played for the Sixers from 1996 until last December, when he was traded to Denver. He tells the "BDSSP" hosts, who include former Eagles quarterback Rodney Peete, that he loved playing here.

"It's a tough town because they love their sports so much," he says. "And they care about it. They're passionate about their sports. And you have to love them for that. I loved every minute of playing for those fans because they cared about it and it meant so much to them."

Iverson returns on March 19

2007-08-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

The NBA's 2007-08 schedule was released on Thursday and you can finally mark your calendars: Allen Iverson and the Denver Nuggets will make their only Wachovia Center appearance at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 19.
The team opens on the road Oct. 31 at defending Atlantic Division champion Toronto. The Sixers' 07-08 home debut -- and the first chance for fans to see first-round picks Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith -- is Nov. 3 against New Jersey at 7 p.m.
The team will play 16 of its first 28 games at the Wachovia Center.

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2007-08-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

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For Iverson, a slow crossover

2007-08-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

A few minutes after 6:30 Friday evening, a polished black Bentley Azure slowed to a stop outside ESPN Zone in the District. Out stepped Allen Iverson, clad in his normal get-up of baggy shorts, a do-rag, a sideways baseball cap, dark shades and plenty of bling. Flanked by his notorious entourage, the Denver Nuggets star sashayed past reporters and fans gathered outside the restaurant and made his way inside to kick off his annual Celebrity Softball Summer Classic weekend.
He was more than an hour late.
Iverson offered no explanation or apology for his tardiness, nor did he want to discuss the decision by a federal jury that called for him to pay $260,000 to a Maryland man his security detail assaulted at the D.C. nightspot Eyebar in 2005.
"We are going to deal with this [ruling]," said Iverson's attorney, Alan Milstein, doing his best to diffuse the situation before his client took the podium. "The judge certainly dismissed any claim that Allen hit anyone. We are hopeful that this thing will be reversed and that justice will be served."
Milstein then asked for questions, and only after a period of awkward silence did Iverson lend his voice.
"Well, this is obviously a good day — even the media want to be positive," said Iverson, sitting with his four children. "I am here to talk about something positive. You want to get something negative out of this situation, the exit is right over there. Positive news sells, too, you know."
Iverson's charity softball event — which took place Saturday at Prince George's Stadium in Bowie and benefited the Allen Iverson Student Athlete Scholarship Fund and the Crossover Foundation — was a sunny spot of good press for a man mired between last week's verdict and another pending suit for a similar late-night fracas at Zanzibar on the Waterfront, also in the District, in 2005.
"We send out press releases and press releases, and you probably never get to hear all of the good things that Allen does," said Gary Moore, president and CEO of Crossover Promotions Inc. and Iverson's longtime mentor. "Allen has always strived to encourage young people to live right and do the right thing."
Iverson has endowed three scholarships and has been working with inner-city youth for a decade in the District, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Denver and his hometown of Hampton, Va.
"I want to give back to these kids," Iverson said. "That's the most important thing to me. As long as the kids get something out of it, I am happy. I want them to learn from me. The mistakes that I've had, the success that I've had, maybe a lot of these kids that look at my life and look at my career won't do some of the things that I did growing up."
Age has worn on the 32-year-old former first pick overall, both on the court and off it. In December, Iverson elected to share the ball with Carmelo Anthony in Denver rather than close out his career as the Philadelphia 76ers' main attraction. The throng of autograph seekers outside ESPN Zone on Friday was considerably smaller than it would have been six years ago, when Iverson led the Sixers to the 2001 NBA Finals as league MVP.
"He's probably my third favorite player behind Carmelo Anthony and Yao Ming," said Ray Herring, a Wizards fan from Haymarket, Va., who added that he wouldn't trade Gilbert Arenas for Iverson. "He's kind of getting up there."
Iverson, who averaged 24.8 points in his diminished role for the Nuggets last season, shared the spotlight even at his own event, with Anthony serving as the marquee name at Saturday's slow-pitch game.
Iverson has been one of sports' most controversial figures since his high school days in Hampton, and the eight–time All-Star's words reflected an aging athlete with many regrets, yet a man comfortable enough in his own skin to continue living life in the same edgy manner as is his custom.
"People know that I make mistakes with my life. I'm not doing the same things I did when I was just coming into the league — I was rich after being poor my whole life, and I made some mistakes," Iverson said. "I got my own four kids. They watch my every move. My 9-year-old, my 12-year-old, they can read the paper. They know what's going on when my face flashes across the TV. So I think about them with the decisions I make."
It seems Iverson is more comfortable playing the cautionary tale than the role model. Even though the melee at Eyebar came during the weekend of his softball tournament two summers ago, there was plenty of clubbing left on this weekend's itinerary. Following Friday's media dinner, Iverson's entourage headed off to a party at Love nightclub in Northeast. Saturday evening featured an official postgame party at Broadwater Mansion in Upper Marlboro, and the festivities wound down yesterday with a finale at K Street Lounge.
"Nothing happened at Eyebar, so we have no concern that anything is going to happen at any of these events," Milstein said when asked whether the group had considered scaling back on the weekend's nightlife aspect after Monday's ruling. "We are certain that everybody will be acting responsibly."
The roster for Saturday's game was littered with celebrities noted more for their controversial behavior than their charitable efforts. Along with Anthony — who was suspended 15 games last season for punching New York Knicks guard Mardy Collins — the lineup included Nuggets teammate DerMarr Johnson, recently charged with resisting arrest after he was tasered by police outside a Denver nightclub last month, and rapper Method Man, who was charged with marijuana possession after a May 17 traffic stop in New York.
Golden State Warriors forward Stephen Jackson — suspended this week by NBA commissioner David Stern after he pleaded guilty to criminal recklessness — was scheduled to play but canceled.
After Iverson, who turned pro following his sophomore season at Georgetown, spent the good part of 15 minutes talking about the importance of education, a reporter asked whether the former Hoyas star planned on returning to get his degree upon retirement.
While Moore first said Iverson was "absolutely going to finish his education at Georgetown," Iverson himself didn't seem so sure.
"I want to fish," said Iverson, drawing laughs from the members of the media. "No, honestly, I want to be a professional fisherman. That's all I want to concentrate on after it's all over."
The inconsistencies are fitting for a man who has spent his career being a contradiction. While he plays every game of the grueling NBA season as if it were Game 7 of the finals, he also is notorious for his lackluster effort in practice. He is the team-first point guard who has won four NBA scoring championships. He has the wispy goatee and the ghoulish tattoos of a hardened, aging man but the skinny legs of a second grader and the biceps of a boy scout.
"I want these kids' lives to be more successful than mine," Iverson said before being whisked away for a private interview. "I've always said I don't want nobody to be the next Allen Iverson. I want them to be the next them. I want them to be better than Allen Iverson."

New A.I.? Assists increase

2007-05-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

We have a tough question for The Answer: At age 31, can Allen Iverson ever learn to trust his teammates enough to give up the rock?
What I love about Iverson is what gives the Nuggets a chance to win a championship so long as he wears a Denver uniform. While critics cannot get past the tattoo ink, what drips from his every pore is a passion for basketball.
It pains Iverson to lose. He is proud. Defiant. Self-reliant to a fault.
Given yet another disappointing first-round exit from the NBA playoffs, would the Nuggets make their expensive trade for Iverson again?
Yes, in a heartbeat.
Can A.I. and forward Carmelo Anthony not only play together, but win it all together?
That depends. On Iverson.
"It was a big adjustment for me, too," Iverson told me early in Denver's series against San Antonio, finally admitting that putting two superstars on the same team was far from as easy as announcing the Nuggets' starting lineup.
I had told A.I. that shortly after his trade to Denver, the word on the NBA street was the Nuggets would adore Iverson as a teammate, but his need to dominate the basketball would demand Anthony to change his game so drastically that the adjustment period was bound to be rocky.
Iverson looked at me intently, considered the theory seriously and offered a confession that goes to the basic question of whether the Nuggets can ever make a deep playoff run.
As much as he genuinely appreciates the talent on Denver's roster, Iverson admitted, he had been the lone reliable scorer in Philadelphia for so long that it was a huge challenge to place his trust and basketball in somebody else's hands when the pressure was on.
"I told A.I." injured Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin declared the other day, "that when I get back on the court next season, his assists will go up by four a game."
Let's hope it's true.
Because the tougher the going got in the series against San Antonio, the more Iverson dribbled. And dribbled. And dribbled.
With Spurs defender Bruce Bowen in hot pursuit, Iverson would zig and zag across the floor without rhyme or reason, the way a frightened garter snake slithers when being chased by a dog across the yard.
Asked if he could ever predict where Iverson was going with the ball, Nuggets center Marcus Camby once joked that A.I. himself doesn't know, so how could anybody else?
You or Denver coach George Karl can blame J.R. Smith for this postseason disappointment, if you want.
But, as much as I dig Iverson, a far more crucial reason the Nuggets lost to San Antonio is because A.I. made a sad 36.8 percent of his field-goal attempts, the worst performance of his playoff career.
The more pressure San Antonio put on Iverson, the less he trusted his teammates.
Old habits die hard.
At a salary of $19 million next season, Iverson will either make Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke dig deep in his wallet or force team management to contemplate difficult personnel moves involving the Denver core.
Trading Camby, for example, must be seriously considered, because as the league's defensive player of the year, his market value is unlikely to be this high again.
Considering Camby is 33 years old and has a history of injury, the Nuggets would be foolish to wait long to move him, if they seek a veteran shooter or would like to explore a draft-day trade with a salary cap-rich team for a young point guard or center.
How far the Nuggets ultimately go will depend on them looking to Anthony, whose embarrassing suspension and tough chiding from Karl only caused him to grow in stature as a star.
Where does Iverson fit in this picture?
I see A.I. as a new Denver sports icon with much in common with where Broncos quarterback John Elway found himself shortly after turning 30.
Long depended on to do too much, Elway never wore a championship smile until he discovered that doing less could actually be worth more to his team.
Although Iverson celebrates his 32nd birthday next month, he shows no signs of slowing down. As Nuggets executive Rex Chapman recently suggested, the veteran guard is so wiry, like barbed wire, that nobody will want to mess with A.I., even when he's gray and 50 years old.
So there's plenty of time remaining for Iverson to get back to the NBA Finals. But, deep down, does A.I. really have the faith that his fellow Nuggets can take him there?
For The Answer, it's a question of trust.

Bad games? Forget it; Iverson already has

2007-04-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

Allen Iverson is up against it.
Botched shots, bungled passes, questionable decisions - the bad plays are coming with distressing predictability for the Nuggets point guard through three NBA playoff games against the San Antonio Spurs.
Fortunately for Iverson and the Nuggets, he doesn't remember them.
Like NFL cornerbacks, Iverson is a natural amnesiac, able to instantly forget gaffes that create self-doubt in less-daring players.
So what if he has made only 27- of-67 shots in three games, blew easy layups in Game 2, missed 13- of-20 shots in Game 3 and finished with only four assists and ignored open teammates?
The mercurial point guard routinely follows bad games with brilliant ones, especially in the playoffs, where his headlong style eventually wears down frazzled defenders.
Or so the Nuggets hope.
"There's no pressure to me," said Iverson, who met with Nuggets coach George Karl on Sunday to review their tactics for Game 4 tonight at the Pepsi Center. "I've been through too many other things in my life way more serious than basketball for me to call this pressure. This is a game, this is fun; you want this kind of pressure in your life.
"I'm not going to guarantee I'm going to play well every night. But I know I'm going to play hard for 48 minutes and after the game I can look in the mirror and feel good about my effort."
No one needs to remind Karl about Iverson's explosiveness. His Milwaukee Bucks held him in check through three quarters of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final in 2001, then Iverson peeled off 26 of his 46 points.
In Game 7, The Answer dropped 44 on the Bucks in a 108- 91 victory.
"I don't have a lot of concerns about A.I. I just trust him and believe in him," Karl said.
"He's a great competitor to have on your side. I know he wants to play better. We talked briefly (Sunday) how we can help each other, what he was thinking on some situations.
"I don't think it's an individual thing. . . . Offensively, I'd like to have a 25-assist game. I'd like to get us making the extra pass a little more."
The Spurs have taken away the Nuggets' fast break, dropping three players into the backcourt, including Robert Horry, whose job is simple: hang out at the three-point line, catch and shoot and then retreat instead of crashing the board.
"When he don't make the shot and they win, (reporters) talk about Tony Parker and (Manu) Ginobili and Tim Duncan," Iverson said.
"But when he makes the shot he's going to get all the praise for it. That just shows you what kind of players his teammates are. He gets that shot because they get so much attention. I miss it, they talk about me missing the shot. If I make it, they talk about me making it. But if I miss the shot, they won't talk about anyone else.
"I'd rather it be like that. I'd rather the pressure be on me. If I could have a chance to take the last shot, I'd rather it be me. But honestly, you gotta be able to trust the guys on your team. If they got a better shot, you gotta trust that guy to make it."
A sore leg has slowed Iverson a bit, yet he led the 76ers to a 3-1 first-round series victory against Charlotte in 2000 despite a broken toe, chipped heel, injured shoulder and inflamed elbow, which is why the Spurs are bracing themselves for another A.I. run.
"He's been doing this his whole career, especially in the playoffs," said Michael Finley of the Spurs.
Added ESPN analyst Bill Walton: "Allen Iverson is one of the greatest players ever. One of the things about greatness is that you let mistakes of yours go. It's a long game and a ton of possessions in an incredibly long career.
"But you (never really forget). Coach (John) Wooden still tells the story of the day he missed a free throw and the other team got the ball and made a half-court shot to win the state championship. At 96, he can still describe every second and every detail of that event."

Melo & The Answer starting to click at right time

2007-03-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

Carmelo Anthony doesn't mind answering the question as much now, because it comes with a resolute - and positive - response.
But he always said that would be the case.
It was the speculation that irked the Nuggets forward. The speculation and the snickers and the cynicism that came when the subject of he and Allen Iverson playing together full time on the same team cropped up.
Three months after Iverson was added to the Nuggets' roster, it's hard to believe that he and Anthony have only played 19 games together. But after Tuesday's win in New Jersey, the Nuggets went somewhere they haven't been in a while with the duo together in the lineup - back over .500.
The Nuggets are 10-9
"It's clicking now," Anthony said.
The difference? Time.
"When you get a tandem like that, it's going to take time," Anthony said. "I had to figure him out; he had to figure me out. The rest of the team had to figure their spots out."
Said Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders: "When you have two guys like that, you just don't all of a sudden play together in two or three weeks. It's going to take a couple of months to get a comfort level."
Each has taken turns deferring to the other, but now it seems they have found common ground. Iverson's initial lack of aggressiveness seemed cured by a big push from Nuggets coach George Karl to be more heavy-handed in the scoring column.
Anthony has been trying to fine-tune his own game at the same time as trying to find some chemistry with Iverson. Questions about Anthony's willingness to rebound, pass and play defense have swirled for the better part of the last month, but some of that has started to subside.
In their 19 games together, Anthony has averaged 27.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists, while shooting 46 percent from the field. Iverson has averaged 24.8 points and 7.5 assists
while shooting 45.2 percent from the field.
Each has taken a hit in their scoring averages. Iverson said he has welcomed not having to carry the load.
"In Philadelphia, we were 7-49 when I scored under 15 points," Iverson said. "That said a lot right there."
Anthony has not hit the 30-point mark near as many times as he did early in the season. He has scored 30 or more points in five of the past 14 games, whereas at the start of the season, Anthony went for 30 or more in 12 of the Nuggets' first 15 games.
He recently lost his lead in the scoring race to Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who used a combined 115 points in two games last weekend to buoy him to the top.
"We're not trying to outshine anybody else," Anthony said.
Karl continues to stress Anthony "committing to play defense" and Iverson "passing the ball and being a scorer" as how the Nuggets, winners of five straight games, will continue to win with the two in the lineup.
Said Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin: "You have Kiki (Vandeweghe) and Alex English play together, and they shared the ball. It can be done. Roles have to be defined, but it can work."

Iverson's technical erased

2007-03-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

The NBA on Monday rescinded a technical foul on Nuggets guard Allen Iverson. That could come in handy down the stretch.
Iverson was assessed what would have been his 11th technical of the season Sunday in Sacramento. Iverson not only saved the $2,500 fine but stays at 10, important because 16 results in a one-game suspension.
NBA spokesman Mark Broussard and Nuggets executive Mark Warkentien did not comment other than to confirm the ruling.
Iverson, after picking up his third foul with 6:25 left in the first quarter, said he said to official Ron Garretson "Oh," then ran to the bench because he knew he "was going to sit down" because of foul trouble.
He wondered if Garretson thought he was "running away and reacting."
"The only reason I'm doing it is I know I'm 100 percent right," Iverson said after Monday's practice about appealing a technical for the first time in his 10-year career.
Iverson was so stunned, he watched the replay at halftime.
Iverson wasn't available after the ruling but indicated earlier he's willing to donate money he got back to charity.

Allen Iverson tatoos

2007-03-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

www.internationalbasketball.com/tattoos-alleniverson.html
www.internationalbasketball.com/tattoos.html www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo/celeb-iverson.htm
www.jungle-life.com/item/555

Allen Iverson high school and NBA jersey

2007-03-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

www.nextag.com/allen-iverson-authentic-jersey/search-html
www.nextag.com/allen-iverson-jersey-youth/search-html
www.hoopsvibe.com/jerseys/nba-jerseys/allen-iverson-jersey-ar20122.html
www.fanzz.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=647
www.bizrate.com/nbashop/products__keyword--allen+iverson+jersey.html
www.tradekey.com/ks-allen-iverson-jersey/

Allen Iverson pictures, photos and wallpapers

2007-03-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

Here are the links to best Allen Iverson picture pages...

www.starpulse.com/Athletes/Iverson,_Allen/Pictures/
www.alwaysgirls.com/men/allen_iverson/
www.celebrity-link.com/c29/showcelebrity_categoryid-2969.html

Allen Iverson complete biography

2007-02-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

What does it take for a little man to dominate in the NBA? In Allen Iverson’s case, the answer is outrageous talent, in-your-face confidence and the heart of a giant. No one in the league can guard him off the dribble, no one his size goes to the hoop with more authority, and no one pours in points like he does when he's in the highlight zone. It has been a long, strange journey for Allen, who started as a football star and ended up as hip-hop’s favorite hoopster. This is his story…

GROWING UP
Allen Iverson was born June 7, 1975, in Hampton, Virginia. Allen’s mother, Ann, was 15 years old when she had him. His biological father, also a teenager, didn’t stick around, but another man, Michael Freeman, moved in with Ann and helped support the family from the time Allen was a toddler. Michael and Ann had two daughters, Brandy and Iiesha. Michael worked at the Norfolk shipyards and Ann, lacking a high school diploma, did what she could to find part-time employment.
Ends sometimes did not meet. Allen remembers the power and phone being shut off on more than one occasion during his childhood, and a burst pipe once trickled raw sewage for a month into the apartment they occupied in a rundown complex in Hampton. Allen’s mother was a pillar of strength through these years, telling her kids again and again that things would get better, and that nothing was out of their reach if they gave everything they had.
Infused with this confidence, Allen began to think he had a future in football. He played the game faster, better and smarter than anyone in his grade school. When tacklers hit him, they bounced off; when Allen tackled guys, they went flying. Although his football hero was Walter Payton, Allen’s position was quarterback. He had a great arm, and a natural feel for the passing game. He was at his best when he dropped back and the whole field was swirling around him. He loved the strategy and the contact and the violence of the sport.

Freeman thought Allen might also be a star in basketball. Hoping to get the boy interested in the game, he would take him down to the playground after work and point out the best players. Allen was not interested. To him, basketball seemed “soft.” When his mother bought him one of the first-ever pairs of Air Jordans and enrolled him in a hoops camp at the age of nine, he cried every step of the way. Allen’s day brightened up when he discovered several of his football friends were attending the same camp. He returned with a smile and thanked his mother for sending him.
Between basketball and football, Allen had enough to keep him off the increasingly dangerous streets of Hampton, where crack was ravaging the neighborhood. When he was tempted to hang out with the wrong kids, another boy from the neighborhood, Tony Clark, would rat him out to his mom. Tony, who was seven years older, saw something special in Allen and decided to become his unofficial big brother.
Around 1990, Allen lost the two most important men in his life. Tony was killed by his girlfriend when an argument escalated out of control. And Freeman was caught dealing drugs and given a stiff sentence. Ann, who had just given birth to Iiesha, was having health problems and, without insurance, her doctor visits and medication were draining the family’s finances. Their situation grew more desperate with Freeman in lock-up.
Allen was in his freshman year at Bethel High School at the time. At age 15, he had already established himself as the Bruins' best all-around athlete, and he was holding his own in class, but the family’s woes were just too much to bear. He quit sports and stopped going to school, and started hanging out, repeating the pattern he had witnessed countless times in his neighborhood.
Then, one day, the light flickered on. Allen woke up and realized that his mother and two sisters had no one to depend on but him. It dawned on him that he was the man of the house. Allen mapped out a long-term plan that would put food on the table, money in the bank, and get the family out of poverty for good. He would work his butt off for three years, earn a football scholarship, tear it up in Division I and then leave college early with an NFL contract in his pocket. It meant five more years of living close to the bone, but now, for the first time, he saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
During Allen’s sophomore year at Bethel, the money ran out and his mother was evicted from their apartment. The only housing option left was on the other side of town, and would add another 45 minutes each way to Allen’s school commute. Ann decided her son should stay with a family friend, Gary Moore—who had coached Allen in youth football—until she could regroup and move back into the neighborhood. Moore used the opportunity to fine-tune Allen’s daily routine: Get up early, eat a good breakfast, leave for school on time, get your homework done when you get home, and go to sleep at a decent hour. Moore also talked football with Allen, emphasizing the connection between making good decisions on the field and off it.
The time with Moore made Allen more responsible, and his mother and sisters did eventually move back. The pressure of having the family’s hopes pinned on him, however, could sometimes be overwhelming. Allen became moodier and more explosive. He never did anything really bad, but he would snap at teachers and coaches, and blow off school once and a while. His reputation as a head case began to rival his reputation as a quarterback, which, by his junior season, had turned him into the most highly touted athlete in Virginia.
Allen was honored as the state’s top quarterback after his sophomore year with the Bruins, and he earned the honor again in 1992, when he led Bethel to the state title. In the championship game, he threw for over 200 yards, intercepted two passes, and returned a punt for a 60-yard touchdown. Allen was also a Division I prospect as a defensive back.
Basketball, though still Allen’s second-favorite sport, had opened up other options. At just under six feet, with a 41-inch vertical leap, he had the college hoops recruiters saying he was the best high-school guard they had seen in 15 years. And this was as a junior. He had already smashed the state record with 948 points as a sophomore, and opened the following campaign with a 37-point performance. Allen was unbelievably quick off the dribble, and had great vision and shooting range. His cross-over move was virtually unstoppable.
On Valentine’s Day in 1993, the skies suddenly darkened on Allen’s future. He met some friends at a local bowling alley, and had a confrontation with some white bowlers in another lane. They knew who Allen was, and tried to goad him into a fight. A melee ensued, the alley managers called the cops, and they broke things up before anyone was seriously hurt. Allen had already slipped out at this point—he says he left the instant the first punch was thrown—but he was the guy everyone remembered, and he was the guy who was arrested for fleeing the scene. None of the white bowlers was taken into custody.
Allen spent the night in jail, wondering what else could go wrong. When he was charged with “maiming by mob”—a law on the books to prevent the lynching of African-Americans—the case became a national sensation. With the networks now focused on Hampton, dozens of top attorneys vied to take Allen's case pro bono. He chose Herbert Kelly, a top defense attorney. During the trial, held in July of 1993, Allen listened as several witnesses placed him in the middle of the bowling alley fight. Kelly instructed his client to keep his mouth shut, chose not to put him on the stand, and managed to discredit much of the testimony.
The strategy backfired when Judge Nelson Overton delivered a guilty verdict. The following month, Overton sentenced Allen to five years in prison. He was supposed to be starting his senior year in a Bethel football jersey. Instead, he was wearing the uniform of the Newport News City Farm. Allen believed the decision would be overturned, but in the meantime he would miss his most important football season. A college scholarship was no longer possible.
In December of 1993, Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder pardoned Allen. The teenager took a long look at the options before him.

ON THE RISE
Allen chose not to return to Bethel High, and decided to work with a tutor to earn his high-school diploma. In the meantime, his mother contacted Georgetown University coach John Thompson, who had already heard about Allen’s case but knew little about the details. Ann promised Thompson that he was the perfect coach for her son. Thompson agreed to talk with Allen, and was impressed with the young man. After checking with some local coaches and watching Allen work out, he put a scholarship offer on the table. In September of 1994, Allen arrived on campus ready for a fresh start.
Allen blew Thompson and his fellow Hoyas away when the team started practicing. He had not played organized ball in almost two years, yet rather than diminishing his skills, the time off had only amplified them. He was bigger, faster, stronger and more aggressive, and he was playing for survival. Allen would shake his man at the perimeter, slice toward the basket, elevate from 12 feet out, and then slam the ball home as he soared past players several inches taller. At the other end, Allen would snatch rebounds away from the power forwards and centers, and then beat everyone down the floor on the break.
It had been several seasons since Thompson had a go-to guard. In the interim, he had recruited talented players for his front line. In 1994-95, the Hoyas had four good big men in Jahidi White, Jerome Williams, Don Reid and Othella Harrington. Allen started the year as Georgetown’s sixth man, but his effect on games was so immediate and dramatic that Thompson could not keep him out of the starting lineup. Teaming with two-guard George Butler, Allen tried to run the offense, but most of the time he ended up shooting a long jumper or taking it to the hole. When other Hoyas got their hands on the ball, they were reluctant to give it up. Although Allen made the Sports Center highlights after almost every game, he was too impatient, and the Hoyas lacked the chemistry to win consistently.
His aggressiveness, however, was not a problem at the other end, where he shut down opposing guards. Despite his freshman status, Allen was named the Big East’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Allen was one of three exciting young players in the Big East. Kerry Kittles of Villanova and Ray Allen of UConn were more polished, but neither one could cause people to leap out of their seats like Allen. And on those nights when the offense was in sync and Allen distributed the ball, the Hoyas were hard to beat. They proved this after eking out a bid to the NCAA Tournament, and then advancing to the Sweet 16.
That summer, Allen joined Kittles and Allen (as well as Wake’s Tim Duncan) on the U.S. team at the World University Games in Japan. They won the gold medal, but Allen got into a fight with his teammates after they hatched a practical joke on him while he was sleeping. Basketball was no joke to Allen. He wanted to put in one more year at Georgetown and then go pro.

To accomplish this goal, Allen knew he would have to demonstrate to NBA scouts that he had evolved as a point guard. He would have to demonstrate the patience to let situations develop, and not force the action every time down the court. This he did from the outset, leading Georgetown to the finals of the Pre-Season NIT. In the championship game, however, Allen reverted to old habits and tried to do it all. He scored 40 but the Hoyas lost by 10 to Arizona.
Allen showed the NBA a lot during his sophomore year. He took what defenses gave him. When double-teamed, he racked up double-digits in assists. When they dared him to score, he did. When opponents challenged him on defense, he stifled enemy guards. In one game Allen racked up 10 steals. In another, he grabbed 10 rebounds. The Hoyas were looking like Final Four material, and Allen was getting Big East Player of the Year consideration. His main competition came from Allen, now in his senior season at Connecticut. In the second meeting between UConn and Georgetown, Allen dominated the Huskies, and finished off a 77-65 victory with a dunk in his rival’s face.
The Hoyas went into the NCAA Tournament with high hopes, and marched toward the Final Four with victories over Mississippi Valley State, New Mexico and Texas Tech. But in the Elite Eight they ran into Marcus Camby and red-hot UMass. Thompson looked to Harrington to stop Camby, a task he couldn't handle as Georgetown exited March Madness. Still, despite falling short of their goal, the Hoyas finished the year ranked fourth nationally. Allen was the proud owner of the school’s single-season scoring record, and added his second Big East Defensive Player of the Year award. He also was honored as an All-American.
As expected, Allen announced he would be eligible for the 1996 NBA draft. Thompson normaly did not like to see his players leave Georgetown without their diplomas, but in Allen’s case he supported the move wholeheartedly. A certain lottery pick, the sophomore would now be able to provide for his family all the things they never had.
On June 26, the Philadelphia 76ers used the first overall selection in the draft on Allen, making him the smallest player ever to earn that distinction. The pick was a judgment call by owner Pat Croce, a dynamic young personality who wanted a dynamic young star. Allen joined a club that included Jerry Stackhouse, Derrick Coleman and Clarence Weatherspoon. Beyond this quartet, however, the team lacked depth. Coming off a dismal 18-win season, Philly improved by only four wins in 1996-97, to 22-60. For coach Johnny Davis—in his one and only year at the 76er helm—the lone satisfaction came in passing on some tricks of the trade to his meteoric point guard.
Though the victories were few, Allen was sensational. His cross-over dribble, which some swore was a blatant carry violation, worked even better against the pros than it had in college. He just plain embarrassed guys. Once Allen was moving toward the basket, however, things looked a little different than they had in school. There was players who were a foot taller and outweighed him by more than 100 pounds, and they were quick and smart, too. He launched more than 1,500 shots in his rookie year, many of which were ill-advised. The upside was that Allen averaged a team-high 23.5 points per game, and kept his teammates relatively happy with 500-plus assists.
Others in the NBA did not look upon Allen quite as fondly. The trash-talking that had intimidated college opponents just irritated league veterans. When Michael Jordan advised Allen to show a little respect, the rookie snapped back that he respected no one. At the All-Star Game, during which the NBA’s 50 greatest players were honored, several Hall of Famers said they thought Allen’s attitude was a joke. When he was introduced during the Rookies Game, he was booed by the fans. Allen decided to shut up and put his game into overdrive. That April, he scored 40 or more points in five straight games, including a 50-point performance against the Cavaliers.

The big news in Philly over the summer was the arrival of Larry Brown. The legendary coach was attracted to the job because of Allen—he had never tutored a player of his caliber. In their preseason pow-wows, Brown explained to Allen that his approach to the point guard position needed some adjustment. Granted, no one in the league could handle him. But if he looked for scoring opportunities every time down the court, that meant the other team didn’t have to worry about guarding his teammates. Brown showed Allen the stat sheets from his rookie year: the more he scored, the less likely the 76ers were to win.
With Brown at the helm, Philadelphia figured to do a little more winning in 1997-98. The 76ers added Jim Jackson to the lineup, and drafted local star Tim Thomas to go along with Stackhouse, Weatherspoon and Coleman. As the campaign progressed, Brown began to tinker with the team. Out went Stackhouse, Weatherspoon and Jackson, and in came Theo Ratliff, Joe Smith, Aaron McKie and Eric Snow. The club improved to 31 wins, played better defense, and relied on Allen as their leader. Sometimes he came through and sometimes he didn’t. NBA opponents, fearful of his cross-over, gave him more open shots from the perimeter. Allen’s long-range jumper was not yet good enough to take advantage of this opportunity, and he shot under 30 percent from three-point range. Though he averaged 22 a game, he again needed a lot of shots to get his points. It also drove Brown crazy that Allen's passing numbers dropped to six assists per game.
Allen worked on his outside shot during the offseason, which was a long one. A labor dispute interrupted th start of the schedule and dragged on into the new year. When the league resumed play in February, it was a 50-game sprint to the finish. Brown had continued to juggle his roster, dumping Coleman, drafting Larry Hughes, picking up center Matt Geiger, and promoting Snow to starting point guard. Allen moved over to the two and torched the bigger, slower opponents who had to cover him. He averaged 26.8 points to lead the NBA, and the 76ers made the playoffs with a 28-22 record. Philly beat the Orlando Magic three games to one in the first round, but were next swept by the Indiana Pacers.
Brown went into the 1999-2000 season confident his team had the chemistry and talent to be a major factor in the playoffs. He also felt he had a talent surplus in young backup guard Hughes, who most observers felt would blossom given more playing time. But with Allen and Snow logging big minutes, this wasn’t going to happen. In February, the 76ers traded Hughes for forward Toni Kukoc, who brought championship experience to the club. The move was a good one. Kukoc not only gave the 76ers another scorer, he was adept at breaking down defenses and then kicking the ball out for open jumpers.
Philly won 49 games, coming together as a team as Brown had been imploring them to do all along. Allen no longer had to finish atop the scoring sheet for Philly to notch a W. Sometimes he dumped in 40 and sometimes he contributed with 15. With the 76ers near the top of standings, he didn’t care. The real test came in the spring, when Allen sprained a toe and his shooting suffered. Snow picked up the slack and Philly kept winning.
Allen entered the playoffs still limping from his toe injury, and had a sore elbow, too. He played a couple of great games against the Charlotte Hornets in the first round, but when Snow went down with a bad ankle, Allen wasn’t sure he could shoulder the extra load. In stepped reserve guard McKie, who started lighting it up. He was so hot that Allen passed up several wide-open jumpers to get him the ball. The 76ers took the series three games to one.
Once again, the road to the finals went through Indiana. And once again, the Pacers had Philadelphia’s number. Reggie Miller lit up the 76ers in Game 1, Jalen Rose burned them in Game 2, and in Game 3 Indy scored 32 of the final 48 points to steal an eight-point victory. Just like that, Allen and his teammates were down three-zip. Philly grabbed Game 4, when another reserve, Tyrone Hill, had the night of his life and Miller was ejected for fighting with Geiger. Allen poured in 37 in Game 5 to make the series 3-2, but Indiana regrouped to take Game 6. As the final seconds ticked away, Allen, hurting all over, started to cry. It wasn’t just the disappointment of a playoff exit. It was the realization of how much deeper he and his teammates needed to dig to advance in the postseason.

MAKING HIS MARK
In 2000-01, Philadelphia roared through the regular season with 56 victories, tying for the league’s second-best record with the Los Angeles Lakers. Brown put essentially the same team on the floor. The major difference was Allen. He had an incredible year, leading the league in scoring for the second time with a 31.1 average. Game after game, Allen hit amazing clutch buckets, and made the league’s best players look like schoolyard chumps when they tried to D-up on him. He was now in his prime, and it was an MVP-caliber prime. At season’s end, in fact, he did win the award. The last 76er to be named NBA MVP was Moses Malone, in 1983.
The other crucial ingredient to Philly's success was a February trade for center Dikembe Mutombo. He gave the 76ers a defensive presence in the middle, and despite doubts that he and Allen could co-exist, they found an offensive rhythm that worked. Their Georgetown connection turned out to be the key. The Mutombo deal sent Kukoc and Ratliff to the Atlanta Hawks, a steep price to pay, but Ratliff—who was leading in the league in blocks— had shattered his wrist two weeks earlier. The 76ers really had no choice but to pull trigger to set their lineup for the playoffs. Mutombo ended up being named Defensive Player of the Year.
Round One of the playoffs gave the 76ers a chance to exorcise their demons, as the Pacers visited the Wachovia Center. When Indiana stole the first game 79-78, Philly fans prepared for the worst. But Allen and company restored their faith with an easy win in Game 2. Two tough wins in Indiana finished the Pacers, and brought on Vince Carter and the Toronto Raptors for Round Two. The two superstars lit it up during the hard-fought seven-game series, with Carter reaching 50 once and Allen twice. Philadelphia’s 88-87 win in the deciding game was one of the best playoff games in franchise history.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, Mutombo stepped up his game against the Milwaukee Bucks. In addition to playing great D, he created all kinds of havoc when the 76ers had the ball, allowing Allen to cut loose during another grueling seven-game series. When Allen drove, Mutombo cleared out and took his man with him. If Allen fired and missed, Mutombo put back the rebound or kept the ball alive. The teams split the first four games, with Allen sitting out Game 3 with a bruised tailbone.
Game 5 went to the 76ers 89-88, but they could not close out the series. The Bucks built a big lead in Game 6, and despite a 26-point fourth quarter from Allen, Milwaukee held on to send the series back to Philly. Game 7 turned out to be a laugher, as Allen dropped 44 on the Bucks in a 108-91 win.
To listen to Laker fans, there was barely a reason for Philadelphia to show up for the NBA Finals. They had the slick young stud, Kobe Bryant, the dominant big man, Shaquille O’Neal, and the genius coach, Phil Jackson. In the opener, however, Allen demonstrated how heart and determination could tilt the balance, if only for one game. Though every inch of his body was aching, he pounded the Lakers for 48 points in an emotional 107-101 overtime victory in Los Angeles. The Laker faithful suddenly woke up to the fact that there were special players outside L.A., and Allen became the toast of the town.
The A.I. Show continued. At the end of Game 2 (a 98-89 Laker victory), Bryant got in Allen’s face. He responded by trash-talking Kobe into submission. During Game 3, Allen dribbled the ball right over a fallen O’Neal. He also grabbed 12 rebounds. Unfortunately the 76ers could do no better than a symbolic victory, as the Lakers won again, 96-91, thanks this time to fourth-quarter scoring spree by Robert Horry. Los Angeles took the next two games, focusing all of their defensive attention on Allen. Too good everywhere else for the 76ers to take advantage of the situation, they claimed the title four games to one.
That summer, Allen tied the knot with Tawanna Turner, his longtime girlfriend. He also began negotiating a lifetime endorsement deal with Reebok, which was finalized in December. And, of course, he prepared to defend Philadelphia’s Eastern crown. The improvements Allen needed to make in his own game were more conceptual: leadership, consistency and finding a way to avoid the wear and tear that plagued him at playoff time.
The first item on the list was of particular interest to Allen. The previous season, he had begun to wrap his mind around being a leader in the NBA, a role he used to think was B.S. As he accepted more responsibility, he found that his team won more often and his sometimes-stormy relationship with Brown improved.
The 2001-02 version of the 76ers was an eclectic mix of players whose games were meant to complement Allen’s. Snow and McKie shared work at guard with young Speedy Claxton, while Mutombo lined up in the frontcourt next to newcomer Matt Harpring and Derrick Coleman, who rejoined the team in a pre-season deal. Injuries plagued Philly all year, however, and there were many nights when Allen reverted back to his old ways, trying to win games all by himself. The stats say he had a good year, topping the league in scoring and steals, but his shooting percentage plummeted and much of the chemistry that existed the year before had evaporated. Philly finished with a respectable 43 wins, but flopped in the postseason, losing to the Celtics in the first round.
In June, Allen’s reputation took a huge hit when a simmering dispute with his wife boiled over and he threw her out of their house. Two nights later, Allen and his uncle Greg went searching for Tawanna, and barged into the Philadelphia apartment of his cousin, Shaun Bowman. Another man in the room, Charles Jones, saw what he believed to be a gun tucked into Allen’s pants and called the police. Allen was arrested on a variety of charges, including carrying an unlicensed weapon. The case went to court, where it fell apart. The gun turned out to be a pager, and because Allen paid the rent on the apartment, there was no criminal trespass. Still, the episode reinforced the image many people had of Allen as a thug.
The 2002-03 campaign started poorly for the 76ers. Despite the addition of Keith Van Horn—acquired from New Jersey for Mutombo—the team played sluggishly heading into the All-Star break. The offense simply wasn’t clicking, and on most nights only the defense of Allen, Snow and McKie stood between Philadelphia and a loss. Things finally turned around in the home stretch, and the 76ers ended the year with a 23-10 run to capture second place behind the Nets in the Atlantic Division.

The catalyst for the change may have been forward Kenny Thomas, picked up mid-season in a trade with the Rockets. He gave the team an inside rebounding and scoring presence that enabled Van Horn to do his thing on the wing. But it was Allen—taking a more vocal role on the bench and playing a better all-around game—who made the difference night in and night out. He wound up leading the league in steals and minutes played, and finished third in scoring at 27.6 per game.
With the Eastern Conference wide open, the 76ers set their sights on another meeting with the Lakers in the NBA Finals. They got off to an excellent start against the Hornets, as Allen set a team record with 55 points in a Game 1 win. It was one of those times where everyone in the building knew he couldn’t miss. Game 2, also a Philly victory, was one of those games when Allen couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn—but kept on shooting. The difference was that Allen knew when to give the ball up, and the 76ers squeezed out a 90-85 victory. The teams split the final four games and Philly advanced to their Round Two meeting with Detroit.
The Pistons, led by Rip Hamilton and Ben Wallace, took the first two contests at home, the second being a narrow OT win. Back in Philadelphia, the 76ers evened the series. With Philly fans licking their chops at the thought of advancing to face the Nets, Detroit squeaked by in Game 5, 78-77. The Pistons then finished off the 76ers 93-89 in overtime in Game 6. When Detroit was swept by the Nets in the next round, Philly's series loss became all the more agonizing. The coup de grace on a disappointing post-season came when Brown resigned after the playoffs—and accepted a job with the Pistons.
Randy Ayers, Brown’s longtime assistant, assumed the Philadelphia head coaching job for the 2003-04 campaign. His team no longer included Van Horn, who lacked the scoring punch to pick up Allen on nights when his shooting went awry. In his place was Glenn Robinson, who said all the right things when asked how two men so fond of putting up shots could play with the same ball. The Big Dog figured to draw double-teams in the post, which meant someone—hopefully Allen—would be free to operate outside.
In theory, this all sounded very good. In practice, it was a train wreck. Practice, in fact, was where things started to go wrong. Without Brown there to push and cajole him, Allen exerted little effort between games. The club’s veterans ran at half-speed, too, while younger players were unsure of how to act. When tipoff came, Allen could not always answer the call, missing a career-high 34 games—and the rest of the 76ers were either hurt or horrible. Ayers was fired and replaced with Chris Ford, who inherited an unfixable mess.
With a roster full of overpriced veterans, the 76ers wondered how they could possibly retool. Some said it couldn’t be done before Allen’s prime years were over. Others suggested the only way out was to trade Allen along with some dead weight, and start from scratch. Longtime Philly fans cringed at the thought of banishing an All-NBA talent. The franchise had dealt Wilt Chamberlain, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone and Chet Walker in past rebuilding efforts, and each time they got a lot less back than they had anticipated.
Allen weathered the summer of 2004 without an address change, though he did do some traveling, accompanying Team USA to Athens for the Olympics. There he and coach Brown were reunited. The Americans struggled against their intertional competition, barely holding on for the bronze medal. Allen took his lumps from the media and fans, which criticized him for his me-first style of play. Overlooked was the fact that Allen was one of the NBA superstars who didn't duck the Summer Games.
Allen returned to a Philly team without his backcourt mate, Snow, who sought greener pastures in Cleveland. With Robinson on the shelf due to injury, the club handed to new coach Jim O’Brien featured a lot of unfamiliar faces—basically Allen plus a supporting cast that included holdovers Thomas and McKie, veteran newcomers Corliss Williamson and Kevin Ollie, and unproven youngsters like Kyle Korver, Samuel Dalembert and Andre Iguodala.
Needless to say, the team depended on Allen for the bulk of its scoring, and as the season passed into its second half, he was the leading the league at around 30 a game. Normally, this would be a formula for a losing year. But the 76ers kept a competitive club on the floor, and won as often as they lost. In the anemic Atlantic, that was good enough for first place.
The extra pressure on Allen figured to slow him down. But just when fans thought they had seen his best game, he showed them a little more. On February 12 against the Magic—in his second game in as many nights—Allen canned 17 shots from the field and added 24 free throws for a career-high 60 points in a 112-99 win. The franchise mark was 68, set by Wilt Chamberlain, but it was phenomenal output for a six-foot guard.

Nights like the one against Orlando generated buzz about Allen being the league's MVP. But Philly's final record, 43-39, wasn't good enough to turn the talk into anything more than speculation. Allen continued scoring at a blistering pace, including a pair of 48-point outbursts, in wins against the Bucks and Carolina Bobcats. He finished with incredible numbers, improving on his scoring (30.7), shooting percentage (.424), 3-point percentage (.308), free-throw percentage (.835), rebounding (4.0) and passing (7.9) from the previous season. Allen also shook off his injury woes to play in 75 games.
Philly bowed out quickly in the playoffs, losing in five to the defending champs. In their sole win over the Pistons, Allen went for 37 points and added 15 assists. It was one of three double-doubles for him against Detroit, demonstrating how far he had come in his acceptance of the team concept.
Where Allen leads the 76ers from here is difficult to say. The team made a questionable move in '04-05 by dealing for the oft-injured and even more often unhappy Chris Webber. The chemistry between him and Allen never really developed, and now Philly is wondering whether it will have to start again from scratch.
As every basketball fan knows, Allen has long been the game’s best one-man show. Unfortunately, shows like that rarely earn championship reviews. If the '04-05 season is any indication, however, he may be willing to share the stage with a star who can help him bring an NBA title back to the City of Brotherly Love.

ALLEN THE PLAYER
No one really guards Allen. They just try to stay between him and the basket. The league has yet to solve his explosive cross-over move, and when he gets airborne, only a handful of guys in the NBA can hang with him. Give Allen an open jumper and he’ll take it (that’s no secret). But do you give him that shot with the game on the line?
Funneling Allen to the baseline—the preferred strategy against quick guards—is defensive suicide in his case. He gets to the basket so quickly and with such force that you might as well give your big men two fouls apiece before the game starts.
No one plays the game with more heart, or with less regard for his body, than Allen. It is a miracle he can still bring his A-game every night, and a wonder that he hasn’t been to the emergency room more often. To preserve his strength, Allen will take plays off once the ball is out of his hands. This is when defenses can afford a sigh of relief, for he does not move aggressively without the ball.
On defense, Allen’s quickness and anticipation mean you probably won’t hit your average against him. He is a good defender on the ball, and plays the passing lanes very intelligently. He is almost always among the NBA leaders in steals.
Allen takes his leadership responsibilities much more seriously these days. His one appearance in the NBA Finals helped him realize how badly he wants a title to his name. Teammates will follow him. The question is whether he will have to leave Philly to get another shot at an NBA crown.