There is only one word that can describe Allen Iverson, tough.
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Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Allen Iverson, left, hugs presenter and former coach John Thompson during induction ceremonies at Symphony Hall, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, in Springfield, Mass.
“I was recruited by every school in the country for football and basketball, and the incident (for which Iverson was jailed, but eventually exonerated) happened in high school and all that was taken away”, Iverson said.
Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo, a 2004 inductee, said it might be one of the top five classes he has seen. “The naysayers, they helped me, too”. He continued promoting the game after he was forced into retirement in 2011 for repeated foot injuries.
Iverson is widely known as being the player to bridge the gap between hip-hop culture and the National Basketball Association.
He also compared his first game against Michael Jordan to a famous The Chappelle Show skit.
I want to thank the city of Shanghai, the Shanghai Sharks and the CBA league for doing everything they could to prepare me.
“Doesn’t everybody?” Iverson told reporters on Thursday during a media availability for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Class of 2016. I would have liked him to discuss more about what shaped his fearless, nearly reckless playing style. In addition, he ranks 14th all-time in assists with 307, is fourth all-time in steals with 213 and his 124 steals during the 1995-96 season are the most by a player in one year. “My teammates and my coaches”, said the former NBA Rookie of the Year and 2001 MVP.
I always remember Coach Van Gundy said once that, “The best chance also could be your last”. “All the mistakes I was making, I didn’t even realize I was making mistakes”. And now, I would like to mention a few mirrors in my life.
That’s the kind of friend who gets a shoutout in a Hall of Fame enshrinement speech. “I don’t know if Shaq agrees with that”. In the aftermath of being an National Basketball Association player, I’m still learning. Cumberland Posey, Sheryl Swoopes and Zelmo Beaty were the others among the players to join the Shaq-Iverson-Ming trifecta, while head coaches Tom Izzo and Tom McLendon were also part of the celebration.
His speech was everything you expected and hoped it would be without being predictable at the same time.
“I thought there was a language barrier there”, O’Neal said.
“I would like to thank you for giving me a great nine-years during my National Basketball Association career”, he said.
Allen Iverson’s Hall of Fame induction speech had everything.
Since Iverson reached this major feat in his National Basketball Association career, attendees were left with the question, what’s next for The Answer?
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Predictably, there was a good chunk of Shaq’s speech that had to be muted out because of some colorful language in stories about his time playing before the National Basketball Association. But for loving me the way you do and caring about what kind of person I am and what type of person I need to be to set an example for our babies. “I’m going to get my jacket AND my ring”. Asked about the delay, Iverson said it involved a “personal situation; family”. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for me. “Why can’t it just be good news?”
