“Only reason you got that little $5 million a year is from running around after me.’ And the man looked at me and said what I would have said: ‘Thank you!”
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We’ll never see another Allen Iverson – a six-foot (at best) guard who did his greatest work in the paint among the NBA’s biggest players.
Yao, who turns 36 on Sunday, was helped in donning his Hall of Fame jacket by O’Neal, his former National Basketball Association rival for the Los Angeles Lakers and at 7-foot-1 about the only one who could lend one final assist to the NBA’s biggest Asian star.
“Now you can say ‘My man is solidified, ‘” Iverson said.
He also was one of the most dominant – scoring 28,596 career points that rank No. 7 in National Basketball Association history and grabbing 13,099 career rebounds.
Yao’s career ended early because of foot injuries in 2011. “He gave me the vision, man”, Iverson said.
Shaq brought all his jokes to the Hall of Fame.
Later, O’Neal explained that his bravado was only his attempt to savour every moment of the experience. Tonight’s induction is the culmination of three legendary careers that, although widely different in terms of their trajectories, came to define a generation of basketball players and inspired athletes around the world.
He caught the eye of scouts for the National Basketball Association and in 2002 was the league’s Number One overall draft pick – selected by the Houston Rockets. I believe that’s the only reason he missed Thursday’s Hall of Fame event.
Asked about his late arrival, Iverson said simply, “Personal situation”.
He credited Georgetown coach John Thompson, one of his three presenters, with “saving my life”.
He thanked his wife and children for comforting him during those times when he feuded with the media and, occasionally, his coach in Philadelphia. That’s the only reason I’m here. “It’s something I tried to get Allen to understand when I coached him”.
Shaq said Iverson’s crossover of Michael Jordan during his rookie season in 1997 was the definition of the kind of player Iverson was.
Back home he helped make basketball one of the most popular sports in China.
“We’ve been having conversations, he said he’s interested in my son, and as a proud father, I can’t wait to have that conversation”, O’Neal said.
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“I will always remember my times spent with the Houston Rockets as some of the best times of my life”, Yao said. “It means people were able to appreciate how I played”. Posthumous honorees included 27-year National Basketball Association referee Darell Garretson; John McLendon, the first African-American coach in a professional league; Cumberland Posey, who also is in the Baseball Hall of Fame; and Zelmo Beaty, who led historically Black college Prairie View A&M University to an NAIA title in 1962.
