Shaq only played 37 games with the Celtics, and his production was minimal, but he was still a Celtic for a season. Settling into his chair in front of a throng of reporters after the jacket event, Shaquille O’Neal playfully needled Iverson’s no-show.
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“That’s the first thing you want to know about me, man?” he added. Didn’t everybody that played basketball, after he arrived? His rabid performance eventually earned him the first overall spot in the 1996 NBA Draft.
That he would come here to Springfield, to the Hall of Fame, to talk so candidly about who he is and the journey he’s on shouldn’t surprise – he remains a unique and formidable cultural force. But I didn’t want to be him, I didn’t want to talk like him, I didn’t want to dress like him. Iverson has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The idea of “cool” has always been aspirational for every era, but Iverson’s cool was born and nurtured and developed in the inner city and delivered to the doorstep of middle America.
Allen Iverson took the stage late Friday. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world”. “I really sense all the people before me that Mr. Naismith made possible with the life he had”.
The six-time All-Star averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds per game for his career.
There have been plenty of great scorers in National Basketball Association history, even during Iverson’s career. I love my kids loving the fact that their daddy is their daddy. He was listed generously at 6-foot, 165 pounds, and many rappers thought, if he can do it, why can’t I? I still dreamt about it, though.
Still, even with all of the support, it’s the criticisms that seemed to stick with Iverson, even on a day that is meant to be the beginning of a major celebration.
“This is a special night for me”, Iverson explained when asked about his unusual attire. “It’s what I wondered would happen to me if I didn’t”.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – When Shaquille O’Neal was 10 years old, his father made a prediction. “I’m grateful for my time on court and for your recognition tonight”, Yao said in a speech that was also littered with humorous digs at his fellow inductees. I want them to feel like they’re Hall of Famers.
Me sadly bragging about my Park District basketball career has a meaning, though. That’s the problem. You know it’s always what’s next? I don’t even care about tomorrow right now. “I had to learn to allow Allen to do that, and it sometimes wasn’t easy for me. It was because of him I was introduced to the game”.
Allen Iverson was a prodigy in Hampton and All-American for Georgetown.
“I’m so fortunate to be your son”. Yao said in a statement announcing a youth basketball partnership with NBA China in 2012. In the opening game of the NBA Finals, Allen Iverson had other plans.
For more on Iverson and why people love him, read this excellent new profile from The Undefeated.
This was a shooting guard in a point guard’s body, or a player without a position. “To be able to say after all of that, still, to be recognized as one of the best to ever play the game was just – and still is – a great moment for me, my family, my friends, my teammates, my coaches, I just think it’s the best”.
So, congrats A.I. and thanks for helping me fall in love with the game.
The 2002 Kings, the 2006 Suns, the 2013 Spurs and the 2016 Warriors all reserve a special place in the hearts of hoops fans despite not winning a title because they made the game lovely as a team.
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“But it was never no problem with me being who I am and being the person that I am”.
