12 Apr, 2024, 8:07 PM ET
Allen Iverson was immortalized in his cross pose at the Philadelphia 76ers practice facility.
CAMDEN, NJ — Yes, there is something quite ironic about the fact that Allen Iverson was immortalized in his cross pose at the practice facility of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Nearly 22 years after AI ranted about the “practice” 22 times in an often falsified news conference, even Iverson enjoyed the location of the sculpture revealed Friday on the team’s Legends Walk, joining others like it. by Julius Erving, Wilt Chamberlain, Charles Barkley and Maurice Cheeks. The Hall of Famer who made “talking about practice” a permanent part of the pop culture lexicon is now a permanent part of the Sixers’ house.
“I might not participate in a practice,” Iverson said after the ceremony.
Few played better in Sixers games than Iverson, who won four scoring titles, an NBA MVP award and led the franchise to its last trip to the NBA Finals in 2001.
His numbers established him as one of the greats of the NBA.
Allen Iverson poses next to his statue at the 76ers practice facility. Photo: Getty
His legacy extended beyond the court, the small guard with the giant heart made the hip-hop element cool in the NBA with his braids, his tattoos, his vintage jerseys…The NBA even instituted a dress code in large part to erase discovering Iverson’s influence. His tenacious style of play has been emulated to this day by everyone from Russell Westbrook to Ja Morant and even Philadelphia’s own All-Star, Tyrese Maxey.
But never, ever, equaled.
Iverson was feted with a ceremony that almost rivaled his induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Former Sixers teammates and executives Pat Croce, Billy King, Rasheed Wallace, Eric Snow and Aaron McKie posed with the AI and offered praise. Even retired NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens recorded a video of the tribute and took photos of the statue. Former coach Larry Brown, who clashed with Iverson over the years, was in the house.
“Coach and I didn’t see eye to eye on things,” Iverson said. “But he wanted the same thing that I wanted from my career and from our team’s goals. Once I believed that, that’s what made me an MVP basketball player. That made us a winning team, that could reach at the end”. Finals and compete with the best teams.”
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The guard averaged 31.1 points in 2001, was the All-Star Game MVP and carried an entire franchise on his 6-foot frame until the Finals.
Led by Brown, the Sixers needed victories in the seventh game of consecutive playoff series to qualify to play the Los Angeles Lakers. Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers swept the postseason before Game 1 in Los Angeles.
Iverson scored 48 points in 52 minutes of an overtime victory. The Sixers didn’t have enough to go the distance and the Lakers won the next four games.
Iverson is still connected to the franchise as a team ambassador and occasionally appears in a courtside seat and receives a standing ovation each time he is announced to the crowd. Iverson complained last year that his role with the Sixers was “nowhere near what I think it should be,” but any unhappiness seemed to soften. Sixers coach Nick Nurse invited Iverson to spend more time with the team to offer his voice in a mentoring role.
“They came up to me and said they would love to talk to me about different things on the basketball court and I love and respect that they respect me because they know I’ve been through what they’re going through at a high level.” level,” Iverson said. “So I’m trying to make my voice heard as much as possible. “I’m doing a lot of things with the organization and I think I’m blessed to have that opportunity, to have that relationship with the organization after I retired.”
So, about that statue. Like Iverson, the small depiction received criticism on social media for not being realistic enough for a statue. But it wasn’t built to sizes typically found outside sports stadiums, instead it’s part of a row of similarly sized stadiums that line a private walkway that only players, employees and executives (and the media) can access. in the practice facilities.
“How do you think I got so good? I had to practice,” Iverson said. “I just thought it was a bad reputation for me. One day I was walking down the street and people came up to me and said, ‘Practice? Are we talking about practice?’ and I’m like, ‘Man, of all the things I accomplished in my career, is that the only thing you can think of?’ Crazy.”
Iverson wore a chain with the Roman numeral III (in honor of his retired No. 3 uniform number) and other Sixers gear, including a hat that read “LEG3ND” as he ripped the cover off the statue. The statue of Iverson shows him wearing a headband and about to throw the crossover, a pivotal move in his career that once baffled Michael Jordan, with a basketball attached to his outstretched left hand. Part of the inscription said that Iverson’s “toughness” made him unstoppable.”
As Iverson surveyed friends, former teammates and family members, including his mother, who flocked to New Jersey, he could only hold back tears as he expressed his gratitude.
“When you think about the statue,” Iverson said, “it’s a representation for all the people who helped me. For everyone who played a role in my development and in my life. When you see that statue, I might feel good about the part that “Everything you did by helping me with my life. This is a huge honor, man. It doesn’t even seem real.”
2024-04-13 00:07:00
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