The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former 76ers star Iverson gets statue — at club’s practice facility
CAMDEN, N.J. — Yes, there is something quite wry about the fact Allen Iverson was immortalized in his crossover pose at — of all sites — the Philadelphia 76ers’ practice facility.
The practice facility. Not where the Sixers play their games. The practice facility.
Almost 22 years after AI ranted about “practice” 22 times in an often-spoofed news conference, even Iverson got a kick out the location of the sculpture unveiled Friday on the team’s Legends Walk, joining the likes of 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 now is a permanent part of the Sixers’ facility.
“I could sit out a practice,” Iverson said after the ceremony. “Play me in the games.”
Few played better in the games for the Sixers than Iverson, who won four scoring titles and an NBA MVP award, and led the franchise to their most recent trip to the NBA finals in 2001.
His numbers stamped him as one of the NBA’s greats.
His legacy stretched beyond the court, the undersized guard with the supersized heart making the hiphop element cool in the NBA with his braids, his tattoos, his throwback jerseys — heck, the NBA even instituted a dress code in large part to wipe out Iverson’s influence. His dogged style of play has been emulated to this day by everyone from Russell Westbrook to Ja Morant to Philly’s own All-Star, Tyrese Maxey.
Iverson was feted with a ceremony that nearly rivaled his Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction. Former Sixers teammates and executives Pat Croce, Billy King, Rasheed Wallace, Eric Snow and Aaron McKie posed with and praised AI. Former coach Larry Brown — who famously clashed through the years with Iverson — also was there.
“Me and Coach didn’t see eye-to-eye on things,” Iverson said. “But he wanted the same thing that I wanted out of my career and our team goals. Once I bought into that, that’s what turned me into an MVP basketball player. That turned us to a team that were winners, that could go to the finals and compete with the best teams.”
The 165-pound guard averaged 31.1 points in 2001, was the MVP of the All-Star game and propped an entire franchise on his 6-foot frame all the way to the finals.
Guided by Brown, the Sixers needed Game 7 wins in consecutive playoff series for the right to play the Los Angeles Lakers. Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers had swept their way through the postseason before Game 1 in Los Angeles. Iverson had 48 points in 52 minutes of an overtime victory in the opener. But the Sixers didn’t have enough to go the distance and the Lakers won the next four games.
Iverson still is connected with the franchise as a team ambassador and occasionally pops up at a courtside seat.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse has invited Iverson to spend more time around the team to offer his voice in a mentorship role.
“They came up to me and said that they would love to talk to me about different things on the basketball court, and I just love and respect that they respect me because they know I’ve been through what they’re going through at a high level,” Iverson said.
So, about the statue. Much like Iverson, the depiction took a beating on social media for not being properly lifelike for a statue. But it wasn’t built for sizes normally found outside sports stadiums; it’s part of a row of similarly sized ones that line a private walkway that only players, employees and executives (and the media) can access at the practice facility.
“How do you think I got that good? I had to practice,” Iverson said. “I just thought it was a bad rap on me. One day I’m walking in the streets and people come up to me and say, ‘Practice? We’re talking about practice?’ and I be like, ‘Man, out of all the things I accomplished in my career, that’s the only thing you can come up with?’ Crazy.”