Allen Iverson a new member of the NBA Hall of Fame

Some big names, and big men, were announced as the newest members of the Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday.

Yao Ming, at at 7 feet 6 inches one of the tallest players in N.B.A. history and the player who drove the popularity of the sport in China, was enshrined. So was the 7-1 Shaquille O’Neal, the colorful, quotable and dominant center who won four N.B.A. titles, in Los Angeles and Miami.

But the attention Monday seemed to fall most heavily on Allen Iverson, one of the league’s greatest players listed at 6 feet or under.

Iverson is remembered for almost single-handedly dragging an undermanned 76ers team to the N.B.A. finals in 2001, the season in which he won the Most Valuable Player Award. The Lakers were widely expected to sweep the series, but Iverson scored 48 points and pushed his team to an overtime victory in Game 1. O’Neal, Kobe Bryant & Co. won the next four games for the Lakers, but Iverson came out of the series with the plaudits.

In a highlight destined to be repeated many more times, Iverson, as a brash rookie, schooled Michael Jordan with a crossover move in 1997.

Iverson will also forever be remembered for a single word: practice. After skipping a Sixers practice in 2002, he attended a news conference at which he played down his transgression in a monologue in which he repeated the word more than 20 times.

His tattoos and cornrows were ahead of the curve and alienated some old-school fans. Iverson had troubles with the law, and financial problems after retirement. But his following was devoted.

In an interview on ESPN on Monday, Iverson came up with what may become another memorable quotation: “I wasn’t a point guard. I was a killer.”

source:nytimes