Iverson Could Be Dealing With Practice … Again
All these years later, people are still talkin’ ’bout practice.
I mean, how silly is that?
Allen Iverson’s 2002 rant on that topic still reverberates with players everywhere, according to former Penn State star Joe Crispin, who played 21 games in the NBA as a rookie in ’01-02 and has seemingly played everywhere else since.
That includes Turkey, in 2008-09. That has been reported as a possible destination for Iverson, the former Sixers star. And the interesting part about it is, European teams do more than talk ’bout practice. They do it, and they do it a whole lot. Much more than NBA teams, which play three or four times a week.
Over there, the game schedule is much lighter and the practice schedule a whole lot heavier. Which will make for some interesting times, should Iverson land there.
“The amount of practice is difficult for any American to get used to,” Crispin said by e-mail from Barcellona, Italy (never to be confused with its namesake in Spain), where he is playing this season. “But for Iverson it may be tougher, given his history. Maybe his hunger to perform well will overcome it, but it won’t be easy.”
Crispin said the off-court culture shock might not be so great for Iverson, since the team courting him, Besiktas, is based in Istanbul, a city that is “more American than many people would naturally imagine,” according to Crispin.
“Road games will surprise him no doubt, however,” Crispin said.
Besiktas is one of the better teams in a top-heavy league, Crispin said. But he doesn’t believe Iverson will necessarily tear it up – and not just because the one-time NBA MVP and four-time scoring champion is now 35.
“I know this comes as a shock to many people, but I found it easiest to compete in the NBA,” said Crispin, who played six games with the Lakers and 15 with the Suns back in ‘01-02, “not because the level of the players overseas is higher, but because the style of play is far from easy. The NBA is wide open and less physical [especially in the regular season], with better management by the officials and better players all around, so the adjustment to European play, particularly in Turkey, will be far from easy.
“I would be surprised if he heads over to Turkey and dominates the way people might be inclined to believe. He is a great player with great experience, but at his size, with his style of play, it won’t be easy.”
Could be as hard as, you know, going to practice.
“Professional players often joke about that [long-ago rant] all over the world!” Crispin said.
And the thing is, Crispin said, many players share that view. It’s just that nobody would ever dare say it, especially in the fashion Iverson did, in response to the demands placed upon him by Larry Brown, then the Sixers’ coach.
“It really is a classic. … I am laughing right now thinking about it,” Crispin said. “Unless his attitude has changed a bit, he is in for a shocker as far as practice is concerned. I still have a tough time with it!”
Contact Gordie Jones at gjones@phillysportsdaily.com.
Comments