SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Allen Iverson wants to thank the haters, too.
The former 76ers point guard said he will save time in his Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech to mention the people who criticized him throughout his career, explaining that they are also responsible for molding the player that earned a spot in the shrine.
“Even the ones that were negative in my career, obviously to try prove them wrong” was a motivation, he said Thursday after arriving late to a pre-induction press conference. “I had to overcome what they said about me. I had to overcome all that to be wearing this [Hall of Fame] jacket right now. The naysayers, they helped me, too.”
An 11-time All-Star, Iverson averaged 26.7 points and 6.2 assists in his 14-year NBA career. But he was also a polarizing figure in a league struggling with racial issues, with his tattoos and cornrows and embrace of a hip-hop culture that was at odds with the corporate image the NBA wanted to project.
Also scheduled to be inducted on Friday night are Shaquille O’Neal, Yao Ming, Sheryl Swoopes, Tom Izzo and Jerry Reinsdorf. Posthumous honorees include 27-year NBA referee Darell Garretson; John McLendon, the first African-American coach in a professional league; Cumberland Posey, who also is in the Baseball Hall of Fame; and Zelmo Beaty, who led Prairie View to an NAIA title in 1962.
Players were ushered upstairs to a function room to answer reporters’ questions shortly after 3 p.m., and O’Neal soon launched into an imitation of Iverson’s notorious “Practice?” speech.
“It’s the basketball Hall of Fame. I don’t know how you miss this,” O’Neal said. “I’m going to get my jacket AND my ring.”
He said his speech will be a love letter to those who helped him achieve a basketball dream that didn’t seem real when he was a teenage army brat.
“I don’t memorize a lot of stuff, but I have this one memorized,” O’Neal said of his speech. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I bought about 1,000 tickets to each event. All my family, everybody will be there. It’s just great.”