Tag: Iverson

  • Iverson Bags Turkey, Wants NBA Job

    Iverson Bags Turkey, Wants NBA Job

    Former Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson is done playing ball in Turkey and wants back in the NBA. But would the Sixers ever bring Iverson back here?

    Video (From 2002): We’re Talkin About Practice

    Classic Video: Iverson Talks About Practice: MyFoxPHILLY.com

    That would seem to be a long shot but stranger things have happened in Philadelphia.

    But the team’s rumored new owner, billionaire investor Joshua Harris from Apollo Capital Management, is a long-time Sixers fan.

    The web site Business Insider says Harris will get the team for between $270 million and $290 million , which would be a discount from its reported Forbes market value of $330 million.

    Harris is a Whatron grad and reportedly a hardcore Sixers fan.

    So what fan-turned-owner would pass on giving Iverson a chance to retired as a Sixer?

    For Iverson’s part, he told ESPN recently he is back from Turkey , rehabbing an injury and wants one last shot in the NBA.

    “Just give me a training camp,” Iverson said. “Maybe I’ve rubbed people the wrong way as far as saying the things I’ve said in my life and in my career. But if any team needs me to help try and win a championship in any capacity, I’m waiting.”

    The Sixers may actually have an opening for a guard, at the veteran minimum, if Andre Iguodala is traded for a forward or center.

    The team doesn’t have the salary cap space to add a more expensive player, and it could include Jodie Meeks or Lou Williams in a deal to move Iguodala.

    The big question is if Iverson can even play at an NBA level. He only played in a handful of games in Turkey and he just turned 36 this week.

    But the Sixers would have little to lose by inviting Iverson to training camp to practice with the team and at least giving him a chance to retire in Philadelphia if he can’t make the Sixers.

    In December 2009, Iverson returned for a brief stint with a bad Sixers team and wept at a press conference. He left the team several months later.

    via Iverson Bags Turkey, Wants NBA Job.

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  • Shaquille O’Neal To Play In Turkey Next Year Says Guy In Turkey

    Shaquille O’Neal To Play In Turkey Next Year Says Guy In Turkey

    Kevin Baumer | Dec. 8, 2010, 12:32 PM | 57 |

    shaqSeref Yalcin, the general manager of Besiktas, the Turkish basketball team that Allen Iverson plays for, says that Shaquille O’Neal told him he’s coming to Turkey next year.

    Yalcin understands people might doubt his claim, but insists that it’s true:

    ‘Some people will still come out and said ‘Shaq won’t come to Turkey” Yalcin said. ‘But the chances are very high.’

    Shaq does have a player option with the Boston Celtics next year, but with doubts that the season will start on time, or be held at all, it’s possible that he’s serious about continuing his career overseas.

  • In The News: Iverson Denies Unhappiness In Turkey

    In The News: Iverson Denies Unhappiness In Turkey

    iversonEveryone looked at Georgetown’s Allen Iverson with skepticism when he decided to head to Turkey to play basketball and now Iverson has gone to Twitter to shoot down rumors that he’s unhappy.

    Said Iverson on his account: “What’s up everybody? I want all of yall to know that I am very happy here in Istanbul. My family and I are making this our home. The fans and my Teammates here are great, and we are building good chemistry. For those of you who really care about (me) just know this, I am very pleased and I am enjoying this ride! God Bless.”

    via In The News: Iverson Denies Unhappiness In Turkey – LostLettermen.com.

  • Iverson: Turkish curiosity

    Iverson: Turkish curiosity

    ISTANBUL, Turkey – In Turkey, Allen Iverson has brought basketball to the masses.

    iversonpic27 t210He has been welcomed by millions, embraced by a star-starved Istanbul as the star-crossed superstar that he once was – and hopes to one day become again.

    Visions of AI billboards (sipping a Turkish soda, perhaps?) dance in one’s imagination.

    He is the fresh prince of this ancient city.

    This is reality … is it not?

    Not really.

    That depiction is distorted. On game night inside BJK Akatlar Arena – home court of Iverson’s new team, the Besiktas Cola Turka Black Eagles – the image of Iverson hysteria is pure and true, but the arena seats 3,200 in a city of about 13 million.

    Iverson is not a sensation here, but rather an exciting curiosity for small pockets of basketball fans, playing for a club that doesn’t even compete in Euroleague, Europe’s most prestigious.

    The 76ers’ former all-everything guard is broke – by all accounts except his own – and playing in Istanbul for a number of reasons, none of which is to become an ambassador for Turkey’s solid, but often overlooked, pro league.

    In early November, Iverson signed a two-year, $4 million contract with Besiktas, then missed his original flight to Istanbul, got on a plane two days later, and scored 15 points in his Besiktas debut on Tuesday.

    On Sunday, Besiktas lost 74-67 to crosstown rival Fenerbahce Ulker, whose point guard is former Temple star Lynn Greer.

    The Blue Mosque, Spice Market, and Grand Bazaar are all about a half-court heave in any direction. The streets are cobblestone, the newspapers filled with soccer, the restaurants packed.

    It’s Istanbul’s tourist district, where the waiters know English and the cabbies know every switchback in every road.

    No one knows Iverson. Not one.

    A waiter, flipping through pictures on his touchscreen phone and singing Usher, tilts his head when asked about Iverson.

    “Where’s that?” he finally asks, more curious than confused, as if “Allen Iverson” is a new nightclub he’d like to check out.

    Never mind.

    “In that area, they may not know,” said Ismail Senol, an announcer for NTV Spor, which broadcasts Turkish Basketball League games. “It’s a financial thing. In rich areas, they know Allen Iverson because NBA TV, they have to pay for it and then are interested in it. In some places they’ll know him, in some places they don’t know him.”

    Maybe Greer can explain.

    On Saturday, his Fenerbahce team practiced just ahead of Besiktas inside BJK Akatlar Arena. Greer, pausing to say hello to Iverson as he walked onto the court, did just that.

    “Soccer is way up here.” Greer raised his hand as if talking about someone quite tall. “And basketball – some people like basketball.

    “It’s unbelievable,” Greer said. “Last season, our soccer team used to have 55,000 at their games and then at the basketball games, we’d get like 2,000.”

    So using Greer’s example, thousands care that Iverson is here – maybe one in every few thousand.

    Iverson has been selective in granting interviews. At first, he talked only to HBO.

    After Friday evening’s practice, Iverson neither declined nor confirmed an interview request and merely walked toward the locker room after saying, “I need to shower.” A few minutes later, he left a handful or reporters interview-less, which was not unexpected.

    A similar source explained that Iverson is broke, plain and simple.

    Over his NBA career, including his lucrative deal with Reebok, Iverson made over $100 million.

    “It’s very surprising,” Besiktas teammate Mire Chatman said of Iverson’s signing. “I was a big fan of his. He paved the way for a lot of scoring point guards. Now that he’s here, I just want to help him adjust to the European basketball.”

    Whether he’s here for money or for a second chance – and the likelihood is it’s a combination of the two – Iverson appears genuinely happy during practices.

    Greer has seen Iverson’s influence on Turkish basketball.

    Now, Greer said, instead of the 10-page Turkish sports section filled with 10 pages of soccer, there is often one page reserved for Iverson, which is one more than usual.

    via Iverson: Turkish curiosity – Spokesman.com – Nov. 27, 2010.

  • Istanbul Thinks It’s Too Cool For Allen Iverson

    Istanbul Thinks It’s Too Cool For Allen Iverson

    By RAY GUSTINI | November 22, 2010 4:06pm

    allen iversonTurkish basketball club Besiktas signed former Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson to a two-year, $4 million contract earlier this month, partly because A.I. was no longer good enough to play in the NBA, but also because they saw him as the kind of American superstar who, based on sheer name recognition alone, patrons in Istanbul would show up to see play.

    If Iverson’s first week with the team is any indication, hoops fans in the cradle of civilization are more discerning than Beskitas management gives them credit for. Kate Fagan, covering Iverson’s stint in Turkey adventure for The Philadelphia Inquirer, says it plainly:

    Iverson is not a sensation here, but rather an exciting curiosity for small pockets of basketball fans, playing for a club that doesn’t even compete in Euroleague, Europe’s most prestigious.

    The 76ers’ former all-everything guard is broke – by all accounts except his own – and playing here in Istanbul for a number of reasons, none of which is to become an ambassador for Turkey’s solid, but often overlooked, professional league.

    Whatever Iverson’s motives for coming to Turkey, they don’t seem to bother the people paying his $2 million salary, nor does Fagan’s withering assessment that, in a town of approximately 13 million, “thousands care that Iverson is here – maybe one in every few thousand.” She explains further:

    The folks working for Besiktas believe Iverson is happy, which makes them happy. They don’t want to hear about the past, about poor performances and injuries and distractions and eventual implosion.

    Even if you try to tell them, they just shrug, believing that this time is different, that Iverson is changing if not changed.

    Iverson’s Turkish journey is only a few weeks old, and those paying close attention, a slim percentage of this wonderful city, are charmed by all of Iverson’s charming ways.

    Considering Iverson’s new club plays its games in 3,200 seat Akatlar Arena, that slim percentage could perhaps more accurately be described as anorexic.

    SOURCES

    Iverson in Istanbul Kate Fagan, The Philadelphia Inquirer

    via Istanbul Thinks It’s Too Cool For Allen Iverson | The Atlantic Wire.

  • NBA TV to broadcast Iverson’s game in Turkey tomorrow

    NBA TV to broadcast Iverson’s game in Turkey tomorrow

    No need to fly all the way to Turkey to catch Allen Iverson play basketball again, you can do it from the comfort of your home.

    NBA TV announced yesterday that it will televise the game featuring Iverson’s Turkish team, Besiktas Cola Turka, tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. Iverson’s team will face the defending TBL champion Fenerbahce Ulker from Istanbul. Calling the game for NBA TV will be Rick Kamla and Chris Webber.

    Iverson, who returned to the 76ers for 25 games last season before leaving the team because of his young daughter’s illness, scored 15 points in his Turkey debut on Wednesday. *

    – Bob Cooney

    via NBA TV to broadcast Iverson’s game in Turkey tomorrow | Philadelphia Daily News | 11/20/2010.