Allen Iverson Biography
Nicknamed
"The Answer", Allen Iverson is one of
the greatest guards of his generation and one
of the most prolific scorers in the history of
basketball. He has played his whole career with
the Philadelphia 76ers and has been fundamental
to the development of the team over the past decade.
His efforts have not been without reward as he
has made it to number 53 on SLAM Magazine's Top
75 NBA players of all time. At 31 he his now a
veteran of the game and is a certain inductee
to the NBA Hall Of Fame after he retires.
Iverson
was born 7th June, 1975 in Hampton, Virginia and
was given his mother's maiden name - "Iverson",
rather than his father's, Broughton. At school
he excelled at both football (as a quarterback)
and basketball but would focus solely on basketball
after High School.
He
had planned to go to College but he nearly didn't
make it after he became involved in an altercation
at a bowling alley with a group of white youths
where he was alleged to have a hit a woman in
the head with a chair. He was sentenced to 15
year imprisonment with a 10 year suspension which
was later overturned on appeal. This was not the
only time that Iverson would be involved with
the law. In 1997 he was arrested and charged for
carrying a concealed weapon and for possession
of marijuana for which he was sentenced to community
service.
His
legal issues behind him, he went on to attend
Georgetown University in Washington D.C. where
he played for the Hoyas before leaving after his
Sophomore year to the NBA draft.
It
was now 1996 and he ended up as first overall
pick for the Philadelphia 76ers who he has played
for ever since. Having played out the whole of
his career with the 76ers he is joined only by
Kobe Bryant (who has played for the LA Lakers
since he was drafted back in 1996) and Kevin Garnett
who has spent his 11 year playing career with
the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Over
this 10 year period he has remained the leading
scorer for the team averaging 23.5 points per
game in his first season and averaging 28.0 points
per game over his whole career. Here he trails
behind Michael Jordan by only 2.1 points per game.
His prolific scoring has led to him being 4-time
NBA regular-season leader, with 26.8 points in
1999), 31.1 points in 2000, 31.4 points in 2002
and 30.7 points in 2005. He achieved a career-high
on February 12, 2005, when he scored 60 points
against Orlando Magic and despite his critics
who call him a ball hog he looks set to remain
the 76ers leading points scorer for some years
yet.
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