Nice USA Today article from early in the season on Iverson, his relationship with Larry Brown, and the 76ers.
Perhaps the most convincing evidence that Allen Iverson is a different man has to do with his 'do.
Normally, Iverson's braided hair is perfectly coifed, a work of art. But when he took the floor to face the Cleveland Cavaliers a week ago, some of the braids were undone and looked ragged. It turns out that Iverson knew if he worked on his hair he'd be late for the 76ers' pregame routine. It was a no-brainer.
"He just left things the way they were so he could get to the game on time," says 76ers president Pat Croce. "That wouldn't have happened before. His hair would have been an excuse. That was a big step for him."
Iverson, 25, has been taking a lot of big steps lately, and no one could be more pleased than coach Larry Brown, the man Iverson has battled with much of the last three seasons.
The relationship an NBA coach has with his star player is one of the most important dynamics on any team, and after three years of tugging at each other, Brown and Iverson are finally pulling in the same direction.
The 76ers, as a result, are cruising along with the NBA's only perfect record, 10-0 going into tonight's game at Charlotte. With Brown and Iverson on the same page, it sends a strong message -- the 76ers aren't going away.
In the past, Brown and Iverson have tangled over the most elementary of things -- a dress code, coming to practice on time, lifting weights, having a professional attitude and being a leader. Brown
has taken those things for granted his entire coaching career, yet with Iverson, even these basics were a negotiation.
Not anymore.
Some people say it was the threat of a trade to the Clippers that scared Iverson straight. (He also was near being dealt to Detroit). Iverson says it was a natural maturation, calling his past behavior
of tardiness and missing practices altogether "ridiculous." All it served to do was give the 76ers ammunition to justify trading him.
Winning certainly helps a relationship, but Brown is convinced that even though he's heard the "I'm going to change" speech from Iverson before, this time he is sincere. Iverson wants to win more than anything and sincerely cares about what his fans think.
At first he couldn't understand why everyone made a big deal over offensive lyrics on his rap CD. His first reaction was to lash out at critics, but after meeting with protesting groups and Commissioner
David Stern, Iverson promised to clean up the offensive references on the CD, scheduled for a February release.
His new image repaired, he is enjoying the most incident free stretch of his career.
Brown, who admits he could have handled some incidents with Iverson better, now sees an eager Iverson, hungry to be the best and willing to make any necessary sacrifices to get there.
"I'm learning different things, and I'm learning a lot of them from Coach Brown," Iverson says. "When I first came into the league, everybody saw the talent that God gave me, and they wanted to make me a guy who was 35 years old. Nobody ever gave me any room for any mistakes. Everybody felt that because I had the talent I have, I was supposed to know everything -- on and off the court.
That isn't true for anybody. Everybody makes mistakes, and most people eventually get better. That's where I am now. I'm getting better on and off the court."
Winning in groups of two
Two of the best coach-player relationships in recent NBA history were Magic Johnson and Pat Riley with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s and Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan with the Chicago
Bulls in the 1990s. Those close-knit relationships led to four NBA championships for
Johnson and Riley and six for Jordan and Jackson.
Johnson and Riley talked and then went out and sold their ideas to everyone else. Jordan and Jackson were more like father and son. Jackson got Jordan to see things he couldn't see by himself and to appreciate his teammates. But Johnson and Jordan were from middle class homes and disciplined environments.
Iverson is a product of a more fight-to-survive culture. He's of the anti-mainstream hip-hop generation, while Johnson and Jordan are from a generation where you were brought up to respect. They had a solid groundwork when they came into the league, and they built on it. Iverson is trying to add the foundation after the building is already up. In turning to Brown, Iverson hasn't turned away from his original support group. His mother, Ann, is his biggest fan and is at almost all 76ers games wearing Iverson's No. 3. Friends, some of whom have put Iverson in some compromising situations, have not been abandoned, he just listens to them less.
When the Lakers or Bulls had setbacks, Johnson and Riley and Jordan and Jackson became stronger and often closer. It remains to be seen how the Brown-Iverson relationship will change once the 76ers hit a slump.
"The biggest things I've been preaching to him have been about things over which he has control," Brown says. "It's never been about how he was playing or how he was competing. It's always
been issues like being on time, being a professional, working on his game in the offseason and being a leader. I think he made the decision himself that he was going to handle those things,
and he's doing that, and that allows me to coach. He's accepted his responsibility. That's the only way a coach can succeed in this league -- if your best players set the standards."
Iverson smiles when asked what about Brown impresses him the most.
"It's his know-how," Iverson says. "He knows how to run a game. He makes all the right decisions at the critical times. He's just somebody special to watch. He thinks basketball 24-7, and he knows exactly what he's talking about. He's definitely a reason for me playing the way I'm playing now."
No more mediation
Brown and Iverson have always had tough love for each other. "I've maintained all along that if I ever had a need or was in trouble, Allen would be the first guy to stand up or me," Brown says. "I'd never question his heart or his loyalty. I think he always understood what I was saying, but he has always had a lot of things going on in his life and in his mind and maybe it just took this long."
Croce, often the man in the middle of past Iverson-Brown rifts, doesn't have to mediate or take sides any longer.
"Larry Brown and Allen Iverson are great for each other," he says. "Allen is a star, and he helps Larry use all of his magical coaching experience, and Allen knows finally to listen to him. "I told Allen in the offseason that he wasn't going to get traded 'if you just follow the rules.' I think the light bulb started clicking on, and it's been shining bright."
Says 76ers point guard and co-captain Eric Snow: "Allen lets Coach do his job, and Coach lets him do his thing. It isn't even an issue anymore. It's like whatever went on between them before never happened."
Iverson is averaging 5.3 fewer points than last season, down to 23.1. But the 76ers, as a team, are scoring 1.5 more points a game as Iverson has made sure his teammates are more involved.
His performance in Monday's 114-90 win at Boston was typical of the new Iverson. He had 26 points, eight assists, five steals, two rebounds and no turnovers.
"That guy is something else," Brown said. "I may not have handled the situations right all the time with him, but it's the most satisfying thing to hear people comment on how good he's playing and how well he's acting. He's playing winning basketball now, and that, to me, is the greatest compliment anybody can give him. "During his early career we changed things to accommodate him, and now he's accommodating his teammates. He has truly made them better."
The Brown-Iverson relationship, as good as it appears to be now, isn't a case of two sides meeting in the middle to work out differences. It's a case of one side seeing that the other side was right all
along.
Iverson has no problem laying blame at his own feet, but both he and Brown insist that although there have been a number of confrontations between the two, they've always had a deep respect
for each other.
They're from different worlds, different generations and have different support systems, but they are both keenly aware of how much the success of the team and them as individuals hinges on their relationship.
Their roads are finally running parallel.
"I've coached Reggie Miller, Danny Manning, Bobby Jones, Billy Cunningham, Dan Issel, David Thompson and David Robinson," Brown says, "but I've never had a challenge like this. Allen has gone through a lot in four years, and what we're seeing now is just the beginning. He's going to get even better.
"It's tough to coach great players because you want, no matter what, nothing more than for them to realize their potential and be allowed to play as well as they are capable of playing."
Says Croce, "Allen is a special man. He's smart. He learns through personal experiences, which many times are painful for him, for me and for the franchise. But he doesn't make the same mistake twice."
