Stephen A. Smith conducted one of the most famous Allen Iverson interviews ever. In 2002, where they discussed his ‘practice’ press conference, and other issues regarding Iverson’s life. Iverson is one of the most talked about basketball players ever, and probably one of the most iconic to lace it up, and arguable pound for pound the best player to ever play. Yet he still receives so much criticism for his activates outside of basketball. His documentary recently came out highlighting some of Iverson’s off the court issues including his arrests in high school, his rap career, and his ridiculous spending habits. Stephen A. Smith is defending him despite these things.
On Friday on First Take, Stephen A. Smith discussed Iverson’s ‘practice’ press conference, where he repeated ‘practise’ over 20 times. He says Iverson wasn’t drunk, despite rumors. According to ESPN:
“This is a flat-out lie,” Smith said Friday on “First Take.” “Allen Iverson was not drunk the day he had that press conference about practice.”
Smith said he spoke to the former Philadelphia 76ers star for 45 minutes Friday morning, and Smith said Iverson rebutted the claim that he was drunk during the news conference in which repeated the phrase “we’re talking about practice” 22 times.
The allegation comes from a new book about Iverson that was published this week. Journalist Kent Babb, author of “Not a Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson,” interviewed former team officials and reporters who were present for the news conference. In the book, Babb wrote, “Some were entertained, and others watched the train wreck unfold — knowing from experience that Iverson was drunk.”
According to Smith, Iverson said he was “being lied on” and was firm in his denial of Babb’s claim.
Iverson’s documentary clearly highlights what happened to Iverson the day of his ‘practice situation’ and the book goes a little bit more into detail about the day of the press conference.
“They had no idea my best friend had just got killed. The press conference wasn’t about practice. It was about me being [possibly] traded from Philadelphia. Nobody ever talked about that, never heard why I was upset or what the conference was about.”
Seven months before the 2002 news conference, Iverson’s friend Rahsaan Langford was shot to death in Virginia.
According to the book, then-Sixers GM Billy King suggested that Iverson speak to reporters four days after the Boston Celtics eliminated the Sixers in the first round of the 2002 Eastern Conference playoffs. The news conference came on the heels of Iverson showing up late for a meeting with coach Larry Brown and then arguing with Brown about the player’s future in the parking lot of the team facility. According to the book, Iverson asked Brown — who days earlier had said any Sixer could be traded — if the star was on the block. Brown said no.
After his talk with Brown, Iverson left with a friend and returned later for the news conference. “I assumed he went and fooled around somewhere,” Brown said, tipping his hand up like a bottle, the author wrote in the book.
Before the news conference, King said he could tell that something was off about Iverson, but “if we thought that he was drinking or whatever, we’d have never done it.”
Despite this being truly hard to believe, Iverson was known for his reckless habits. We tend to see situations like this a lot in sports. Players who were forced into the flashing lights and glamorous life too early into their lives and it hurt them in the long run in their NBA careers. Despite all his negatives and positives, Iverson is probably the second most influential basketball player ever next to Michael Jordan, and he changed the world. He invented NBA players with tattoo’s. Stephen A was right to defend Iverson and the allegations against him.
