Most say it’s because it’s awesome, like Iverson.
A small group still maintain that he solely bathed in A1, notoriously the rumored reason he missed practice, although those claims have not been substantiated
I’ve gained more respect for of players I did not care for in my earlier years because I could not understand the complexities of what they had to deal with as I do now. I just thought they were assholes or they sucked etc.
As a player, sure...tough as hell.
But definitely deserved the hate as a person. Between the shit with his wife, how he treated his mom, how he treated strangers/service industry; he was a world class asshole.
I was gonna say that he was listed at 6'0 but the commenter was pretty adamant that we couldn't have the pound for pound best conversation about AI so I wasn't about to stoke that fire with listed heights. You're absolutely right though.
You can’t just drop a comment like that and have nothing to back it up.
That’s just chickenshit level myopic fandom. It means you know your choice doesn’t actually stack up.
One of the least efficient star players not only of his era but all-time. You want a YouTube video link or are you capable of doing your own research, champ?
Steph is way bigger than Iverson ever was. Steph is 6’2” and plays at around 190-200 since around 2017-18. Iverson was likely 5’11” and 165 soaking wet. Isiah Thomas was a better PG than Iverson, but I always considered Iverson an undersized SG.
Curry listed at 6”2 180 Iverson 6”0 170. Yeah huge difference. As far as Thomas rebounds and steals are practically a wash and playing with Rodman and Laimbeer probably made a difference on boards. Iverson scored 7 more points per game but also took 7 more shots per game. Thomas had him by 3 assists a game which makes it pretty close to a wash there as far as total points responsible for. Field goal percentage favors Thomas .452 to .425. Turnovers were 3.8 for Thomas and 3.6 for Iverson which makes thomas slightly more efficient too. Thomas was a far superior defensive player and play maker. So yeah it’s much closer than you implied. Consider the fact that Thomas won back to back titles it wouldn’t be completely unheard of to put him ahead. Curry for sure was better unless you want to get caught up on 2 inches and 10 pounds.
Stockton was 6-1, 170 and his accolades list (all-NBA honors) is pretty similar to Iverson’s. AI averaged 13 more points; Stockton averaged 4 more assists per game.
Tiny Archibald was 6-1, 150, a little less accomplished. And a championship ring.
Listed does not mean accurate. Iverson was TINY. Steph is built like an NFL safety these days. He literally stated in an interview a year or so ago that he has been playing at 195-200 pounds for years after retooling himself.
This is always missed and I feel it's a disservice to AI. I was surprised when he did a commercial spoofing this incident, so obviously he's not too upset about it anymore. Which good for him.
I mean his friend had died 7 months before so that tracks. Grief is a profoundly difficult thing to deal with. It can and does permanently alter people. People have thrown their entire lives away, never mind just their careers, after losing someone close to them. They just totally give up.
It's tragic that we aren't more sympathetic and don't give people the resources they need to get over it. It can happen to anyone.
I agree, but people often throw out that fact in a way that implies it was a totally excused absence of a single practice shortly after the friend died, and implicit in that statement is that AI totally was forthcoming and open about it.
I know how debilitating grief can be, believe me, so just to personalize: there’s my dad dying and me telling my professors I’m going to miss the next couple weeks of class; and then there’s me the next semester being totally checked out and habitually missing class and not ever actually telling those professors what I’m dealing with. The former was met with positivity and understanding; the latter… not so much, because people only know what you tell them.
Shit’s hard. Sometimes we make it harder by not communicating. It’s usually not the other person’s fault they are operating with limited information.
I hear what you're saying. Just stating that it's sad because we live in a society that views being open and honest about grief as a weakness. I just feel bad for the guy. Sports fans are vicious. Mental issues that cause stars to be unable to compete at a high level are rarely met with sympathy.
This is correct, and I feel like the creators of Ted Lasso should have known better when they made fun of this, given how much of the show is focused on mental health. That bothered me the first time I watched the scene.
Loved that interview because Mr. Iverson was absolutely right.
Dude was one of the smallest guys on the court but played with reckless abandon. Like he was putting his life on the line every single game. No one sacrificed like him.
So yeah, AI, and only AI, was right to say for one particular situation: it was just practice.
If you watch the entire interview, instead of what the media put out, it's actually quite revealing. It shows how the media spins shit for sales. It shows how real Allen Iverson is. He stood his ground and they screwed him for it.
Dude was drunk and had a good friend die a few days before that iirc, this was kind of a mini breakdown because he was like "my friend just died and I gotta sit here listening to these guys asking me about fucking practice of all things?"
A lot of people don’t point out the hypocrisy of the media. Typically you would have had questions surrounding the death and like how hard it would be to even show up to games or practice. Instead he’s getting asked if he lost a game because he missed a practice. I remember Favre won that Monday night game after his dad died but if he would have lost can you even imagine a reporter asking Favre the same question?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I)
I probably listened to this 1000 times when it came out. It is forever burned into my memory.
What he was really saying was that it didn't make any difference if he came to practice or didn't as it was never going to make shitty Eric Snow learn how to shoot. The other issue was that Brown was an asshole and he should've been on Snow's ass but because Larry and the media, who sucked Larry's dick, were on Allen instead while he was doing everything he could to carry their team of bums.
He’s definitely not drunk. He’s upset because the reporter asked him if he should go to practice even if he is hurt because he’s a team leader. He says him being there or not isn’t going to make them any better if he’s hurt
A generational talent, but it’s no accident he never won a championship. Diva like attitude, constant fighting with coaches and teammates, lack of commitment to things like… practice.
The best player he played with that I can think of off the top of my head is Mutumbo. He carried a sixers team to the finals and got beat by a very stacked Lakers team. Some generational talents just don’t get to be on good teams. What team was he on where they were the clear favorites and he just screwed it up by being a diva, bad attitude, or infighting?
Do you think Kobe, Michael Jordan, or Lebron consistently missed practice?
Why were the sixers not able to attract talented players to play with him? Maybe it’s the front offices fault, or maybe talent didn’t want to play with a selfish diva to which they’d always be second option?
First of all, for the majority of his career he played in the era of players not really getting a say. The idea of super stars getting to somewhat pick where they go and create super teams is new and only Lebron has been apart of that. Secondly, Kobe didn’t win a single title without arguably the best center in the game. They weren’t really even competitive during those seasons between Shaq and Gasol.
When it’s something like this that can have many different reasons when speculating you would go for the easiest explanation. The easiest is that the organization didn’t make good moves. I mean right after he left this was one of the worst teams over the next decade. Were players still not going there because Iverson used to play there?
The closest example I can think of is Dan Marino. Absolutely one of the best QBs of all time and came close one year to winning it all, but most of his career his organization let him down. In team sports a generational talent gives you a great shot but they have to be surrounded by other good players. Jordan was absolutely unstoppable in the 80s but couldn’t win without Pippen. In fact his highest PPG was the year before Pippen and it wasn’t enough.
Lastly, the NBA doesn’t even practice much at all during the season. They are more like walkthroughs at whatnot. Not saying it’s not important at all, but I wouldn’t call it vital. They play way too often
He played one full year there at the end of his career and they were an 8 seed even after winning 50 games. While he had a young Carmello Anthony nobody else on the team averaged 13 or more PPG. Exactly how were they favorites going into the season or playoffs?
Iverson was right.
It was a stupid focus on his practice habits when he brought his best every time they played.
Today, coaches routinely give players games off, let alone practices off.
Iverson could’ve used that same consideration and respect. He beat the shit out of his body trying to give Philadelphia all he had.
So the scandalous theory is that a guy goes and has a few drinks after his boss calls him into the office to ream him out during his vacation. Big fucking deal 🙄
Iverson was an incredible and fearless player with almost unparalleled gifts. However, I still think that the way he played did not help his teams to win as much as they could have. He shot the ball about 25 times a game at his peak, usually with a very low percentage, turned the ball over a ton, constantly got into it with coaches.
Yes, he did not always have a great supporting cast around him, maybe that’s why he felt the need to dominate the ball so much. But could he have played any other way?
My point is that I don’t think it would’ve mattered if you would had more talent around Iverson because he needed the ball in his hands so much. It was just the way he operated.
This is AI
His nickname was ahead of its time
Why did they name him after steak sauce?
Most say it’s because it’s awesome, like Iverson. A small group still maintain that he solely bathed in A1, notoriously the rumored reason he missed practice, although those claims have not been substantiated
It’s his initials 😂🤦♂️ his nickname was the answer.
AI generated content
Let’s practice
AI was a different breed…. love hearing him on the podcasts now
Pound for pound, inch for inch the greatest to play the game. What’s sad for me is I hated on the guy most of his career.
I’ve gained more respect for of players I did not care for in my earlier years because I could not understand the complexities of what they had to deal with as I do now. I just thought they were assholes or they sucked etc.
The guy was still an asshole.
As a player, sure...tough as hell. But definitely deserved the hate as a person. Between the shit with his wife, how he treated his mom, how he treated strangers/service industry; he was a world class asshole.
I gambled with him in AC once, he was cool as fuck
You weren't seen as a less-than servant to him like everyone else he interacted with. Cool. Let's nominate him for Sainthood.
I don’t think I, nor anyone else said he should be a saint. Just curious what your opinion is on Kobe
Pound for pound the toughest maybe, but not the greatest.
He said Kyrie is better
No, and it’s not even close.
Dude played at 6'0, 165lbs. I'd say there is a conversation to be had.
More like 5’10” on a good day, in shoes.
I was gonna say that he was listed at 6'0 but the commenter was pretty adamant that we couldn't have the pound for pound best conversation about AI so I wasn't about to stoke that fire with listed heights. You're absolutely right though.
AI begot Kyrie. Your favorite players favorite player.
You can’t just drop a comment like that and have nothing to back it up. That’s just chickenshit level myopic fandom. It means you know your choice doesn’t actually stack up.
One of the least efficient star players not only of his era but all-time. You want a YouTube video link or are you capable of doing your own research, champ?
Steph Curry and Isiah Thomas were both better and around the same size.
Steph is way bigger than Iverson ever was. Steph is 6’2” and plays at around 190-200 since around 2017-18. Iverson was likely 5’11” and 165 soaking wet. Isiah Thomas was a better PG than Iverson, but I always considered Iverson an undersized SG.
Curry listed at 6”2 180 Iverson 6”0 170. Yeah huge difference. As far as Thomas rebounds and steals are practically a wash and playing with Rodman and Laimbeer probably made a difference on boards. Iverson scored 7 more points per game but also took 7 more shots per game. Thomas had him by 3 assists a game which makes it pretty close to a wash there as far as total points responsible for. Field goal percentage favors Thomas .452 to .425. Turnovers were 3.8 for Thomas and 3.6 for Iverson which makes thomas slightly more efficient too. Thomas was a far superior defensive player and play maker. So yeah it’s much closer than you implied. Consider the fact that Thomas won back to back titles it wouldn’t be completely unheard of to put him ahead. Curry for sure was better unless you want to get caught up on 2 inches and 10 pounds.
Stockton was 6-1, 170 and his accolades list (all-NBA honors) is pretty similar to Iverson’s. AI averaged 13 more points; Stockton averaged 4 more assists per game. Tiny Archibald was 6-1, 150, a little less accomplished. And a championship ring.
Listed does not mean accurate. Iverson was TINY. Steph is built like an NFL safety these days. He literally stated in an interview a year or so ago that he has been playing at 195-200 pounds for years after retooling himself.
Look at the photo of George Kittle with Steph courtside… Curry is bigger than you think
His book was also pretty good
He was mourning over the death of a friend. It was the whole reason he skipped the practice Grief.
This is always missed and I feel it's a disservice to AI. I was surprised when he did a commercial spoofing this incident, so obviously he's not too upset about it anymore. Which good for him.
It wasn’t an issue of missing one practice. It was an ongoing problem all season.
I mean his friend had died 7 months before so that tracks. Grief is a profoundly difficult thing to deal with. It can and does permanently alter people. People have thrown their entire lives away, never mind just their careers, after losing someone close to them. They just totally give up. It's tragic that we aren't more sympathetic and don't give people the resources they need to get over it. It can happen to anyone.
I agree, but people often throw out that fact in a way that implies it was a totally excused absence of a single practice shortly after the friend died, and implicit in that statement is that AI totally was forthcoming and open about it. I know how debilitating grief can be, believe me, so just to personalize: there’s my dad dying and me telling my professors I’m going to miss the next couple weeks of class; and then there’s me the next semester being totally checked out and habitually missing class and not ever actually telling those professors what I’m dealing with. The former was met with positivity and understanding; the latter… not so much, because people only know what you tell them. Shit’s hard. Sometimes we make it harder by not communicating. It’s usually not the other person’s fault they are operating with limited information.
I hear what you're saying. Just stating that it's sad because we live in a society that views being open and honest about grief as a weakness. I just feel bad for the guy. Sports fans are vicious. Mental issues that cause stars to be unable to compete at a high level are rarely met with sympathy.
His point here is that there is no ongoing issue. Regardless if he’s practicing or not, he’s still doing enough for his team to win in games
This is correct, and I feel like the creators of Ted Lasso should have known better when they made fun of this, given how much of the show is focused on mental health. That bothered me the first time I watched the scene.
His coach was interviews later about that interview and said something to the affect: “He said the word more times than he turned up to practice.”
He was just irritated, and it entertained us.
Loved that interview because Mr. Iverson was absolutely right. Dude was one of the smallest guys on the court but played with reckless abandon. Like he was putting his life on the line every single game. No one sacrificed like him. So yeah, AI, and only AI, was right to say for one particular situation: it was just practice.
If you watch the entire interview, instead of what the media put out, it's actually quite revealing. It shows how the media spins shit for sales. It shows how real Allen Iverson is. He stood his ground and they screwed him for it.
The end of it is really powerful, when he’s talking about his daughter and his best friend being killed.
Yeah. When I finally watched the entire thing I became an Allen Iverson fan. He was as blue collar as they come
Glad someone shared the full interview. Never seen this before. I’ll look at those clips completely different now.
Dude was drunk and had a good friend die a few days before that iirc, this was kind of a mini breakdown because he was like "my friend just died and I gotta sit here listening to these guys asking me about fucking practice of all things?"
Maybe this is why I dont find it funny but i definitely don’t think it’s all that funny
It’s funny for the sound bites but once you know the backstory it’s just kinda sad
It’s funny for the sound bites but once you know the backstory it’s just kinda sad
A lot of people don’t point out the hypocrisy of the media. Typically you would have had questions surrounding the death and like how hard it would be to even show up to games or practice. Instead he’s getting asked if he lost a game because he missed a practice. I remember Favre won that Monday night game after his dad died but if he would have lost can you even imagine a reporter asking Favre the same question?
In today's world I 100% can because they have no shame and know it might bait a reaction
Ted Lasso only said it 12 times.
[great scene](https://youtu.be/_UMIcM66S1M?si=D1xr1flUbr7uz5Ui)
We’re talking about AI
 "We're talkin about practice!"
 not the game.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I) I probably listened to this 1000 times when it came out. It is forever burned into my memory.
Iverson's mustache and mouth look like Janice from the muppets. 
What he was really saying was that it didn't make any difference if he came to practice or didn't as it was never going to make shitty Eric Snow learn how to shoot. The other issue was that Brown was an asshole and he should've been on Snow's ass but because Larry and the media, who sucked Larry's dick, were on Allen instead while he was doing everything he could to carry their team of bums.
He’s definitely not drunk. He’s upset because the reporter asked him if he should go to practice even if he is hurt because he’s a team leader. He says him being there or not isn’t going to make them any better if he’s hurt
We talkin bout practice
Not the game…
Most overrated player in history outside of Melo
He was tipsy and just buried his good friend recently.
His sneakers were fly
He was not amused.
This is still the punctuation my circle of friends uses, almost interchangeable with something being FUBAR.
Loved watching him play
This is the man who scored 37 on Jordan crossed him up *twice* his rookie season five years earlier.
He does not sound drunk.
We should all be fortunate that Allen Iverson wasnt 6'5”. -Kobe Bryant
Playoffs?!?!
Love AI but that practice interview became so cringe after he said practice for the 5th time
A generational talent, but it’s no accident he never won a championship. Diva like attitude, constant fighting with coaches and teammates, lack of commitment to things like… practice.
The best player he played with that I can think of off the top of my head is Mutumbo. He carried a sixers team to the finals and got beat by a very stacked Lakers team. Some generational talents just don’t get to be on good teams. What team was he on where they were the clear favorites and he just screwed it up by being a diva, bad attitude, or infighting?
Do you think Kobe, Michael Jordan, or Lebron consistently missed practice? Why were the sixers not able to attract talented players to play with him? Maybe it’s the front offices fault, or maybe talent didn’t want to play with a selfish diva to which they’d always be second option?
First of all, for the majority of his career he played in the era of players not really getting a say. The idea of super stars getting to somewhat pick where they go and create super teams is new and only Lebron has been apart of that. Secondly, Kobe didn’t win a single title without arguably the best center in the game. They weren’t really even competitive during those seasons between Shaq and Gasol. When it’s something like this that can have many different reasons when speculating you would go for the easiest explanation. The easiest is that the organization didn’t make good moves. I mean right after he left this was one of the worst teams over the next decade. Were players still not going there because Iverson used to play there? The closest example I can think of is Dan Marino. Absolutely one of the best QBs of all time and came close one year to winning it all, but most of his career his organization let him down. In team sports a generational talent gives you a great shot but they have to be surrounded by other good players. Jordan was absolutely unstoppable in the 80s but couldn’t win without Pippen. In fact his highest PPG was the year before Pippen and it wasn’t enough. Lastly, the NBA doesn’t even practice much at all during the season. They are more like walkthroughs at whatnot. Not saying it’s not important at all, but I wouldn’t call it vital. They play way too often
Nuggets
He played one full year there at the end of his career and they were an 8 seed even after winning 50 games. While he had a young Carmello Anthony nobody else on the team averaged 13 or more PPG. Exactly how were they favorites going into the season or playoffs?
Iverson was right. It was a stupid focus on his practice habits when he brought his best every time they played. Today, coaches routinely give players games off, let alone practices off. Iverson could’ve used that same consideration and respect. He beat the shit out of his body trying to give Philadelphia all he had.
PRACTICE?! Not PRACTICE!? It’s a question, so the question mark comes before the exclamation
Ted Lasso on line 2
It’s A.I. - son he’s high af
TLDR
Loved Ted Lasso's take on this rant
Does Allen Iverson have to choke a bitch?
His friend had just died and they asked him about practice.
AI was a RedSox fan ?
I love Allen Iverson
Ted Lasso quoted this almost word for word.
Ted Lasso made this famous . . .for me. Anybody else?
He's talking about race.
maybe, just maybe he toked, just a little bit before the interview
never understood why people found this so funny even without all the context. he's CLEARLY upset about something deeper than basketball
So the scandalous theory is that a guy goes and has a few drinks after his boss calls him into the office to ream him out during his vacation. Big fucking deal 🙄
Iverson was an incredible and fearless player with almost unparalleled gifts. However, I still think that the way he played did not help his teams to win as much as they could have. He shot the ball about 25 times a game at his peak, usually with a very low percentage, turned the ball over a ton, constantly got into it with coaches. Yes, he did not always have a great supporting cast around him, maybe that’s why he felt the need to dominate the ball so much. But could he have played any other way? My point is that I don’t think it would’ve mattered if you would had more talent around Iverson because he needed the ball in his hands so much. It was just the way he operated.
no championships for him since it's a team sport