Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: Search seventy sixers podcast Wherever you get your pods. On
Speaker 1: this special seven to sixth day edition of Tom's Talks,
Speaker 1: The Answer Delivers Answers, It's Alan Iverson in this week's podcast.
Speaker 1: Alan Iverson. Iverson is one of the most iconic Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy sixers. His number three hangs from the Raptors at
Speaker 1: the center. He played fourteen NBA seasons. AI was an
Speaker 1: eleven time All Star, a two time All Star Game MVP.
Speaker 1: He was the league's MVP in two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: He won the scoring championship four times, and on and on.
Speaker 1: It all led up to his twenty sixteenth induction into
Speaker 1: Manase Smith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Here now answers
Speaker 1: from the Answer Allan, thank you so much, A great
Speaker 1: pleasure to talk to you. How's it going, great man?
Speaker 1: Thanks for adding You know sometimes that the players in
Speaker 1: the midst of his career, and particularly with your career
Speaker 1: and I kind of career one where you had so
Speaker 1: many awards and so many accomplishments, scoring championships, as they say, MVP,
Speaker 1: getting into the finals, all those things they say, I
Speaker 1: can't really take it in until I'm done. But now
Speaker 1: that you've been out of basketball and you consider the
Speaker 1: whole body of your basketball work, what do you think of?
Speaker 1: What are you I'm sure you're proud of so much.
Speaker 1: What do you reflect back on? Um, how I did it,
Speaker 1: the people that helped um knowing, you know, looking back
Speaker 1: on it, and you see all the hardwood classics, and
Speaker 1: you know the different people that still come up to
Speaker 1: you and you know tell you about you know, what
Speaker 1: you did for their life and how you inspired them.
Speaker 1: And different kids you never thought would know you are, um,
Speaker 1: you know, being that I played so long ago, then
Speaker 1: you had kids six and seven years old and just
Speaker 1: know who I am from YouTube and UM, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just it's just a great feeling then all the
Speaker 1: wars that I've been in, just knowing that, you know,
Speaker 1: I couldn't have done any of this without a lot
Speaker 1: of people, you know what I mean, Without my family,
Speaker 1: my friends, my teammates, coaching staffs, the medical guys, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, the fans. Just so many people
Speaker 1: help you accomplish, um, something as great as being a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame basketball player, and you kind of just
Speaker 1: take your hat off to those people and salute them
Speaker 1: and honor them as much as you can. What do
Speaker 1: you miss more the competition or the camaraderie with the guys.
Speaker 1: A lot of people walk away from man. I missed
Speaker 1: the bus to play in the locker room guys. Obviously
Speaker 1: you were one of the biggest competitors of all time,
Speaker 1: the guys, being around the guys, the different emotions after
Speaker 1: wins after losses, UM, I think that the losses were
Speaker 1: the best to me because you know, it brings everybody closer.
Speaker 1: You know, you you you you try um on the
Speaker 1: next shot to not have that feeling, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean when you lose. You know how pain for
Speaker 1: losing is. But you know that's what make winning so great,
Speaker 1: you know, just having that feeling of disappointment and when
Speaker 1: you do, when you know, you kind of think about
Speaker 1: the pain that you felt, you know, when you lose.
Speaker 1: So just being around the guys, being around the coaching
Speaker 1: staff and and learning and you know, like like you
Speaker 1: talked about before, UM, the accomplishments that I've had in
Speaker 1: my career, I just feel like, you know, the different
Speaker 1: coaches that I've had, should you know, be honored and
Speaker 1: feel good you know, to know that they helped me
Speaker 1: accomplish you know those things, those awards and and things
Speaker 1: like that. So you know, that's the best feeling as
Speaker 1: the guys. Obviously the competition, but it's nothing better than
Speaker 1: being around the guys. Two huge influences in your career
Speaker 1: at Georgetown John Thompson and with the Sixers Larry Brown.
Speaker 1: What did coach Thompson? And obviously that was at a
Speaker 1: different point of your life, But how did he impact you? Um?
Speaker 1: He was He was so much of a protector for me,
Speaker 1: you know when I came in you know, everything that
Speaker 1: happened um in high school. You know, Um, there was
Speaker 1: a lot of criticism. You know, I had it all
Speaker 1: throughout my career, but more so um coming to college,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean with a you know, um
Speaker 1: already with you know, people having a perception of me
Speaker 1: that wasn't me. So I had to deal with that
Speaker 1: and he was able to um protect me in a
Speaker 1: way that no other person I think could and just uh,
Speaker 1: you know, letting me make my mistakes, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, letting me grow as a basketball player, and
Speaker 1: and and and you know, trying to mold the talent
Speaker 1: that he had into you know, playing team basketball and
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, all of those lessons that he
Speaker 1: gave me off of the basketball court. I think that
Speaker 1: was the most um special part of all relationship because
Speaker 1: he cared so much about you know, the person you know,
Speaker 1: and obviously that's it's like that a lot of times
Speaker 1: with college coaches, you know what I mean, they're grooming
Speaker 1: the kids to be men, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I think he prepared me a lot for you know,
Speaker 1: things that even go on in my life at forty
Speaker 1: five years old, you know, and he taught me a
Speaker 1: lot on the basketball or two. Um, obviously, you know
Speaker 1: when I got to the NBA, I hit the ground running,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, A lot had to do
Speaker 1: with you know, what he put in my head about
Speaker 1: knowing how to play the game. Rookie of the Year,
Speaker 1: and you played for Johnny Davis. But then in your
Speaker 1: second year, as they say, Larry Brown came here and
Speaker 1: Larry Brown, you know, people can argue this letter, but
Speaker 1: he kind of like to reteach the game until you
Speaker 1: played the right way. And how did he you know,
Speaker 1: and obviously there was some clashing there early on, but
Speaker 1: how did he eventually help make you a better NBA player.
Speaker 1: I think UM with coach Um, that's probably what I
Speaker 1: wouldn't even say probably, I think I think that would
Speaker 1: be the only regret that I had in my career
Speaker 1: is not Um taking his constructive criticism earlier, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Just being young and and and immature
Speaker 1: and not knowing everything. Obviously I was a rong man
Speaker 1: and age, you know, but I wasn't mentally, and you know,
Speaker 1: he taught me so much of the mental part of
Speaker 1: the game, and uh, you know, I used to take
Speaker 1: it as criticism. I I you know, I didn't know
Speaker 1: how to take someone being on me as much as
Speaker 1: he did. But he was trying to do what he,
Speaker 1: ultimately UM was able to do, and that was getting
Speaker 1: me to buy in to what he was trying to
Speaker 1: do for me and the team, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I just felt like about a took in that a
Speaker 1: little earlier, I would have been a lot better UM
Speaker 1: than I than I actually was. So you mentioned the
Speaker 1: personal accomplishments me with your team, But back to high
Speaker 1: school football and basketball championships at Bessel in, Virginia. Rank
Speaker 1: up their sixty point game, fifty four point game, But
Speaker 1: what about playoffs series, Like what what playoffs series stands out?
Speaker 1: Is that the Milwaukee series have put you in the
Speaker 1: finals your first one with a victory over Orlando and
Speaker 1: I believe ninety nine the one in New Orleans. I
Speaker 1: don't know that you guys won one on the road
Speaker 1: other than against the Hornets with mash Burn and Davis,
Speaker 1: you had a huge shot in overtime. If I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1: Of bank three, what playoffs series stands out is number
Speaker 1: one to you? That is a great question. That is
Speaker 1: a great question. M Indiana, you took it, took your
Speaker 1: two times. It was when we be when we finally
Speaker 1: be Indiana. That was it for me. That's when I
Speaker 1: felt like um, as a team we had arrived. I
Speaker 1: didn't once we beat Indiana, I didn't feel like anybody
Speaker 1: could beat us like that was the roughest part of
Speaker 1: my career is dealing with them and then I think, um,
Speaker 1: they beat us the first game and the series that
Speaker 1: we beat them, they beat them. You went out there
Speaker 1: to contest him and I just talked he and Aaron
Speaker 1: was saying that game to your point kind of galvanized
Speaker 1: you guys and all of your goals because that have
Speaker 1: been such an incredible season, forty six wins at the
Speaker 1: All Star break and on and on and on, the
Speaker 1: individual awards for yourself and Coach Brown and Aaron um
Speaker 1: and after that game, you're like, like, hey, whoa, let's
Speaker 1: get back to what we said and what our dreams
Speaker 1: and aspirations are. After that first game, round won victory
Speaker 1: at the hands of Reggie Miller and the Pacers at
Speaker 1: the seven. That was it. That was it for me.
Speaker 1: That's when I finally, you know what I mean, That's
Speaker 1: when I felt like, you know, David, finally you know
Speaker 1: me good life. Like, that's when I knew that we
Speaker 1: had arrived. I knew that we were for real. Um
Speaker 1: when we when we beat those guys and uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just you know, I knew we could beat them.
Speaker 1: I knew we could, but and we gave everything that
Speaker 1: we had, but we could never get over the hunt
Speaker 1: with those guys. And when we finally did, it was
Speaker 1: like it was definitely a monkey, a monkey off of
Speaker 1: all bat Man it was. It was. It was incredible.
Speaker 1: I'll never I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1: And that helped me um more, you know, with myself
Speaker 1: on and off the court as far as confidence, like,
Speaker 1: because it was it was, I would be lying if
Speaker 1: there wasn't a little doubt in my mind. Because it
Speaker 1: kept happening over and over. It got to a point
Speaker 1: it was like, damn, can we can we do it?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? And you know, you go
Speaker 1: out there and I know the effort that my guys
Speaker 1: gave night in and night out, and obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: I play every game like it's my last. So I
Speaker 1: was like, man, I mean, do we have enough? And
Speaker 1: eventually we did? What about and I get into the
Speaker 1: part about Philadelphia and the love affair of the fans
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia have for you and then vice versa where
Speaker 1: you love playing in front of them, but so that too,
Speaker 1: and then like I remember a game of the Georgia Dome.
Speaker 1: The Hawks facility was being rebuilt, and we played at
Speaker 1: the Georgia Dome and Jordan and the Bulls had been
Speaker 1: there maybe the week before, but when you and the
Speaker 1: Sixers went there, I believe the figure was like seventy
Speaker 1: thousand fans came to that game. The Hawks were good,
Speaker 1: really good, and yet you know it was obviously they
Speaker 1: came to see you and the sixers, ay, do you
Speaker 1: remember that and then be what does that feel like
Speaker 1: to be at the nexus of that type of entertainment
Speaker 1: where I think about being in a bubble where you're
Speaker 1: in the middle of that bubble, you're the show. First
Speaker 1: of all, I do remember that, and I remember all
Speaker 1: of the Atlantic as being like that for a while
Speaker 1: for years, you know what I mean. It was like
Speaker 1: when they weren't too good. When we played there, it
Speaker 1: was sold out, you know what I mean, and you're
Speaker 1: going in obviously you see all of the stars and stuff. Um.
Speaker 1: I definitely remember that, and it's a it's a it's
Speaker 1: a confidence that you get as well, like a lot
Speaker 1: of people were shy away from stuff like that because
Speaker 1: you know, you know that everybody is coming to see you.
Speaker 1: From me, that amped me up even more, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, because I knew what the agenda was
Speaker 1: to come into any gym and to leave out of
Speaker 1: there would have win. Um. And I think one of
Speaker 1: the greatest feelings that I've ever had is being on
Speaker 1: a team where the guys that you played with and
Speaker 1: your coaching staff always knew that we had a chance
Speaker 1: because we got number three. That was the that's to me.
Speaker 1: That's my That was my best feeling ever as as being,
Speaker 1: you know, a teammate with the seventy sixes. That was
Speaker 1: the best feeling ever, you know what I mean for me.
Speaker 1: But people coming to see you. You you you think
Speaker 1: that people a lot of time would fold because or
Speaker 1: or would have a bad game because all eyes would
Speaker 1: be on you. If I was totally different, like I
Speaker 1: was excited about the fact that people were coming to
Speaker 1: see me, and my whole thing was I want to
Speaker 1: give them what they paid for. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I want to I'm gonna go out here and put
Speaker 1: on a show you know that they wanted to see.
Speaker 1: And I think that the part about me that I
Speaker 1: think was so special is I didn't care about how
Speaker 1: many shots that I made or if I had a
Speaker 1: thirty or forty or fit points. All I knew that
Speaker 1: I was gonna give the most maximum effort that you
Speaker 1: could give. I was gonna leave everything out there. I
Speaker 1: was gonna play every game like it was my last,
Speaker 1: and regardless of there was no nobody understands I was
Speaker 1: gonna do that anyway, for myself, for my teammates, for
Speaker 1: my coaching staff, you know what I mean? I was
Speaker 1: gonna do that anyway, because you know it'll be a
Speaker 1: disrespect to the person that gave me the gift and
Speaker 1: as God, and you go out there and you know
Speaker 1: you don't want to disappoint him. So when you play
Speaker 1: hard after the game, man, you look yourself in the
Speaker 1: mirror and regardless if you over for Winfrey Fund and Field,
Speaker 1: you feel good about yourself because you know you gave
Speaker 1: everything you had. So that was that was a fun
Speaker 1: part for me, knowing that people were comeing to see me.
Speaker 1: That was fun. Then, like I said, with the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: and everybody knows you're putting your hand up to the ear.
Speaker 1: It's like a performer. It's like you know, the Rolling
Speaker 1: Stone still performing then their seventies, but or a comedian
Speaker 1: or somebody that owns the stage, and you get as
Speaker 1: an athlete, as a performer, you get the feedback right
Speaker 1: back and to be again to feel that love and
Speaker 1: even when you come back to games today and pa
Speaker 1: man Matt Court says, a six foot from try you
Speaker 1: can feel it building. There's not a lot of people
Speaker 1: ever on the planet that have felt that. That must
Speaker 1: be a pretty cool feeling. No relationship like myself in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia fans, Like I said all the time, maybe you
Speaker 1: know Michael Jordan and did Chicago fans, maybe you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, But like we've fed off of each other,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like when I was at home,
Speaker 1: we had homecoining advantage because I thought that they gave
Speaker 1: me I don't know how you can get somebody that.
Speaker 1: Damn they have played the whole game more energy, but
Speaker 1: they did, like they it was. It might be honestly undescribable,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And you can probably acts
Speaker 1: different m Philly fans and they may give you a
Speaker 1: different answer of how they felt. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because I have all kinds of emotions running through me
Speaker 1: during the course of a big game or playoff game,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. When I'm involved with with
Speaker 1: my fans, it's like, you know, honestly, like they're out
Speaker 1: in the court playing with me. You know. That's how
Speaker 1: our relationship was in a strange way, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And a lot of times it's even hard
Speaker 1: for me to explain the relationship and how it got
Speaker 1: like that because it wasn't like that in the beginning.
Speaker 1: It was it was the the support was there, but
Speaker 1: then eventually, I think a lot of the fans there
Speaker 1: understand me as being not just a basketball player, a
Speaker 1: professional basketball player, as a human being that bleed and
Speaker 1: cry just like them, and hurt just like them, and
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like and go through things
Speaker 1: in life just like them, and they can just I
Speaker 1: guess they kind of concede that I'm human just like them.
Speaker 1: More of my conversation with Alan Iverson in a moment.
Speaker 1: In this time of social distancing, Novacare Rehabilitation is offering
Speaker 1: physical therapy from the comfort and safety of your home.
Speaker 1: Through their new tell a Rehab program, Novacare will virtually
Speaker 1: bring their services to you so you may heal, build strength,
Speaker 1: and get back to the things you love. Tell a
Speaker 1: Rehab let you easily connect with what if Novacare's licensed
Speaker 1: therapists through web based technologlogy that is Hippo compliant. For
Speaker 1: more information, visit novacare dot com. Now back to my
Speaker 1: chat with Alan Iverson. Alan, you were known as one
Speaker 1: of the toughest players ever pound for pound, and as
Speaker 1: you said, you got hurt, you felt down, and there
Speaker 1: were so many games where and I used to see
Speaker 1: a shuffle around the training room or whatever, or the
Speaker 1: locker room, but probably at your home where your wife
Speaker 1: is like, man, probably not tonight, honey, how are you
Speaker 1: going to do? Where you were going through the inventory
Speaker 1: of what hurt, and it was probably more than just
Speaker 1: your elbow or this or that. Like how did you
Speaker 1: and I'm sure part of the fans you know, when
Speaker 1: you felt that juice when once you got there in
Speaker 1: that layup line or whatever, But how did you gear
Speaker 1: yourself up mentally to be physically prepared knowing you worked
Speaker 1: your one hundred percent best on any given night. It
Speaker 1: was it was it was all. It was all mental
Speaker 1: and all of the things that you spoke on, all
Speaker 1: those things. It was the emotion of the fans and
Speaker 1: my teammates, like when you have a relationship with guys,
Speaker 1: and obviously if Alan Iverson is not playing, obviously we're shorthanded,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And I didn't want us
Speaker 1: to be shorthanded, you know what I mean? Like, like
Speaker 1: I discussed earlier with the fact that they had so
Speaker 1: much confidence in us winning and had a chance because
Speaker 1: I was out there, and then knowing that if I
Speaker 1: wasn't out there, the guys that I played with, they
Speaker 1: were gonna give it all. They had to try to
Speaker 1: win anyway, you know what I mean. And I was
Speaker 1: just the type that I didn't know how it was going.
Speaker 1: Was like a lot of times they had to hide
Speaker 1: my uniform, you know what I mean, so I wouldn't
Speaker 1: try to play. And it had got to a point
Speaker 1: where like once I got to the arena and I
Speaker 1: was doubtful for a game, I'm like, oh, hell no,
Speaker 1: I'm playing, you know what I mean. Once I look
Speaker 1: at those guys and they're sitting in the locker room,
Speaker 1: they're getting ready, and I walk in the training room
Speaker 1: and see guys, and no one would ever say you're
Speaker 1: going to night, You're going to night. They never put
Speaker 1: the pressure on me like that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It was just like cav taking me up, man, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, And I'm gone. Man. Then you
Speaker 1: get that adrenaline and in your mind, in your mind,
Speaker 1: you know, you just not thinking about what's hurting, and
Speaker 1: you hit the roar of the crowd, and you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, you're looking at the guys that's in
Speaker 1: the foxhole with you and it's like, man, let's go.
Speaker 1: And then after the after effect that that when it's
Speaker 1: all over, and then all of that adrenaline goes down.
Speaker 1: Then that's when you feel it. That's that's when all
Speaker 1: that pain come back. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't do it different though. I don't know that
Speaker 1: I've ever gone here, but I certainly thought this in
Speaker 1: recent years. But I say to you and your teammates
Speaker 1: and your coaches, thank you because I got to go
Speaker 1: as the radio guy and a little tiny part of
Speaker 1: the ball club, you know, the franchise to the NBA
Speaker 1: Finals from two thousand and one. I got to watch
Speaker 1: all those performances. I've gone to the Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: in Springfield twice when you got in and when Larry
Speaker 1: Brown got in, and so to be able to watch
Speaker 1: you compete, to take those right there, those two experiences,
Speaker 1: going to the finals, going to Springfield, being all around
Speaker 1: those players, the greats of the game, in history of
Speaker 1: the game. It was just a treat. And to that
Speaker 1: I say, I say thank you, like a heartfelt than
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Thank you. Now. Last thing you've mentioned, and
Speaker 1: I think this is so refreshing that you're a fan
Speaker 1: just like the rest of us about this Sixers team
Speaker 1: that you've been excited and you are a huge Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons fan, knowing when he went through to be a
Speaker 1: number one pick and whatnot. And here we go with
Speaker 1: the restarted this season at the end of July, August, September,
Speaker 1: and you've said that for the Sixers group, this is
Speaker 1: the time that no more excuses, let's go. What do
Speaker 1: you say about that? It's it's just um basically, us
Speaker 1: as the fans, you know, shouldn't have more confidence, with
Speaker 1: more confidence in them than they have in themselves. Like
Speaker 1: we shouldn't be the ones feeling like you know, because
Speaker 1: if they don't believe that, there's no way that we
Speaker 1: should be feeling like this. But we understand and we
Speaker 1: know that they believe they can win it, and I
Speaker 1: think it's important for them to know that we're just
Speaker 1: not making a lot of noise that we believe, like
Speaker 1: we actually believe in them, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I feel like if they don't win it with
Speaker 1: all the talent that they have, it will be a disappointment.
Speaker 1: We already know they can get to the playoffs. We
Speaker 1: already know theydn't get to the second round. We know that,
Speaker 1: you know, what I mean, But that's not something that
Speaker 1: we feel in our hearts that they want and we
Speaker 1: definitely don't want it. We want to. I want to brag.
Speaker 1: I don't want you know what I mean. I want to.
Speaker 1: I want to brag to my friends and other guys
Speaker 1: that I played against that root for their squads, Like
Speaker 1: I wanted to all come together and I said, we
Speaker 1: don't have no excuses because we don't. Like I love
Speaker 1: Bret Brown, I love that coaching staff, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I love guys that we have, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like, I wouldn't be saying this honestly
Speaker 1: if I didn't think we didn't have the talent to
Speaker 1: do it. I know we do. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I wish you the best. Appreciate fine, all right, Thanks Ton,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Tom's talks with me Tom McGinnis
Speaker 1: on the seventy six ers podcast Network. Check for new
Speaker 1: episodes every weekend