Allen Iverson
I wasn't a fan of the Sixers. My dad was a big Mo Cheeks fan, and he wanted me to be drafted by the Sixers. My thing was, if that could make my dad happy, then that would make me happy, you know what I mean?Collection: Dad
It was a great experience for me - the ups and downs - because I became a man in Philadelphia.Collection: Experience
My mom always told me that I could be anything I wanted to be. And I truly, actually believed it. And I fought.Collection: Mom
Man, I'm 31 years old and a husband with four kids; I hope I'm no thug. I hear all those negative things and don't hear anything positive. I think that's all those people feel... that way that's all they hear about when you hear Allen Iverson did something negative or something.Collection: Positive
When you are not practicing, someone else is getting better.
You can hide from the devil, but he'll always find you.
Either you give in, or you fight. That's all I know, being where I'm from. You fight for what you want. You go after what you want. The only thing I could do was give up or keep fighting for what I wanted in life.
Being in a fishbowl, everybody looking at every move you make, talking about everything you do - it's just a hard life to live.
Just because you put a guy in a tuxedo doesn't make him a good guy.
I failed, got back up. I failed, got back up.
You hit road blocks in life, but I'm living proof that you can overcome those road blocks and become what you want to become.
I wasn't a point guard. I was a killer.
My dream was bigger than anything else. My fight and me wanting to fulfill what I wanted to be in life. That was enough to keep me strong enough to endure anything.
Just understand that there's going to be some ups, there's going to be some downs.
My actions, right or wrong, there were people who supported me through this long, hard journey.
You think I can be the MVP without practicing?
Obviously, if I could go back and change anything, I would be a perfect man. And I know there's no perfect man.
Tattoos, cornrows, headbands, hip-hop. I never meant to start any trends. I got my butt kicked, but if that meant that the guys who came after me could be themselves, then it was worth it.
I wasn't afraid to be who I am. I didn't think anything was wrong with it.
You used to think the suspect was the guy with the cornrows; now you see the police officers with the cornrows.
I can't take it back. I can't take anything back. So I don't regret it.
I don't want to just go to the playoffs, I don't want to go to the playoffs and win the first round, second round, and not win the whole thing because it's bittersweet.
Coach's voice will never leave my head as long as I live.
Coming into the league, if I would've had money, then obviously I would've had more tattoos.
I made a lot of mistakes. And obviously, it cost me.
Guys is supposed to be able to be original and dress like how they want to dress. The NBA can't dress no grown man.
I surround myself with people who make me laugh.
I was recruited by every school in the country for football and basketball. And an incident happened in high school, and all that was taken away. No other teams, no other schools were recruiting me anymore.
I didn't take constructive criticism the way I should have. When I finally caught up to that, that's when I went to being the MVP.
People and what they say don't bother me like they used to. When I was younger, I really couldn't take it because I couldn't understand where the criticism was coming from.
At some point, it comes to an end regardless, however it comes, whether it is retirement or injury; at some point, it comes to an end.
I always wanted to be a Sixer... I always wanted to finish my career as a Sixer.
I'm a Hall of Famer, and I can go outside today and go to a restaurant or wherever, and somebody will come up to me and say, 'Practice? We talkin' 'bout practice?' Man, I am a Hall of Famer, and that's all you can think about?
I'm just a regular 24/7 dad now.
You gotta do what you gotta do. And I had to figure that out, and I used to - I couldn't stand the media, but I realized they have a job. They gotta do what they have to do.
I don't really care too much about what people who don't care about me say about me, but a lot of times, you know, I get tired of defending myself.
God gave me all this; why waste the talent that he gave me? Why not go full throttle with it all and try to become in the class with the greatest players that ever played the game? That's just a great feeling.
I couldn't have accomplished the things in my career if I didn't practice, and the worst part about that whole thing is when a kid comes up to me and says 'Allen, I don't like practice, either.' I've got to straighten that kid right then.
I had a lot of growing up to do. A lot of times, I learned the hard way.
I felt like I was better at football than I am in basketball.
I had to learn that some people are just not going to like you. I had to have thick skin when I would see what people would say or write about me.
I don't care. I feel like if we don't make a trade, we have to get it done with what we've got.
Personally I just want to win a championship.
If I'm not getting older and more mature at 31, then something's wrong.
Being an All-Star is everything.
I just feel this is my planet.
He's helped me do so much in my career, helped me be the player that I am. If there's no Larry Brown, then there's no MVP, Allen Iverson.
I make all that money and it ain't enough. I gotta make more to help all the people around me.
Me and my family are straight. I am blessed. I am alive, man, and I am healthy, and that is the only thing that matters. Me and my family, everybody else, it really doesn't matter because why do you care about somebody talking negative about you if they don't know you?
I'm the biggest Westbrook fan, I think, there is. You know what I mean? Because he reminds me so much of myself as far as his heart and laying it on the line night in and night out. Just a guy that's going to bring it every single night.