As Allen Iverson stood on the court to accept the 2001 NBA All-Star MVP award, he paused in front of former commissioner David Stern and asked aloud, “Where’s my coach? Where’s my coach? Coach Brown, is he around?”
On Friday night, Brown will be there for Iverson. Only this time it is a much bigger stage as Iverson is inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
Brown and Iverson have been closely linked since Brown took over as head coach of the Sixers in 1997, Iverson’s second season. They had a well-documented, up-and-down relationship during Brown’s six years with the team. The two viewed the game with different outlooks. Brown was a veteran of the league; Iverson wanted to do it his own way. Their perspectives and approaches to basketball didn’t always align.
But when Iverson was named to the 2016 Hall of Fame class, he pointed out his time with Brown (class of 2002) with remorse.
“I wish I would have bought in to what [Brown] was trying to give me all along (instead of) just being defiant. Being a certified ass---- for nothing. When all he wanted was the best for me,” Iverson said in April.
“And I didn’t take constructive criticism the way I should have. You know what I mean? To me, in my eyes, he’s the best coach ever. To me. You know what I mean? And I didn’t take what God was giving me the right way. God sent him to me, and I was defiant at that time.”
When it came time to select presenters for his induction, Iverson showed his appreciation for Brown by personally asking him to be part of the ceremony. CSNPhilly.com spoke to Brown Wednesday evening about the upcoming event and what it means to be there to celebrate Iverson.
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Iverson asked Brown to be one of his three presenters, along with Sixers great Julius Erving and his former college coach at Georgetown, John Thompson. Brown has presented before, most recently last year for John Calipari and Lindsay Gaze, but doing so for Iverson on Friday has a unique meaning.
“I’ve been fortunate and I’ve done this in the past. It’s always an amazing experience, but just knowing him and what he stands for, I’m pretty excited. Most people have Allen and I attached at the hip, not necessarily all good, but when I look back on everything that’s happened to me and my career, I think I was really, really fortunate to have the opportunity to be around him and get to coach him.
“He left me some messages on my phone [to ask me]. They were pretty emotional. ... I’m just real happy for him because you don’t get in on the first ballot very often. When you consider he’s going in with Shaq and Yao Ming and Tom Izzo, that’s a pretty incredible cast.”
Brown coached over 2,000 NBA games, won a championship in 2004 with the Pistons, was named Coach of the Year in 2001 and also coached two All-Star teams. For all the elite professional athletes he has been around, Iverson stands out.
“I’ve coached some of the best players that have played — David Robinson, Bobby Jones, I can name bunches of them. It’s always very difficult when you coach a great, great, talented kid because you want to make sure that you allow them to play as well as they’re capable of playing. When I first had the opportunity to coach Allen, his idea of how to play and my idea how he should play was a little different. But I think we evolved into a pretty special relationship.
“I think the six years I was with him, there wasn’t one night he didn’t do something that I’d never seen done before. He was probably the most athletic player I’ve been around and as competitive as anybody I’ve been around.”
Before he was on the sidelines, Brown played five seasons in the ABA and earned three All-Star selections. During that time he competed against future Hall of Famers and later coached against them when he retired. There were players from past generations Brown didn’t expect to see again, until Iverson came along.
“When you look at him, 160 pounds at the most, 5-10, 5-11, what he accomplished, it’s just amazing to me. I think Isiah (Thomas) and Tiny Archibald were two of the greatest little players I ever saw. I never thought I’d ever see another one like that. But I think Allen’s in that category and that’s a pretty big honor for me to say that.”
The 2000-01 Sixers, coached by Brown, fought through the Eastern Conference to take on the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Iverson averaged 31.1 points, 4.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals in 42.0 minutes per game that season. Although they weren’t the flashiest team on paper, Iverson propelled the Sixers to contend for the championship, a series Brown still looks back on with thoughts of hustle and promise.
“A lot of people looked at the personnel we surrounded Allen with and didn’t get real excited about it. But I think the way we built our team, I thought he helped us accomplish a great deal and gave us a chance to win every night.
“I honestly believe if we were healthy with the (2001) team, I think we would have beat the Lakers, to be honest. A lot of people don’t realize being that guys like Jumaine Jones and Todd MacCulloch, Rodney Buford and Raja Bell, who we got out of the YMCA, Kevin Ollie, we had a lot of guys that were forced to play because we were so banged up.
“Allen gave us the chance to win. We were in every game.”
Brown and Iverson both shared the same goal of winning. Getting to that point, though, had its challenges. Once they got on the same page, the hurdles they had to overcome were worth it for Brown.
“My job as a coach was to get the most out of Allen and make him realize how great he was. It’s not always easy for talented kids to understand that. During the time I was coaching him, there were days that were pretty difficult. But looking back on my career, those years I spent with him made me a better coach without question.
"It’s helped me in my life in so many ways. I’m pretty fortunate in that respect. That’s why I love what I do and want to continue to do it because of relationships you build with players, and it takes time to get everybody on the same page. But as long as they know you care and want to make them better, that’s all you can possibly do. I’m hopeful I did that.”
Being entrenched in the basketball circuit, Brown has spanned the country playing, coaching professionally and collegiately, and simply spending time around the game. Wherever Brown’s travels take him, enthusiasm over Iverson follows six years after the dynamic point guard played his final NBA games.
“I had him down at SMU to talk to our team a few times. It was amazing the impact he had on our kids, how mesmerized they were by him. He was pretty incredible in his message.
“After I got fired from Charlotte, I spent two years just going everywhere to watch people coach and try to learn as much as I could. I don’t know how many colleges I went to. Not one time did I end up leaving where just about every kid on the team [didn’t] want to ask me about Allen. Just about every kid on the team told me he was their favorite player.
“I always try to let him know that. I don’t think he ever realized that when he played, the kind of impact he was having on kids’ lives.”
There were plenty of nights when the thought of being part of Iverson’s Hall of Fame induction seemed unlikely, but nearly 20 years after Brown first coached Iverson, they will share the stage in honor of his elite accomplishments.
“I’m embarrassed when people always introduce me as being in the Hall of Fame. When I look at me being in it and then I look at now Allen’s going in it, I really don’t know how I got in. It’s such a special honor.
“Now, if you would have asked me while I was coaching him if something like this would have happened (laughs) and he’d have asked me to present him, I don’t think that would even be something I would think could ever happen. But I’m really, really excited about it.”
