Allen Iverson cradled his long-sought-after NBA rookie-of-the-year award yesterday and said: ``The day is finally here.'' Then, after looking back over a season he conceded was more difficult than he had ever imagined, he looked ahead.
``I want to be in Philadelphia,'' said Iverson, 21, the first Sixer to win the rookie award and the first player in a Philadelphia uniform to earn the honor since Wilt Chamberlain did so with the Warriors in 1960. ``This is where I want to stay.''
At a CoreStates Center news conference, Iverson appeared with his beaming mother, Ann, who gave him a mid-presentation smack on the cheek and then, after the ceremony, collected the name cards from the table as souvenirs.
Also there was team president Pat Croce, who has spent the last few weeks trying to find a coach who can show Iverson the way from rookie phenom to NBA star.
``Now the world knows what we in Philadelphia have known,'' Croce said of Iverson.
Croce then said he had nothing to say about his search for a coach to replace the fired Johnny Davis.
Iverson, after lambasting reporters for not understanding him or portraying him honestly, did something Croce refused to do: He described the type of coach he would like to see guiding the Sixers next season.
``A lot of heart,'' Iverson said, when asked what the next coach should have. ``It should be someone who is a player's coach, someone we'd damn near die for out there.''
The next coach to patrol the Sixers' bench will be the sixth in seven years, and Iverson said he should ``stress defense'' and ``stress the way he wants things done, and that's the way we do them.''
Who might fit that mold?
``John Thompson,'' Iverson said, tossing out the name of the Georgetown University coach who took him away from a troubled past in Hampton, Va., and showed him the road to the NBA. ``We loved him. We wanted to win for him. We wanted to win for ourselves, but Coach Thompson knew it was bigger than that.
``Only half his practices were about basketball. The other half were about life.''
Iverson lamented the negative attention that came his way this season, criticism that involved his friends and his clothes and what some perceived as disrespect for the game.
``I didn't expect this,'' he said. ``I didn't expect people to be so hard on me. I'm not the guy those people made me out to be.''
