Iverson on the Move his mom Speaks out Allen Iverson is moving, but not to Detroit in a trade for Grant Hill. And not to any other NBA outpost for any other player. At least not now. Ann Iverson, the mother of the 76ers' star guard, said her son was in the process of moving his family out of their Lower Merion home in the wake of an e-mail message nearly two weeks ago that threatened to harm Allen's two children. "He's got to," Ann Iverson said yesterday in a lengthy discussion with the Daily News. "Would you stay there?" The discussion took place after the NBA announced that Allen Iverson had been named to the all-league second team even though he had received the fifth-highest total of first-team votes from a 121-member panel of media members from the United States and Canada. "He said it was a tribute to his team, and it is an honor to be chosen to the second team," Ann Iverson said. "And he wanted to thank the fans for their support." Allen Iverson has not commented publicly since May 19, after the Sixers were eliminated from the second round of the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers, 106-90. Other than leaving Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine the following afternoon after the team's closing meeting, he was last seen on the bench at the First Union Center with tears in his eyes as the final seconds of the final game ticked away. Since then, he has been the subject of rampant trade rumors and a report that he had been fined 75 times by the Sixers. The Sixers have not commented on any of those reports. "In the last four years, we've never commented on speculation or rumors," senior vice president Dave Coskey said. President Pat Croce and coach Larry Brown were unavailable, and general manager Billy King - other than to applaud Iverson for his second-team selection - declined to comment. "When Allen was crying on national TV, people thought he was crying because of the fact that [the Sixers] lost," Ann Iverson said. "But it wasn't that. Just like they said Allen was late for that game that day, what people [didn't] know is that the Sixers got an e-mail that a 54-year-old man said he was going to [harm] Allen's kids. "That was in Allen's head. . .if somebody called you and sent you a voice mail or a fax and they said, 'You don't know who I am, but I don't like you [and] I'm not going to get you, I'm going to get somebody close to you'. . .how are you going to sleep? How are you going to go to work? What are you going to feel like being a father? That's what Allen had to go through when he played that game." Allen Iverson, the league's No. 2 scorer during the regular season, was seen arriving at the Sixers' locker room 50 minutes after the prescribed time for the evening's 6:30 game. He played 44 of a possible 48 minutes, shot 7-for-20 from the floor and had 18 points. "But when he sat down and it was all over - and he knew it was over - tears came down because he was hurt, because he had to play with that on his head," Ann Iverson said. "Even though the FBI caught this man, this still happened. It happened the day before [the game], but still he had to go through a whole day not knowing who this person was or whether this person was outside his house. Everybody knows where Allen stays. Now Allen's in the process of moving out of his home." Ann Iverson said Allen brought his fiancee and their two children to the game, and that they stayed in the family room in the arena with an FBI agent during the game. FBI agents already had raided the home of a Pennsylvania man who had sent the e-mail message to WIP radio personality Rhea Hughes, who informed the Sixers. The team, in turn, alerted the authorities. The FBI seized the man's computer and questioned him, then turned the evidence over to the U.S. Attorney's office, which is still determining whether to file charges. Ann Iverson said she had no knowledge of her son being fined 75 times by the Sixers. "I don't know anything about that," she said. "Allen doesn't know anything about it. I get all his deal - everything that goes out, everything that comes in - I get it every two weeks. I have not seen 75 fines on my bill, so I know that's a lie. . .Pat Croce said he doesn't know anything about it." Ann Iverson said she telephoned Croce on Tuesday to thank him for the way she and her family had been treated. "I told him, 'I'm calling you for one reason - to let you know, regardless of whether you're trading my son or not, I respect each and every one of you guys because of the fact that you've always been kind to me and you've always been kind to my family, and that makes a difference,' " she said. By league rule, teams cannot talk about trades and free agents until July 1, and cannot consummate deals until Aug. 1. "I can't be responsible for what somebody says on television or what somebody writes - it's not coming from Pat Croce's mouth," Ann Iverson said. "When I talk to Larry Brown, he's always been nice to me, always has kind words to say to me. I'm not even [angry] with anybody about the rumors. I don't watch the rest of the playoff games since [Allen's] not in it. Pat told me he doesn't watch them, either." Allen Iverson has just completed the first leg of a guaranteed six-year, $70.9 million contract extension signed before the start of the lockout-shortened 1999 season. He earned $9 million this season and is scheduled to earn $10.125 million next season. He has always said he wanted to remain a Sixer, and his mother said that has not changed. "He does. . .he doesn't want to go anywhere," she said. "But like I told Allen, you can't listen to everything you hear. "Allen sells. His name sells. When somebody mentions something about us, it's like. . .what's that insurance company? It's just like E.F. Hutton. When I'm somewhere and somebody says, 'I think that's Mrs. Iverson,' you should see the heads turn. You should see the people come up to me. "I just think, even if Allen did get traded, I would feel like it would be the Sixers' loss and Allen's gain. I told Pat Croce, wherever my son goes, as long as he continues to progress and to grow, that's all that matters to me. It doesn't matter to me who he plays for; if he's happy and he's giving his all and giving 110 percent, I know he's going to be all right. "I read in the Bible, 'You be Godly, you do Godly things and God will reward you for it.' Allen doesn't do anything to hurt anybody." Ann Iverson believes that the Sixers could win a championship with her son, but not without him "in the next three, four years." "Look at where the Sixers were before Allen got there [in 1996-97]," she said. "Look at how many people showed up at the games before Allen got there. You've got to look at the big picture." The Sixers reached the playoffs in 1999 for the first time in eight years, and have set attendance records in each of the last two seasons. After the Sixers were eliminated for the second season in succession by the Pacers, Brown said changes needed to be made but declined to be specific. "I know Allen Iverson is news," Ann Iverson said. "He's been news ever since he was in high school, from the time he went to Georgetown under [then-coach] John Thompson. He was news when he went No. 1 in the draft [in 1996]. "If a child went from lockup to a prestige college, took them to the [Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament], entered the draft for his little sister [who was ill] and goes No. 1. . .you've got to know there's somebody higher than all of us looking out for that child." Allen Iverson served four months on a prison farm after a brawl in a Hampton, Va., bowling alley in February 1993. Convicted on three counts of maiming by mob, an obscure Virginia law, he was eventually granted clemency by then-Virginia governor Douglas Wilder. Iverson's conviction was overturned on appeal. "I told Allen to follow that tattoo on his arm, [the one that says] 'Only The Strong Survive,' " Ann Iverson said. "He put writing all over his body to speak for him." To that end, Ann Iverson said Allen has had another tattoo placed on his leg to represent his friends. "If they let Allen go somewhere else, they'd have to replace that talent," she said. "That talent is going to be hard for them to replace. . .if they've got to go out and get a talent like they've got right now. . .that plays with five injuries when guys in the NBA don't want to play with one. . ." Ann Iverson did not complete the thought, but said she has received support of her beliefs from many people, some in the public eye. "My opinion is, I don't see how they can replace him," she said. "If you already have - in my eyes - the best, how are you going to replace the best with something better, unless you have a bionic man, somebody not human? Maybe the Sixers have somebody bionic coming up."		Author Phil Jasner   Source Daily News   Return to Articles