Erratic, but Exciting : Alan Iverson Is the NBA’s Flashiest Rookie

Ask any of the Philadelphia 76ers about Allen Iverson, and all their replies include the same two words: “spectacular” and “mistakes.”

Indeed, Iverson has a flair for both.

The most exciting newcomer in the NBA, already being called the runaway favorite for the rookie of the year award, is a case study of the infusion of young, raw talent that is making the league so watchable--yet at the same time unwatchable--as it accepts more and more college underclassmen.

One day, 21-year-old Iverson is scorching the New York Knicks for 35 points and causing both opposing point guards to foul out. Another, he’s leaving his feet too early against the Seattle SuperSonics and firing pass after pass out of bounds.

On a three-game road trip through Texas, he scored 26, 36 and 35 in a span of four nights.

But in a game against the Lakers, he missed 21 of 27 field goal attempts. And two games this week produced 4-for-17 and 2-for-17 shooting nights.

It seems to be one extreme or the other for the player selected No. 1 overall in last summer’s draft after leaving Georgetown following his sophomore season.

“One game can’t make me lose my confidence. I still have all the confidence in the world in myself,” Iverson said. “That’s the thing I love about the NBA--you get a chance to redeem yourself real fast.

“I wouldn’t say I’m having a good season, but it’ll get better--believe that. I need to cut down turnovers, bring my shooting percentage back and get better in all aspects of the game--that’ll keep y’all off my back and make the team better.”

No NBA point guard is as erratic as this brash young man with soft brown eyes and a checkered history.

On Valentine’s Day, 1993, Iverson and a group of friends were involved in a bowling alley brawl in Virginia that Iverson said was triggered by racial slurs. Iverson and his friends are black. They fought a group of whites.

Iverson was convicted on a felony charge of maiming-by-mob and drew a five-year prison sentence. He served four months at the end of his senior year of high school, then was granted clemency by then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. The conviction was later overturned by an appeals court.

Iverson led Georgetown in scoring in both of his collegiate seasons and was named Big East rookie of the year as a freshman and first-team All America as a sophomore.

When the 76ers selected him with the first pick, he was the first point guard to go that high in the draft since Magic Johnson in 1979.

His talent is undeniable. Sonics coach George Karl said his team’s scouting report reads: “A flamboyant talent, great speed, great ability, no fear.”

“That’s what I do--I play with my heart first and my skills second,” Iverson said.

Karl didn’t reveal the negative side of the scouting report, but it might have said: “No conscience.”

Iverson is as streaky as he is speedy, as prone to playing poorly as he is to playing powerfully.

“My high point has been every win. My low point has been the turnovers and every loss,” Iverson said.

His average of 5.5 turnovers per game is the highest in the league.

He is fourth in the league in shot attempts per game with 18.6, but his field goal percentage of 39.2 is the lowest among NBA point guards with at least 200 attempts. Iverson’s 22.2-point scoring average is tops among rookies by a wide margin.

“He has a flair for the spectacular, and I have it, too,” backcourt mate Jerry Stackhouse said. “When you’re trying to connect, you’ve got to have somebody else thinking the same way. Sometimes his passes are good if you’re thinking along the same lines, but those passes get mishandled.

“It’s not like he’s throwing passes away all over the court, but sometimes it’s a matter of not connecting. I think as we get a better feel for each other and adjust to each other’s games as a unit, those turnovers will come down.”

Iverson leads the 76ers in 3-point attempts with 108, but his streakiness from behind the arc often hurts his team.

He started 0-for-6 on 3-pointers against both the Sonics and Heat last week, often hoisting a 24-footer rather than waiting for plays to develop.

“It’s still really early, and I understand his urgency to establish himself and what he’s going to do in this league,” Stackhouse said. “But at the same time, there has to come a time when he’s not the one leading us in shots every game.”

While Iverson may sometimes drive his teammates nuts by shooting so much, his speed demands a lot of attention from opposing teams. Last Monday, Seattle used four different defenders against him, trying to slow down a player who is already being called the quickest in the league.

“Things are great when you’re scoring 30, 25, 26, but then you play a team that can play defense and can cut off things,” said Seattle point guard Gary Payton, last season’s defensive player of the year. “He’s got to understand to play different teams different ways. When that comes, he’s going to be fine.”

As erratic as Iverson has been, he still has performed on a different level than other rookies, including Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdur-Rahin and Stephon Marbury.