The Allen Iverson story gets more far-flung … at least on Twitter, great breeding ground for gossip and idle speculation. (BallinEurope loves Twitter.) With fewer than 140 characters, A.I. captured some media time in Australia yesterday with his tweet:
“I hear Sydney is a real good city to live in. my boy Rodney O asked me to come over. I am comin!”
The “Rodney O” referred to is Rodney Overby, habitually referred to in media Down Under as a “Sydney basketball icon.” Rodney O piles his appeal to Mr. Answer on top on the large amounts of media coverage he’s been getting in the capital city lately for returning to his capacity as The Voice of the Sydney Kings.
As for Iverson-to-Sydney, Beşiktaş Cola Turka’s marquee name was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as saying “I am very happy here in Istanbul, but if I don’t return to the NBA I am considering a move to Australia after my two-year contract is up.”
To which an ABC writer remarked most rationally, “We’ll believe it when we see it.”
As for Iverson’s current team, Beşiktaş managed a 91-86 win in overtime against BG Goettingen in the Eagles’ 2010-11 Eurocup swansong. In a meaningless game to play out the string, Iverson joined Fedor Likholitov and Cünyet Erden in sitting it out for the depleted Eagles. The result on finances? Euroleague/Eurocup officials are reporting attendance to have been at 450 (Tentative).
And speaking of warped statistics, the supershort bench for this match resulted in distorted numbers for some Beşiktaş players; Mire Chatman had a monster game with a near triple-double in over 43 minutes of court time, going for 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Chatman also turned the ball over seven steals, but managed three steals. Cevher Ozer was good for 27 points and Bekir Yarangüme added 20.
Beşiktaş Cola Turka’s next game is scheduled for 3pm local time (2pm CET/10am EST) on Christmas Day. No word on whether the injured Iverson will suit up, though prior reports implied that he’d be back by that game.
