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ShareA Rookie Making His Mark
While preparing for the 2004 NBA Draft, the decision makers in the 76ers front office tried to fly under the radar as much as possible in their pursuit of Arizona sophomore Andre Iguodala. They quietly brought him to Philadelphia for a workout. Then they carefully gauged whether he would still be on the board at No. 9, which was the Sixers’ pick. He was, and Iguodala became a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.
As the summer went on, the pick was praised by NBA analysts. Training camp arrived, and Iguodala beat out veteran Glenn Robinson for a spot in the starting lineup. Despite Head Coach Jim O’Brien’smany different lineup combinations, Iguodala has started every game – the only 76ers player to do so. He’s attracted the admiration of the Philadelphia fans with his hustle, hard play and electrifying dunks. Now, as the calendar gets ready to flip to 2005, the rest of the NBA world is starting to talk about what Sixers fans have known since early this season – this second A.I. in Philly is something to check out.
Iguodala has done an excellent job all season in handling the transition from college to professional basketball. But his comfort zone appears to be growing as the games go by. On Dec. 27, he had the best game of his young career in helping the Sixers to a 111-104 win over Portland. With Allen Iverson suffering the effects of a sprained right index finger, Iguodala stepped up with 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds – the first of what is likely to be many double-doubles ahead for the 6-foot-6 forward.
“In the fourth quarter, we got a lot of deflections, and we came up with key rebounds,” Iguodala said after the game. “We knew what we had to do. We had to get down on defense.”
It wasn’t just a one-game fluke. Iguodala has consistently been making contributions all the way across the stat sheet throughout the season, and has been called “a stat sheet stuffer” by Sixers veteran Aaron McKie. For instance, even though Iguodala only had four points in 42 minutes on Dec. 28, he had seven rebounds, four assists, four steals, and a block.
“Andre was terrific and he played very tough-minded basketball,” O’Brien said after the Dec. 27 game. “We’re throwing a lot of things at him, and he’s playing a lot of minutes as a rookie, but he’s handling it very well.”
Iguodala is starting to draw attention from national publications as well. Before the season, he appeared in The Sporting News as a rookie who might exceed expectations. It could be said that Iguodala has done that, now that USA Today has pegged him as one of the top candidates for rookie of the year honors.
“Playing with Allen, it opens a lot of things up for me,” Iguodala said. “The defense is always thinking and it opens it up and all I have to do is knock down open shots. I couldn’t ask for anything more. All I want to do is keep playing aggressive and keep playing better.”
As the summer went on, the pick was praised by NBA analysts. Training camp arrived, and Iguodala beat out veteran Glenn Robinson for a spot in the starting lineup. Despite Head Coach Jim O’Brien’smany different lineup combinations, Iguodala has started every game – the only 76ers player to do so. He’s attracted the admiration of the Philadelphia fans with his hustle, hard play and electrifying dunks. Now, as the calendar gets ready to flip to 2005, the rest of the NBA world is starting to talk about what Sixers fans have known since early this season – this second A.I. in Philly is something to check out.
Iguodala has done an excellent job all season in handling the transition from college to professional basketball. But his comfort zone appears to be growing as the games go by. On Dec. 27, he had the best game of his young career in helping the Sixers to a 111-104 win over Portland. With Allen Iverson suffering the effects of a sprained right index finger, Iguodala stepped up with 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds – the first of what is likely to be many double-doubles ahead for the 6-foot-6 forward.
“In the fourth quarter, we got a lot of deflections, and we came up with key rebounds,” Iguodala said after the game. “We knew what we had to do. We had to get down on defense.”
It wasn’t just a one-game fluke. Iguodala has consistently been making contributions all the way across the stat sheet throughout the season, and has been called “a stat sheet stuffer” by Sixers veteran Aaron McKie. For instance, even though Iguodala only had four points in 42 minutes on Dec. 28, he had seven rebounds, four assists, four steals, and a block.
“Andre was terrific and he played very tough-minded basketball,” O’Brien said after the Dec. 27 game. “We’re throwing a lot of things at him, and he’s playing a lot of minutes as a rookie, but he’s handling it very well.”
Iguodala is starting to draw attention from national publications as well. Before the season, he appeared in The Sporting News as a rookie who might exceed expectations. It could be said that Iguodala has done that, now that USA Today has pegged him as one of the top candidates for rookie of the year honors.
“Playing with Allen, it opens a lot of things up for me,” Iguodala said. “The defense is always thinking and it opens it up and all I have to do is knock down open shots. I couldn’t ask for anything more. All I want to do is keep playing aggressive and keep playing better.”
