'I think you'll really like him'

By Joe Juliano, Inquirer Staff Writer

Andre Iguodala was one busy youngster growing up in Springfield, Ill. While basketball was his favorite game, he enjoyed participating in different sports, showing a versatility that would serve him well later on.


"He was so energetic and so hyper and into so much stuff," his mother, Linda Shanklin, said yesterday at the Wachovia Center, after Iguodala was introduced for the first time as a member of the 76ers.

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"So instead of just wringing the life out of him, I just put him in karate, swimming, basketball," she said. "I think he even had a little stint in football.


"I kept him real busy, just didn't give him a lot of idle time. Finally, he came into his niche [basketball] and said, 'This is what I want to do.' I shot around in the backyard with my brother all the time, so he took to that."


The 6-foot-6 Iguodala, who was selected in the first round of Thursday night's draft by the Sixers, who had the No. 9 overall pick, started playing basketball when he was 5 or 6. By the time he was in fourth grade, he was playing with sixth graders.


"I always played with a lot of older kids," Iguodala said. "My idol mainly was Michael Jordan, who was pretty much everybody's idol back then. As I got older, Penny Hardaway got into the league when I was in fourth or fifth grade, and I remember him as a player I always admired."


Hardaway is still in the NBA - and so now is Iguodala, no longer a fourth grader, but a 20-year-old rookie-to-be who will make more than $5.1 million over the next three seasons under the league's salary scale for first-round draft choices.


Still, the decision to leave the University of Arizona after two seasons was a difficult one, coming after a long and heartfelt series of talks with his mother and stepfather. Shanklin elicited a commitment from her son, a high school honors student, to return to school one day and complete his education.


"He knows how to persuade his mom and, of course, bat those big brown eyes at me," she said. "We sat down and we hammered some things out. Once he gave me that commitment, I was really comfortable with his decision."


Iguodala, who played last season at Arizona with Mustafa Shakur, a graduate of Friends' Central, wasn't a dazzling scorer during his two years with coach Lute Olson. He averaged less than 10 points for his career.


But Iguodala impressed the NBA scouts with his variety of talents: defense, rebounding, passing, and an ability to penetrate. He led the Wildcats last season in rebounds, assists and steals.


He said Olson taught him "just the small things that you need to be a great player.


"It was mainly fundamentals, being able to learn how important a mid-range game is," he said. "Coach O preaches that a lot. He also just preaches being consistent and working hard every minute on the court. Every possession is equally as important as the last. So it's mainly the small things that separate great players from average players."


Iguodala spent time with Shakur getting a haircut and seeing the sights during his recent visit to Philadelphia, which included a secret workout with the Sixers on Monday. If yesterday is any indication, he has done well in his crash course learning sports in the City of Brotherly Love.


"The city is great and knowledgeable about sports," he said. "You've got a football team with Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens. You've got [Allen Iverson] here. You've got the Phillies and you've got the Flyers, so it's a good sports city. I'm just happy to be here. The town is used to winning, and I want to keep that winning tradition going."


Iguodala's mother and stepfather sat beaming in the audience yesterday. Shanklin said she doesn't think her son will get a big head over his newfound money. After all, she said, the Sixers picked a good guy.


"I think you'll see a proud young man, a confident young man," she said. "He's very well-spoken and outspoken. He's charismatic, a genuine person. He's just an all-around good person. I think you'll really like him."


Notes. NBA teams are permitted to begin talking to free agents on Thursday, and general manager Billy King said the Sixers plan to actively seek size up front. "We were looking at the board last night," he said. "We've got a lot of 1s, 2s and 3s, but we don't have big men, so we're going to be looking for size right away."... The Sixers will conduct tryouts for their 2004-05 dance team today from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Touch of Class Dance Studio in Broomall, Delaware County.


Contact staff writer Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494 or [email protected].