"I REMEMBER SITTING at a table across from Allen Iverson in 1996 at a Chicago hotel.

It was the NBA predraft interviews, and back then, players were more accessible, and if you were persistent, one-on-one interviews were easily gained.

Iverson wasn't yet the No. 1 overall pick of the 76ers but he talked a lot about what he expected from his NBA career. He even discussed how he'd know it was over.

Iverson said he didn't want to be a guy who just hung around. He didn't want to become the faded star whom some newbie would make his reputation on.

That was a long time ago.

Yesterday, Allen Iverson signed a 2-year contract worth $4 million to play with Besiktas, a professional team in Turkey.

Only two thoughts come to mind, and neither is pleasant.

First, Iverson is going to Turkey to play because he has to keep playing professional basketball. I don't know enough to venture a guess about his personal finances, but Iverson's indulgences with money are well known.

If monetary reasons are the case, I wouldn't feel sorry for him, because, considering the money he's made in his career, it's something he's brought upon himself. I'd consider it sad.

Second, what I'd find even sadder is that Iverson is playing in a second-rate league in Europe not for financial reasons, but because he needs to keep playing basketball - he can't let go of the status that the game has afforded him.

There are all kinds of addictions, and fame can be an overwhelming one.

And if that's the case, if going to Turkey is only about Iverson's desire to continue to play basketball, then I'm not sad, I'm angry.

This should not happen this way.

Iverson turned 35 in June. He's played a lot of basketball and has 14 years of NBA wear and tear on his slight frame.

Still, if Iverson wants to continue his basketball career, it should have been in the National Basketball Association.

That it did not happen is more testament to the fact that, as good as Iverson was, he cheated his teams, his teammates, his coaches and his fans by never taking the business of professional basketball as seriously as he should have.

With this last, desperation move to Turkey, Iverson's basketball career is finally cashing the checks that his lack of commitment continually wrote.

"What he's accomplished, I don't think you want to see him end his career this way," said Larry Brown, who coached Iverson during his golden era with the Sixers.

Brown could have easily added, "But the kid has no one to blame but himself.""