While his older cousin Allen Iverson, the former NBA MVP and 4 time scoring champion, is contemplating yet another return to the NBA after dominating the opposition for a half season in Turkey, the nearly 20 years younger Kuran Iverson is tearing up the hardwood as a top flight hoops prospect hailing from Connecticut.
Although Class of 2013 rising junior Kuran, who just finished up his sophomore season, is constantly asked about his much more famous family member, Iverson admits to never having met or spoken with his famous cousin. In fact, Kuran’s father Eddie, who is A.I.’s uncle, has only spoken to the 11 time All Star on a handful of occasions.
Kuran chooses to blaze his own path on the hardwood, and boy is he doing a great job so far. He plays for Northwest Catholic in Windsor, CT, leading them to a 25-2 record and even led his squad to a state title game, but finished as the runner up this past season. The 6’8 and nearly 200 lb Iverson plays the game in stark contrast to “The Answer” in that he is the #3 ranked SF, and #12 ranked overall prospect by ESPN in the 2013 class.
According to ESPN, he is an incredibly skilled and talented young player, with a world of talent, and has as much long term potential as any player in the class of 2013. That’s saying a lot considering that the sophomore class is absolutely loaded with talent featuring names like Julius Randle, Jabari Parker, and Aaron Gordon, who set the internet a blaze by finishing off a 360 dunk off the backboard during live game action last season.
Here’s Kuran Iverson’s profile ( ESPN):
Strengths:
An incredibly skilled and talented young player, with a world of talent, Iverson has as much long term potential as any player in the class of 2013. He stands a legitimate 6’8″ with guard like skills and the versatility to play four different positions on the floor. He has the complete package for a skill standpoint, able to shoot the three, make mid-range pull-ups, score with a jump hook on the low post, handle and pass against pressure, and create for himself and others. Physically, he has great agility for his size, a pretty strong and developing frame, and solid athleticism.
Weaknesses:
Iverson needs to develop the discipline and consistency to make best use of his abilities. While he has tremendous versatility and is almost always a mismatch problem, Iverson is still acquiring the game experience to be most efficient in terms of letting the match-up dictate his point of attack. He also hasn’t learned how to compete with 100% consistency yet as he will go through spurts of being lackadaisical and not making his impact felt as thoroughly as he can. Iverson has the physical capabilities to defend multiple positions and be a tremendous perimeter rebounder, but doesn’t yet maximize his abilities in those two areas.
Bottom Line:
With an incredible blend of physical tools and basketball skills, Iverson’s talent level is absolutely undeniable. As he gains experience and maturity, he has the potential to be one of the most dominant players in the class of 2013.
Most are impressed by his already flawless ball-handling and long range shooting at such a young age. He’s already considered an elite level Division I prospect considering he is much bigger and stronger than other prospects at his position and of similar age.
He reportedly is being getting “serious looks” from Florida State, North Carolina, USC, Georgetown, and of course his home-state UConn, but considers Kentucky his dream school.
One example of his immense strength as described by LostLetterman.com, is that as a freshman in early 2010, Iverson dunked the ball so hard that he bent the rim, forcing the game to be played in an auxiliary gym. I don’t believe his shorter cousin Allen ever did that.
Check out some footage of Iverson last Summer as an incoming Sophomore:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
