What ever happened to Pat Croce?

[jtex316]

I thought that this guy was the Mark Cuban before Mark Cuban was the Mavericks owner.

He bought a lousy 76ers franchise in the 90's and took a lack-luster organization, a complete malcontent (Iverson) and a big-ego high-profile head coach (Larry Brown) and under his ownership went to the NBA finals and won game 1 on the road against the Lakers.

I also remember when Iverson and his thugs that he associated himself with were starting to cause off-the-court trouble - Pat Croce brought them all into his office and hung out with them in an attempt to convey the message that Iverson was a star and the team's MVP and needed to be out of that loop. How many NBA owners or team owners would bring a gang of thugs and hoodlumns into their corporate suite and "hang out" with them?

He's now simply "in business"...but I thought he was a great NBA franchise owner.