Philadelphia ? Pat Croce counseled and coddled Allen Iverson, tried to trade him once, then watched the standout guard turn the slight into an MVP season and a trip to the NBA Finals.

Maybe if Croce were still president of the Philadelphia 76ers he would have traded Iverson before this season, or perhaps he would have put the talent around his mercurial guard to keep the Sixers a title contender.

Impossible to know for sure. But Croce said there’s no way he’d try and shop Iverson while the former MVP was sitting home on his sofa, getting paid millions for doing absolutely nothing but wait for word on his new destination.

“Allen Iverson is resting at home while they’re shopping him,” Croce said Wednesday. “That amazes me. I don’t know the dynamics or the drama behind that decision, but it just amazes me they sent Allen Iverson home, not suspended, when you’re telling everyone you want to trade him.”

All the NBA knows Iverson is available. What has been harder to figure out is who exactly wants him, and for what. Once expected to be completed within days, a deal for Iverson dragged on without an answer for another day, and there’s no telling when the Sixers will make one.

“You can follow me, but I’m not saying anything,” team president Billy King said to three reporters trailing him before Wednesday night’s game, cell phone pressed to his ear.

Iverson was inactive against the Boston Celtics, his fourth straight game on the list. Chairman Ed Snider said Iverson probably has played his last game for the Sixers, after the four-time scoring champion requested a trade last week.

“It’s a stressful situation for a lot of people,” coach Maurice Cheeks said. “I don’t have any news for you. My job is really about coaching the players in the locker room.”

The bitter parting surprised Croce, who was Sixers president from 1996-2001 and erupted in jubilance when they won the draft lottery in 1996 and plucked Iverson out of Georgetown with the No. 1 overall pick. Croce always thought Iverson would end his career in Philadelphia.

“He talked often about ending his career (here) like Julius Erving and that his father was a Sixers fan, and it meant a lot to him to play for the team,” Croce said from Los Angeles in a telephone interview.

But Iverson no longer could work with Cheeks, and the player still hadn’t used up his allotment of defiant acts, blowing off a team bowling event which earned him a fine. Those were two of the final straws that saw Iverson and the Sixers realize they’d be better off without each other.

They were the kind of brewing blowups where Croce would once try to act as mediator, like he did in 1999 when he sat Iverson and former coach Larry Brown in a room and persuaded them to hash out their differences.