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| Writing this here because I have nowhere else to write it, really by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 11/16/2009, 3:21pm PST | ||||
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| Allen Iverson is gone from Memphis as of today, and people are already unilaterally blaming him for the breakup. What these people fail to consider is this: AI had just come from Detroit, where his playing time had been jerked with for no real reason. He stated time and time again that he felt like he still had the ability to contribute as a starter and that he was not interested in coming off the bench at this point in his career. His number one concern in the offseason was to choose a team where he would start, even if he wasn't the number one or two scoring option. There's no way he would have signed with Memphis -- Memphis!! -- if they hadn't assured him that he would start regularly.
I've always been of the opinion that AI in Denver wasn't the failure that people make it out to be. It wasn't until AI arrived that Melo started showing the kind of fire and desire (word to Teena Marie) that he needed to really harness his talent. That said, they were right to move him when they did. Once Melo was ready to lead that team, they needed a Billups, not an Iverson; a competent, cunning lieutenant who can be delegated to, not an aging general who still chafes at being commanded. Maybe AI can be comfortable in a secondary role somewhere, but it won't ever be underneath a former pupil. And it won't be in Memphis either. It's pretty clear that Memphis management never had any intention of starting Iverson. The season's only a few weeks old; it's not like they benched him for being ineffective two-thirds of the way into another sub-.400 season. They told him what he wanted to hear in order to bring him on board, probably in the hopes that he'd mentor OJ Mayo and help push him past that "good-player-on-a-bad-team" hump he's hit. They figured that they'd work out the differences in expectations once the season was underway, which wasn't necessarily a bad plan, except for two things: 1) He's Allen Iverson, and 2) they're the Memphis Grizzlies. You can say a lot of things about Allen Iverson, but he's got crazy amounts of heart and a desire to win that dwarfs that of 90% of the league. If the team was winning with him as sixth man, averaging eight points a game, he'd be making the occasional veiled gripe, but nothing else. When the team isn't winning -- when it's the Memphis fucking Grizzlies -- you get Onion stories like this. Ridiculous. It's an Onion headline because it deserves to be an Onion headline. If the Grizzlies had the sense that God gave a goose, they'd realize that everything that AI has to teach others is taught on the floor in gametime. You sacrifice this season to development, let Mayo and Gay learn on the floor from Iverson, and decide whether or not Gasol can play in the NBA. But Memphis is so far underwater that they're probably focusing on surviving as a franchise until the inevitable 2011 lockout/CBA renegotiation as opposed to, you know, developing talent and positioning the organization to win games in the future. Enough talk. The legally required Iverson Youtube video: |
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Writing this here because I have nowhere else to write it, really by 11/16/2009, 3:21pm PST  Re: Writing this here because I have nowhere else to write it, really by 11/16/2009, 3:53pm PST We talkin about practice NT by 11/16/2009, 4:09pm PST He sold season tickets. What did that cost the Grizzlies? NT by 11/17/2009, 7:50am PST Wan handreed meeyin dolar!!!!!!!!!! NT by 11/17/2009, 8:00am PST I knew there's a time difference with NZ but I didn't know it was still 2002 the by 11/17/2009, 12:28pm PST Iverson's cool as fuck. It's why you back him and why others would too. NT by 11/20/2009, 12:26pm PST Re: Writing this here because I have nowhere else to write it, really by 11/17/2009, 6:06pm PST |
