Allen Iverson and the Memphis Grizzlies have parted company?
You mean the lowly, travelling in the slow lane Grizzlies couldn’t use the services of a 10-time All-Star and former league MVP?
Or was it more Iverson getting sick to his stomach every time he had to come off the bench to spell starters Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo? Hmmmmm. That took all of three games!
Coming off the bench for say Richard Hamilton is a lot easier to digest than subbing for Conley or Mayo when you’re the Answer!
Once again, Memphis was just a team that didn’t understand the Answer. Didn’t realize that the sum of all points has to go through A.I.
The truth is Iverson still has shelf life. In those three games with Memphis, he averaged 12.3 ppg on 57 percent shooting, playing 22.3 minutes an outing. That may very well be the final stat lines for Iverson unless he can dribble his way onto another team. But in order for that to happen, the 34-year old Iverson has to come to terms with one fact. It’s unlikely the PA announcer in any NBA arena is going to shout out his name as a starter anymore.
In Memphis, the Grizzlies thought they were getting a big name and a player who could help develop their young backcourt. What they got instead was a player who’s name on the marquee was missing a few bulbs, cast in shadow by a young team trying to get better.
So Iverson officially exited because of “personal matters”. When you’re the 16th player in NBA history to score 24,000 points, I guess you do take it personally to occupy a seat while watching a couple of guys no one would recognize on the street soak up prime minutes.
Maybe during the summer Iverson glanced at the various NBA rosters and concluded, when the phone wasn’t ringing off of the hook, that he surely would be a starter in Memphis. I mean c’mon!
Surprise. Surprise.
If the Grizzlies were willing to to let a promising big like Pau Gasol go for a song, surely Iverson wasn’t going to be the Answer to a much larger question.
UPDATE:
Will the Orlando Magic give Iverson a call now that starting point guard Jameer Nelson is due to miss 4 to 6 weeks for arthroscopic surgery on his left knee?
Right now the job goes to backup point Jason Williams who's 34. An Iverson, Vince Carter backcourt? Could Dwight Howard get enough touches? Don't forget Rashard Lewis is roaming the perimeter as well.
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Alan,
ReplyDeleteOf course Memphis could use him. But that's not the point. One - he WAS a great scorer, with tremendous skills, but mainly he was an individual talent. He never really learned how to, or wantd to, get the ball to other players during his career. Iverson should have taken a lesson from Tiny Archibald, who one could argue was Iverson before Iverson. Later in his career, Archibald, always a good assist man, put his ego aside to pass even more. Yep, Iverson can still play. But he's might as well retire if he doesn't learn to play well with others - and like it.