The Memphis Grizzlies are soon going to be faced with admitting to a mistake about signing the enigmatic Allen Iverson as the unfolding saga of a Superstar with no gas in the tank is unfolding in front of their eyes. The appeal of having Allen Iverson on your team is understandable to anyone. Allen can take his small NBA body and light up the scoreboard at times with so little effort that you have to just stare with awe.

The problem with taking on Allen Iverson is Allen Iverson. He has never understood the concept of team or even coach and let’s not even talk about practice. That was a joke, of course, alluding to Allen’s famous quip when he played for Larry Brown in Philadelphia. Larry the Master is probably the coach that came closest to harnessing the power of the Iverson.

The NBA has seemed to get tougher for Allen Iverson and anyone that signs him and one has to wonder why? One has to wonder if this is the end of the line.

It was impossible to watch the Grizzlies’ 114-98 loss to the Lakers last night and not come away with the impression that this was one of the low points of Iverson’s career. In his third game since injuring his left hamstring during the preseason, Iverson once again came off the bench and scored just eight points in 22 minutes.

There he was, a glorified bench-warmer wilting amid the bright lights of the Staples Center. And there stood the transcendent Kobe Bryant, a fellow future Hall of Famer who scored 41 points and looked electric in the process – in other words, resembling the sort of player Iverson once was and believes he still can be.
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Allen Iverson struggling with the NBA

Even though we don’t know what the Truth is about the Truth (Iverson’s early nickname), we do know that he is troubled and has asked for a leave of absence.

The Allen Iverson saga has taken another turn as the veteran guard asked for and was granted permission to leave the Grizzlies to deal with a personal matter, according to an NBA source.

Iverson, 34, met with Griz owner Michael Heisley Friday night following the team’s 114-98 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The pair met again this morning, and Iverson was expected to depart for Atlanta this afternoon.
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So why do we talk about Allen?

Because he is interesting, eclectic, a difference maker when he is on, and a major problem when he is not.

Will Allen return from Atlanta or will the Grizzlies cut their losses and move on? Will Allen regain his All Star form or just look longingly at Kobe Bryant? We don’t know the answers to these questions and that is why we still talk about him.

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The NBA is a paradise of pampered ultra elite athletes that have failed to realize how special their lives truly are compared to the rest of us average people that slog it out every day just to get a check that won’t quite last until the next check.

Allen Iverson NBA superstar

Allen Iverson is a case in point causing disruption everywhere he goes, in spite of talent that just oozes out of his pores. Speaking of pours, not pores, Allen refuses to pour his heart into his team as in what is good for the team and rather prefers to play to what is good for Allen. If that happens to mesh with Team, then the age old saying of there is no I in Team becomes nothing more than a restated euphemism. Problem is that in most cases there is no I in Team and Allen becomes a problem to be dealt with on a team level and a PR level. That is what the Memphis Grizzlies are dealing with right now.

NBA superstar Allen Iverson is grumbling as a Grizzlie

Iverson missed all of the Memphis Grizzlies preseason NBA games and the first 3 regular season NBA games and now expects to be automatically a starter. The Coach has a big time problem with that attitude.

“My frustration is that I have to talk about Allen Iverson at every press setting,” Hollins said. “I want to talk about the Memphis Grizzlies and us as a team. And even when Allen was out, I was happy to talk about Allen. So, that’s my frustration. I just want to talk about the Memphis Grizzlies. If Allen plays well and you guys want to ask me about Allen, that’s great. Or if he plays poorly and you want to ask me how poorly he played, that’s great, too.
“But what he says and what he’s thinking? My job is to coach the team as a unit. I have to make decisions and all the players in that locker room are not going to be happy about it. But it’s my job to do the best that I can and if they don’t feel like I’m doing it than ownership is going to get rid of me and that’s the way it’s always been through history.”

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Allen Iverson on defense

In an odd statement after the Grizzlies lost another NBA game, this time to the Warriors, it was Allen Iverson speaking up about defense, a subject it was suspected that he knew very little about.

“It’s been rough,” Iverson said after logging 28 minutes in his second game back from a hamstring injury. “You have to take on an individual challenge to guard the guy you have in front of you. It starts with having the heart to guard your man. … Not a lot of players like to play defense. Winning teams play defense.”

It was difficult to find anyone in the Grizzlies’ locker room who didn’t share Hollins’ mood or who disagreed with Iverson’s answer.
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Defense? Why are we talking about defense?

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Believe it or not, George Karl the Nuggets coach is a big fan of Allen Iverson and thinks that Allen will thrive in Memphis if he is prepared to move to a new part in his career. George Karl refers to this as being a mentor to the younger guys and a bench player. Memphis has a number of younger guys like O.J. Mayo and could use a strong mentor, but Allen Iverson? That is going to be tough.

“Now that he’s getting in whatever you want to call it, the twilight of his career, I hope he gives the sixth man, come off the bench; be a scorer off the bench, be a mentor to young players in Memphis, give it an opportunity.”

“Sometimes ego gets in the way of all of us – we all have at times trouble to realize, you know, we gotta do it this way. I think if AI realizes that he can be a mentor, he can be a great sixth man; Memphis has an interesting basketball team with Randolph, and AI, and some of the changes they made this season. I think they have an opportunity to kinda be a surprise in the western conference.”
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George joked that he teases Chauncey Billups all the time that he replaced talent with brains. He assesses that Allen was not the problem with the defense; it was poor shot selection that led to easy plays for the other team. George really believes he can make the transition to the bench.

Allen Iverson with the ball in his hands, big surprise

My money is on Allen disrupting a team that already has a problem in Zach Randolph and causing the team to implode and disappear from the face of the Earth. Allen will then move on to another team. After a few years we all will realize the Grizzlies are gone.

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For all you old fogeys out there, twitter is where it is at and where you are at or should be. Hold on; have to update my twitter, “typing my blog”. You see, somewhere, someone wanted to know that. It is the days of instant communication and twitter is the latest fad.

Allen Iverson will Twitter in Memphis

Allen Iverson has been shopping his services after the disaster in Detroit and was about to give up when lo and behold the Memphis Grizzlies, a sort of NBA team, have agreed to sign him.

Iverson’s decision came following a Monday night meeting in Atlanta with Griz owner Michael Heisley, general manager Chris Wallace and head coach Lionel Hollins. Iverson, a 34-year-old, 13-year veteran, will play for a contract that pays $3.5 million (what the Griz have left under the salary cap) and the deal will be loaded with incentives.
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To say the Memphis writers and fans are not concerned about this deal is like saying my Mom is not concerned about being old. This deal will destroy an already not promising team. Oh, there is young talent there; waiting for Iverson to do not mold them into a unit, but there is not any kind of a plan.

If you want to build a basketball team, you go get David Lee and Ramon Sessions during the offseason. If you want to build a freak show, you go get A.I. and Z-Bo.

At the start of last season, Heisley had a three-year plan. At the start of this season, his plan has become “Oh, what the Hell.”

Zach Randolph is available?

Oh, what the Hell.

Allen Iverson is available?

Oh, what the Hell.

What are the Memphis fans going to do, anyway? Not go to games?

Now the team will be interesting, at the very least. In the same way that a demolition derby is interesting, that Jon and Kate are interesting, that Mike Tyson was interesting.

This cannot end well.
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None the less, Allen Iverson remains one of the most entertaining and fan popular players in the game. Everyone wants to root for the little guy, except maybe the team that owns him.

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The Memphis Grizzlies are close to signing Allen Iverson. It would be for a 1 year deal, because 1 year is all you can risk on The Truth and then you might find you can’t handle the Truth.

Memphis apparently is Iverson’s best – and only – NBA opportunity at this point. No other team has publicly emerged as an Iverson suitor. The Griz offered Iverson a reserve role paying at least $3.5 million or what it has remaining under the salary cap.

The offer could be as much as $4.4 million should the Griz renounce their rights to Spanish guard Juan Carlos Navarro. The deal still is less than the $5 million Memphis originally considered paying Iverson.
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Now to most NBA fans the Memphis Grizzlies are a joke. Think about it right now and tell me one player in the Grizzlies lineup. Hmm, how about Pau Gasol, isn’t he a Grizzlie? Oh, no, that is right; he has been a Laker for a couple of years.

Well, you will get some bonus points, because they do have a Gasol, but it is younger brother Marc the non-All Star caliber player.

Allen Iverson will play next to Mike Conley in the Memphis backcourt

Still the Grizzlies may get zero respect, but their current lineup does have potential.
Try this out:
Center: Marc Gasol with Hasheem Thabeet backing him up. Not bad.
Power Forward: Zach Randolph. OK, still looking for a team that will let the Black Hole be himself.
Small Forward: Scoring machine Rudy Gay.
Shooting guard: Maybe Allen Iverson, otherwise O.J. Mayo. The old grizzled vet and the young pup.
Point guard: Mike Conley. Still waiting for him to develop.

Conley, Mayo, Thabeet, and Gay are all young and talented. Randolph and Iverson can both score. Sure, that lineup is not going to challenge for the title, but some excellent pieces are in place.
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It is draft time speculation time or something like that and the Memphis Grizzlies, a perennial loser in the NBA, have the second pick and no clue as to what to do with it.

Hasheem Thabeet towers over everybody

The most persistent rumor has the Griz taking Hasheem Thabeet, but Hasheem wouldn’t even work out for them. Hey, would you want to spend your career on a perennial loser? Ok, Hasheem said he has some shoulder problems right now, but you wonder what his response would have been if the Lakers had called?

Who would the Grizzlies pick if the draft was held today?

Truth is, no one really knows at this point. No one. Agendas are flying all over the place.

Reports that Heisley has settled on taking Thabeet are erroneous and grossly overblown, as is speculation that coach Lionel Hollins operates with a Thabeet-or-bust mind-set.

Depending on the day, Heisley, Hollins and Wallace are as excited about a potential trade as they are about possibly drafting Thabeet or Rubio. Even guards Curry and DeRozan have become prominent in discussions among decision makers in the organization.

In other words, the Grizzlies are all over the draft map as it relates to the No. 2, 27th and 36th picks.

That doesn’t necessarily mean trouble given the Griz didn’t consummate a deal for O.J. Mayo until draft night last year, and the deal turned out just fine.
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With a solid plan like deciding on draft day who to take, does this explain why the Grizzlies are always such a rotten team?

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How bad are the Grizzlies when Avery Johnson turns down a 5 year contract?

You remember Avery as the Dallas coach.

Johnson, 43, certainly fits Heisley’s profile, having posted a 194-70 record in four seasons with the Mavericks for a winning percentage of .735. Before his dismissal in May after two straight first-round playoff exits, Johnson took Dallas to the NBA Finals for the first time in the club’s history in 2006.

Johnson also earned NBA Coach of the Year honors that season and followed up the trip to the Finals with a 67-15 season in 2006-07, before his tenure with the Mavs began to unravel with a first-round loss to the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors and former Dallas coach Don Nelson.
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Not only did the Grizzlies offer up 5 years, but they have 3 awesome looking rookies in O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol (Pau’s brother), and Darrell Arthur.

Rumors have former assistant coach Hollins taking the job. Hollins resume is a little less than sterling, so maybe the Griz will keep looking.

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Darius Miles and the 18 million dollar basketball

Darius Miles wanted to play and Portland will pay, but he won’t play for Portland. Darius will play for Memphis.

Confused?

Portland released Darius saying he was medically ineligible, but if he plays 10 games for anyone then Portland is on the hook for 18 million bucks. Portland’s owner even sent out a mass e-mail to all the NBA owners not to sign Darius. That did not sit too well with a lot of owners.

Miles was signed by the Grizzlies as a free agent on Dec. 13 after missing two seasons (2006-08) following micro fracture surgery on his right knee. The 27-year-old signed a free-agent contract with the Boston Celtics on Aug. 22, 2008 and appeared in six preseason games.

It was believed that Miles had to play in 10 regular-season or postseason games in a season for the $18 million to count against the Blazers. But his six preseason appearances with the Celtics counted toward the 10. Miles then signed with Memphis, served a 10-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy and played in two regular-season games for the Grizzlies.

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Darius has tried to stay out of it saying he just wants to play.

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Pau Gasol takes a seat to nobody when playing basketball in the NBA

In the world of “yeah we kind of figured”, Mitch Kupchak came out and admitted the Lakers kind of stole Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies. Really? And we just kind of thought the Lakers were lucky?

Originally the Grizzlies wanted more for Pau Gasol.

The deal included Kwame Brown and weren’t the Lakers aching to get rid of him, Aaron McKie, the long time NBA veteran role player, rookie Javaris Crittenton, and two future first round picks, and Pau’s brother Marc. As you can see, they picked him up for a whole lot of nothing. Even the first round picks will most likely be low first rounders and worth very little.

The Grizzlies were asking for Monkey King…err Sun Yue, but the Lakers talked them out of it.

The Lakers had a pair of second-round picks last year. Gasol was selected 48th overall, eight picks after the Lakers drafted Sun. The younger Gasol spent the 2007-2008 season playing in Europe.

In the end, the Lakers were able to hold on to Sun, primarily because of the scouting report that assistant general manager Ronnie Lester prepared for Kupchak, after Lester evaluated Sun in Singapore, a month before the trade was consummated.
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So now you have a Laker team of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum.

Sun will be surrounded with Stars!

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LeBron James is partying at the thought of all the NBA players available in 2009

Even with all the big name free agents in 2010, with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh in the group, the year 2009 could still be the year of the free agent.

Try this out for 2009.

Some of the Restricted Free Agents: Andrew Bynum, Marvin Williams, Jason Maxiell

Some of the players that can opt out of contracts: Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Rip Hamilton, Hedo Turkoglu

True Free Agents: Shawn Marion, Andre Miller, Rasheed Wallace

So what about money?
Some teams are loaded depending on what happens.

Thunder 25 – 30 million
Trail Blazers 15 – 32 million
Grizzlies 18 – 24 million
Pacers 11 million
Heat 10 million
Bobcats 10 million

Plain and Simple, there will be lots of player movement in 2009 in the NBA.

story source espn

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