Monday, July 13, 2009
Hannan / Sports Please, Memphis Grizzlies, Do Not Sign Allen Iverson
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Comments (13)
Showing 1-13 of 13
After years of being a Golden State fan (8-year-old JR was wild about Run-TMC and Chris Mullins' flat-top; an older JR was thrilled to learn that Mullin played the first half of his career in a drunken haze), when the Grizz relocated, I decided I'd give 'em a try.
But, my god, Chris Wallace is a truly atrocious GM. Maybe we got spoiled by Jerry West's early involvement in the team, and anyone who follows The Logo is going to have a hard time living up to expectations (see - nearly every Alabama coach since The Bear died). But trading Kevin Love for OJ Mayo? Really? The classy Paul-for-Marc trade? Was that move to save printing costs so the team wouldn't have to shell out for new Gasol jerseys?
And they drafted Thabeet, who I will boldly predict to be a bust?
And now Iverson? Zach Randolph? I can't be bothered with them anymore. At least when they were in Vancouver they were easily ignored.
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@Caleb: Yeah, that would pretty much seal Chris Wallace's fate as the Worst GM in the History of Ever. Iverson's departure from the Nuggets last year was the best thing that ever happened to Denver.
@Caleb's pick-up mate: Make sure you elbow him in the kidneys when you guard him. He likes it.
Letting Shane Battier go was another awful blunder by the Grizz.
I'm not ready yet to say Thabeet will be a bust. It wouldn't surprise me if it takes a while for him to develop offensively, but in the meantime he'll at least give them some presence inside.
Getting Iverson would make no sense in terms of the team's long-term future, but he would probably sell some tickets, and that may be the imperative right now. Still, I wouldn't give up any prospects for him.
Besides, Caleb, what kind of Nashvillian are you if you want something from Memphis to succeed? Obviously you ain't from around here.
@ JR: Agreed. Love is not only already the NBA's best passing big man, he's also one of its most entertaining Twitterers. That's a double-loss for the Griz.
@ BoydBBiggs: Also agree. Getting rid of Battier was a huge mistake. In fairness to the Griz, though, the trade came three years before Michael Lewis revealed him to be one of the most underrated players in the league. How could they know that when they only got to watch him 82 times a year and every day in practice?
Oh, Boyd, how did I forget about Shane Battier? I'll never forget when he was drafted and he used the word "anachronism" in his interview and David Stern looked like he wanted to make out with him.
It's unfair, I suppose, to label Thabeet a bust, since, you know, he hasn't played a game yet. But drafting a primarily defensively minded big man with suspect knees and no offensive game with the No. 2 is a little bit of a stretch for me. And, further, since Chris Wallace did it, it's obviously bad.
And, like any Nashville native, I, of course, want all Memphis-related things to fail, just on principle. The reason I pulled for the Grizz when I did was that a drive to Memphis to see a game is a lot more feasible than going to Oakland. Fortunately, I no longer have to be of two minds about it, because there's (still) nothing worth cheering for at FedEx Forum.
i am tried of people wanting the grizzlies to continue to get players that wear g-gtrings instead of joc k straps i dont care about players personal life we all know somebody that have skeleton in their closet these are basketball players in the nba these are noy church members during missionary work at least we know about these players everybody and professional athlete have something we just dont or hear about them this is sport not rearing your childrens or taking of a family nobody is perfect especially the one !s that are talking negative toward them as usually these same people be the same individual that we hear and read about never get off the personalities and just deal with sports if i just judge teams by players morality i wouldnt like no team or watch any sports at all
Well said tvb17. Your refusal to embrace punctuation, capital letters, or coherence is a breath of fresh air
The Grizz seem to be making moves now as opposed to waiting and seeing if a nonexistent fanbase will wait for the next three years in hopes that the team "might" be pretty good. Although a majority of the media seem to have some disdain for him there are millions of people who love Allen Iverson and just want to see him play. Many of these people will come to the games and buy the apparel of the Grizzlies. It makes a lot of sense. What doesn't make much sense is for someone to argue against adding talent to a roster but provide no other alternatives. Very Republican in my opinion. But we are talking about Tennessee.
Ugh...Memphis won 24 games last year, how is Allen Iverson going to make this team any worse?
I know the media has hated Allen Iverson since he got in the NBA, but try not to be so obvious. Even a "bad season" for AI was better than half the guards in the league. Besides Memphis isn't going to win a championship anytime soon anyway. At least give the fans something entertaining to watch. Just by bringing fans to the gate and selling merchandise, AI's going to be his own stimulus plan for the state economy. Signing AI is the American thing to do...
I have watched Ai for all his career except for high school.He is a special player.Too bad the sixers never put enough good players around him make him an nba champ.I havn't watched a sixers game since he was traded.There is nothing to watch ,no exicitment.Ai & one philly Radio talk show host didn't get along here much.When Ai got married he didn't invite him to the wedding,it started from there,then boiled over.basically this dude had his people following Ai where ever he goes,or what ever he does.don't forget he had the air time 3-7 pm on the radio every day to brain wash peoples mind.Then this dude became a friend of larry brown.That was enough to make ai hate larry brown . Since both ai and brown left philly they are in good terms.Larry brown could have drafted paul pierce & dirk nowatski over larry hughes in 1998,but brown hated pierce because he went kansas(any way it was some kansas issue), I think brown got fired from there.Then he drafted speedy claxton.who is same size as Ai in 1999 over mo peterson.in 2002 he signed mothambo a 41 year old player for 7 years 45 million dollar.in 2003 signed kenny thomas for 49 million,2004 dalembert for 67 million,so many bad signings ,bad drafts,through all ai put people in the seats.AI begged the sixers to get a true center, that can score & rebound (like shaq).at the end he got all the blame & got traded.
