Iverson Not The Answer In Memphis

During the offseason, there were a handful of other teams reportedly interested in acquiring aging point guard Allen Iverson.  Miami, Charlotte and the New York Knicks were among the front runners for A.I., but the issue with Iverson going to any of those teams would be his willingness to come off the bench for an entire season.          

Since being drafted number one overall in 1996by the Philadelphia 76ers, Iverson has been a consistent starter and scorer.  After being traded to the Denver Nuggets, he remained a starter and continued to put up big number for the team.  That all changed though when, for reasons known only to Joe Dumars, the Pistons traded Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to Denver for Iverson.

This meant a role change for Iverson because the Pistons already had an All Star guard in Richard Hamilton and were grooming rookie Rodney Stuckey to be the point guard of the future.  So, this left the Pistons in a tough spot.  At first they started Iverson and the team had little success.  Then, they switched strategies and started Hamilton and this didn’t please Iverson.  Not one bit.  He said that he’d rather retire than keep coming off the bench. The Pistons finished with a losing record and were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

My question is, if he’d rather retire than come off the bench, then why go to Memphis?  Let’s face it, the Grizzlies are going nowhere fast.  They have a lot of young talent but no veteran leadership.  Does Iverson bring that direction?  Probably not.  He’s always been a shoot first pass second player.  But, for reasons known only to him, AI accepted the Grizzlie’s deal instead of playing for a possible playoff team.  I’ll set the over/under at 20 games before he starts complaining about playing time.  What say you?

Need More? Allen Iverson,Memphis Grizzlies,NBA