ALLEN IVERSON X MEMPHIS GRIZZLES

I’M NOT SURE I’M HAPPY ABOUT THIS. I JUS HOPE HE STARTS.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Allen Iverson has something to prove.
Though the 10-time All-Star and former league MVP has scored more than 23,000 points in his NBA career, he wasn’t a highly sought-after free agent.
The 34-year-old guard heard all the talk that he’s lost a step, that last year’s dip in offensive production indicated he’s on the downside of his career, maybe even20ready for retirement.
[+] EnlargeAllen Iverson

Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty ImagesAllen Iverson got a hero’s welcome, with a standing ovation and Grizzlies fans chanting his name.
Iverson wants to prove those critics wrong, and he’ll ge t his chance inMemphis. He signed a one-year contract Thursday with the Grizzlies — a team that hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2006 and has never won a postseason game. The Grizzlies are coming off a 24-58 season that tied for fifth-worst in the NBA.
“This year for me is so personal,” Iverson said at his introductory news conference.
“It’s basically going to be my rookie season again. It hurts, but I turn the TV on, I read the paper, I listen to some of the things people say about me having the season that I had last year and me losing a step, things like that. They’re trying to put me in a rocking chair already.”
The team and Iverson’s agent, Leon Rose, declined to discuss specifics, though Rose said the deal is laden with team-oriented incentives. None is tied to Iverson’s individual statistics. A base salary reported at about $3.5 million was increased after the Grizzlies withdrew a qualifying offer to guard Juan Carlos Navarro, freeing up more money for the signing.
The 13-year veteran was welcomed with a standing ovation in an atmosphere that felt like a pep rally, with fans standing in the lobby of the FedExForum.
Iverson, dressed in a white shirt and wearing a Grizzlies ball cap, saluted the hundreds of fans who yelled out, “We Love You, Allen,” and chanted “AI, AI, AI.”
Cheerleaders, the team mascot and even the drum corps were there. One fan presented Iverson a book during the news conference. The Convention and Visitors Bureau gave him a Beale Street Blue Gibson guitar.
At times, the whoops and support of Iverson’s answers were reminiscent of a revival.
The Grizzlies are hoping for more than a revival. They want to go well beyond just making the playoffs; they want to boost interest in a franchise struggling to sell seats in Memphis.
General manager Chris Wallace called Iverson one of the NBA’s all-time great guards and said the signing is a great day for the team, Grizzlies’ fans and the city of Memphis. The team had been courting Iverson since July, a process that sped up with dinner Monday night in Atlanta with the guard, Wallace, team owner Michael Heisley and coach Lionel Hollins.

Iverson’s 2008-09 Season

Lowest since
PPG 17.5 Ever
APG 5.0 2000-01
Steals PG 1.5 Ever
Minutes PG 36.7 Ever
Career In A Capsule
• 13 seasons with 3 different teams
• 1996-97 NBA Rookie of the Year
• 10-time All-Star selection
• 2-time All-Star Game MVP
• 2000-01 NBA MVP
• 4-time NBA Scoring Champion
• 3-time All-NBA 1st-Team selection
“This guy has many years of basketball left in him . . . and he is eager. He expressed it to us to get going with the task of helping our team reach a whole other level of success,” Wallace said.
Iverson is the biggest name ever stretched across the back of a Grizzlies jersey. The franchise has only one All-Star in its history — Pau Gasol in 2006.
The 6-foot Iverson has been rookie of the year, the 2001 league MVP and a four-time scoring champ with a career average of 27.1. Philadelphia made him the top pick in the 1996 NBA draft, and he spent the bulk of his career with the 76ers before being traded to Denver in 2006 and then to Detroit last November.
Whether Iverson’s presence translates into more wins for the Grizzlies is unknown, but the excitement Thursday could indicate his potential impact at the box office. The team store already had jerseys with Iverson’s No. 3 hanging on the wall ready for sale.
Iverson ranks second among active players in career scoring, behind Shaquille O’Neal, and is 16th all-time with 23,983 points in 886 games.
Iverson will open the season against his most recent team. The Detroit Pistons visit Memphis on Oct. 28.
New York, Charlotte, Miami and the Clippers also inquired about Iverson, but Memphis appeared to be the only one to make a solid offer.
Questions still remain about where Iverson fits in the Grizzlies’ plans after talking most of the summer about the need for scoring help off the bench. Iverson said in April he would rather retire than come off the bench and complained about his minutes while with the Pistons.
Iverson said Thursday he wants to compete and be a coach on the floor.
O.J. Mayo, who finished second to Chicago’s Derrick Rose in rookie of the year voting last season, starts at shooting guard. Memphis seems committed to Mike Conley at the point. There’s little doubt Iverson’s scoring talents should help a team which averaged only 93.9 points a game last season, next to last in the league.
“I’m excited,” Conley said after watching the news conference with his teammates. “It’s a guy I always watched growing up, and having him as a teammate is going to be a great opportunity for me.”

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17 Comments
  1. A.I Will Be A Big Force In Memphis Coz He Has Something To Prove To The People That Don’t Believe In His Basketball Ability To Lead A Team…

  2. I’m from Memphis and im still not sure how I feel about it. I hope that A.I. will make the whole team more passionate about winning. We have some good players but as a team we aren’t driven by others expectations cause they don’t expect much from us. But hopefully having A.I. will change that. We are still waiting for that breakout season!!!

  3. BASKETBALL SUCKS NOW. I STOP WATCHING BASKET SINCE THE YEAR 2000 HIT.

  4. I’M JUST GRATEFUL THAT HE’LL BE PLAYING BALL AGAIN

  5. This guy will never win a ring until ends his selfish ways. He has been with teams loaded with talent (Denver and Detroit) and refused to be a team player. He wants to score 30 pts, make 10+ assists and 10 rebounds per game,by himself, and still win. He doesn’t even want to go to practice! How are you going to excel and better your teammates when you blow off practice? If he doesn’t get his shit together, he will take his place alongside Charles Barkley as great players who never won a championship. I shouldn’t even mention Iverson in the sentence with Barkley because Charles was not a selfish player. He just had the misfortune of playing in the “JORDAN” era.

  6. I hope this will afford him the opportunity to prove all that he needs too.

  7. Man we need all the help we can get

  8. everyone always talkn dwn on a.i… a.i is the reason i started playing ball with his made handles and his strength to get knockd dwn by the big guys all game and jump and still charge on

  9. lord take the wheel lol well ima fan of his for life whatever he goes i go but i still fuck wit my sixers no matter what AI all the way show these yung niggas sumthin

  10. I’m from & still live in Memphis,I remember jokeing about this a couple of months ago.I told my friend who is a big Iverson fan that if he came to Memphis I was gonna get her season tickets cuz they dirt cheap lol.I have no clue what this is goin to do for Memphis if anything but at least he still playing.

  11. Im a big supporter of the NBA and the Grizllies. A.I. still has a scoring ability and now he can prove to be a leader. I just purchased my season tixs…Lets GO GRIZZ!!!!

  12. JD,
    It’s his own fault. Look at his attitude during his time at Detroit. I don’t remember the details but how are you a team leader but DNP when your team scrapes their way into the playoffs?

  13. love Allen wherever you are, we will always be on your side.. just keep going.

    we expect more of you just as yourself do.

  14. I’m not liking him in Memphis, but I’m a lifetime Allen Iverson fan so I will be supporting him no matter what. Hope all goes well and he can be the leader I know he is and they can experience some success while he’s there.

  15. @MissD
    I agree witchu! I love A.I. to the death, but I don’t like him in Memphis. I really want him to come back to philly. But I’m from philly so that would be kinda bias, right?. . . . .Right. LOL

  16. i do not care where AI goes, as long as he is playing .. I am satisfied.. I am no. 1 AI fan to the bone…..anything he does is right for me….and when he retires , i will also retire with watching of basketball….Hatersss…..AI is back,,,,ur all are too small to put him on a rocking chair……

  17. Go my AI……..U ER THE BEST IN D LEAGUE…..

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