Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 10:45 pm  |  145 responses

Allen Iverson Leaves the Grizzlies

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Six games into the adventure, and Allen Iverson has apparently had it with Memphis. The Answer has asked for a leave of absence from the Grizzlies.

According to the local paper, Iverson left to deal with a personal matter. He reportedly left this afternoon, missing tonight`s game against the Clippers.

The Commercial Appeal has the scant details:

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. Atlanta is where Iverson lives during the offseason.

According to Yahoo!, Iverson is headed to Atlanta to clear his head. More details are sure to emerge in the coming days. Iverson, who was injured at the start of the season, only suited up for three games in a Grizzlies uniform.

As an A.I. fan, it`s tremendously sad to watch his career fizzle out in such shameful fashion.

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  • http://hibachi20.blogspot.com Moose

    +1@ Dacre. Let him get it together, he will.

  • http://www.alllooksame.com Tarzan Cooper

    anyone else remember his last season in denver? he was killing it, all kinds of stories how he grew and developed, etc. his production has fallen off as quick as stevie franchise. ai can still do it tho, he just needs a team that he can fit in with. i think chicago or toronto would both be good fits

  • http://shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ Tariq

    Izzo is the man. On another note, I find people who question Iverson’s overall career funny.

  • Jacob J

    I told y’all that AI is the biggest wineass and will not become a team player. If he had to go to a new team I think its the bobcats.

  • Jacob J

    @ JE. AI couldnt of stayed in Philly because they traded him and AI didnt ask for it.

  • dimedroppa10

    Tariq..AI career individual stats are solid, but as a team leader not so much. The PG first option is not to score, but to make your team mates better. He never moved beyond trying to make himself better/get his points, that’s why no one wants him.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    Jukai: Absolutely spot-on comment at 3:42pm.

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    What I don’t get is why AI doesn’t realize that he can still easily impress the pants off any GM at this point. From the way things look, the only problem right now is his ego – he doesn’t want to be seen as a bench player. This might just be the last straw, but I think there’s still hope. GM’s don’t just look at absolute PPG numbers only, the standardized per-36 stats are more comparable and important. So if AI comes off the bench and guns like a MFer and pours in 18 points in say 20 mpg, ANY TEAM would still want him. But I’m really afraid that he hasn’t learned a single thing since the Detroit situation last year. I hope AI proves us all wrong, because the alternative is… really sad.

  • http://www.sonicbids.com doyouwantmore

    Worst talent to attitude ratio in the history of the NBA?

  • http://www.sonicbids.com doyouwantmore

    What if AI is just not that bright? His talent is unquestionable, but he’s so narcisstic and doesn’t seem to understand he’s not a franchise player anymore. He still thinks of himself as an MJ, Kobe, or Lebron, carrying a team to a championship. He’s been showing off his million dollar necklaces but seems to come up short in jewelry with meaning.

  • Denise

    Give the Grizz a chance!! Please come back & play for the team. I, along with several friends was so excited when we heard you chose Memphis!! Remember your opening fan day in Memphis at Fed Ex Forum?? Think back to that day & come on back & make us win some games!!

  • Denise

    Give the Grizz a chance!! Please come back & play for the team. I, along with several friends was so excited when we heard you chose Memphis!! Remember your opening fan day in Memphis at Fed Ex Forum?? Think back to that day & come on back & make us win some games!!

  • http://www.sonicbids.com doyouwantmore

    Re: Coming off the bench: “I’m so tired of discussing that, talking about that, every single day. It’s just not something that I want to discuss” – - – Hey here’s an idea Allen: Shut up.

  • M-Blog

    I agree..He’s not a bench player and surely shouldn’t be a bench player behind no bum **** Conley who get lost on every damn play ..AI problem has nothing to do with his game ..He misss practice over late dates with strippers and never come to the team sponsorship events ..And everyone know sponsorships are the backbone of the NBA ..I prayed for the last 10 years that he would change but he haven’t ..Those hood “yes men” and strippers cost him his career …I am upset and baffled that this man can’t get a 3rd chance when Wall Street get 3-4 bailout PACKAGES ..
    HE IS A STARTED AND YES HE SHOULD START …….You think Shaq would start behind Sam Dalembert ? NO …

  • M-Blog

    RM Posted: Nov.8 at 1:22 am
    I think AI needs to go to the Knicks. People will embrace him into the starting lineup and the offense D’antoni runs fits AI’s style of gettin’ them shots up. Memphis was never a good spot for him. Their owner forced it upon their GM to sign AI for the fans, and AI is realizing this. He doesn’t want to play 10-15 minutes a game. A player of his caliber NEEDS to play 30 minutes a game. Two years ago, was he not a 24 ppg player? People forget too easily. AI’s one of the greatest of all time. Remember this.
    ________________________________
    I agree! Perfect offensive fit ..

  • The D Train

    am i blocked from this site? my posts are not showing up on any response…

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    LMAO @ JD

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    D Train – Not blocked, everyone’s comments get eaten on this site for some reason.

  • http://fjklf.com Jukai

    I’m trying to figure out how I can get Ricky Rubio into this conversation

  • The D Train

    would Napoleon sit on the bench? no. AI has that complex, combined with the racism he’s faced in his life. AI answers to no man, and in fact, will be held down by no man. Humility, thy name is not Allen Iverson. For better or worse, this is the attitude that helped Iverson achieve what we’ve all witnessed and enjoyed…and at other times not enjoyed. Much like Jordan’s HOF speech, we cannot laud these dudes for the attitude they display when it suits us, then rain on them for it when we don’t like it. Iverson has been true to Iverson since day one. Sometimes we enjoy that single-mindedness, and other times we do not

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    Jukai – if the Grizzlies had taken Rubio instead of Thabeet – as was projected on several mock drafts I saw, Iverson would never have landed in Memphis, probably gone to Charlotte (and in doing so made BET happy at the time).

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    doyouwantmore: Iverson is probably smarter than you are, I`ll tell you that.
    “He still thinks of himself as an MJ, Kobe, or Lebron, carrying a team to a championship.“ Wait, LeBron carried his team to a championship? LMAO when did that happen? At least Iverson WON 1 game in the Finals.
    Thanks for playing though.

  • joe

    i bet if kobe came off of the bench he would act the same way too..

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    I bet if AI wasn’t such a tool he’d at least have 1 ring by now…

  • chintao

    Can I start an NBA franchise? I’ll take Iverson, Marbury, Bonzi, Wang Zhi Zhi, and whatever other cast-offs I can find. I bet you at the end of the year we’d have a better record than the Knicks, the Nets, and the Grizz.

  • http://realcavsfans.com Anton

    lol @ JD, Jukai

  • doyouwantmore

    @Teddy – Wow, you really know your NBA history! I am aware that Lebron hasn’t won a championship, dumba$$. If you could make it through a whole sentence without getting confused you’d have read that I’m saying AI still thinks of himself as the franchise player.

  • karan

    knicks need to sign the answer.

  • andrew

    say what you want about this whole thing but iverson represented what was good about the league for the majority of a decade.. he was THE scoring guard before stern changed the rules to make it the norm.. the press conference immortalised by dj jazzy jeff on the song practice.. iverson taking time off is the best thing he can do get his mind right and give it one last shot because there is no way he can still play the way he used to the beatings he has taken has finally caught up to him (think back to the reebok ad he did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=areBUihbfTs) i wish him all the best

  • MoNiQuE

    im not gonna believe this until i hear him say it himself we all know the media like 2 make up a load of BS stories about him

  • M-Blog

    @Derrick I agree Conley is a bum ..Ai should not be playing behind him ..PERIOD

  • mookie

    the fall of iverson since 2008 is the result of constant bashing by the media and a concentrated effort by the media, david stern, and other decision makers to boot him off the league. iverson’s larger than life presence hinders stern’s vision of a kobe vs. lebron james league.

  • Rikson

    Iverson, forced by the rude man hollins to come of the bench, takes his ball and goes home….

  • http://slamonline.com Brad Long

    Mookie:I guarntee David Stern does not want Allen Iverson out of the league. David Stern likes to make money.

  • JR MARTIN

    You can’t put a good man down. A.I. will rise to this occassion. He’s been thru a lot in his life that I have no doubts he will make it through this simple test.

  • Sturm Drang

    Iverson’s problems have almost never been about his on-court performance… but about everything else. OK, his numbers are still efficient and he is still the best person on the Grizzlies, but if he’s still a locker room cancer… you can’t make him the leader of a team of young players and risk contaminating them with his habits.

    This article is about Chauncey, but peripherally, it says volumes about the kind of influence Iverson is on a team and why Denver performed so much better after Iverson was traded away.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=090511/billups

  • Sturm Drang

    “iverson’s larger than life presence hinders stern’s vision of a kobe vs. lebron james league.”

    …Which league are you watching? AI’s only relevance now is in the circus he provides outside of the game. It is the league of Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Howard… and then what names come next? Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Paul Pierce, Nash, Amare… How many names does a GM tick off before he gets to AI as a person he wants on his team? Oh, that’s right, the only team that wanted him this season is Memphis. Uh, huh.

  • Sturm Drang

    In case people aren’t up to reading the entire article about Billups, here are the relevant paragraphs:

    Iverson has been popular but counterproductive in Denver. Key members of the organization say that Iverson has partied some nights until 3 in the morning, and that Denver’s two most crucial players — Anthony and J.R. Smith — have tried to keep up with him. They say Anthony and Smith look at Iverson with reverence, the same way Chauncey’s generation looked at Michael Jordan. So when A.I. says, “Let’s go out,’” they go out. When A.I. wears a sleeve on his arm, they wear a sleeve. Especially the impressionable Smith, who has never met a shot he didn’t like.

    The Nuggets have managed to win 50 games in 2007-08 living this way, but it’s clear they have hit their ceiling. A.I., Anthony and Marcus Camby are all “ball stoppers,” meaning they rarely pass. A lot of times, the Denver offense has consisted of Iverson dribbling right, Iverson dribbling left and Iverson taking a fadeaway. The sorry offense has led to sorrier defense, but Karl’s pleas for ball movement have fallen on deaf ears.”

  • riggs

    of course the grizzlies wanna sell some jerseys, who the f*ck is gonna buy a rudy gay one?

  • Boogieman

    Give it up ai

  • boykins def

    Who can gaurd ai

    no answer

  • boykins def

    Ai should start his own league let me play sg

  • boykins def

    Ai should start his own league let me play sg rebok help sponsor it

  • Duke

    AI knew the Grizz wanted him to come off the bench. He even said that he wouldnt like it but it wont show in his game…. AI is a buster.. shut up, play your roll and get your 3 million… I give it 2 more games and he would have been starting anyway.

  • CORY

    I was so excited after the news went public that A.I. was joining the GRIZZLES. Here it is like a month and a half later and he may finally be leaving. This veteran elite superstar isn’t making the playing time he needs. The GRIZZLES can not afford to let he go. Im in Tampa,Florida and couldn’t wait to move back home and catch IVERSON playing in Memphis. This is one of the biggest and greatest affairs that has happened in Memphis since the mike tyson fight at the pyramid. This guy does exactly what he’s suppose to do on the court.IVERSON is in the COBY and lebron class. He does more than contribute as a player. he is the point man for the GRIZZLES. now they have these sometimes good ball players. These off brand players are like off brand bologna. Memphis is a smaller market and could land great players after Allens career as a GRIZZLES player. He can also do great things with the kids as well. Im deeply hurt by this guys departure. I think after this season they should fire that coach hollins. Memphis should go after Patrick Ewing. He’s an assistant coach for the orlando magic and has knowledge of how basketball should be played. New York didn’t have a spot for he in the front office, so memphis needs to hire he and attract greater players. Memphis has to be known as something more than Elvis, B.B. King and barbecue. They should ask that he comes back and make it about he only. They need to advertise more that a champion has arrived on GRIZZLES headquarters. There should be family packs where tickets are minimized in price so that every adult and every child can enjoy watching there favorite players. Allen IVERSON will awaken that dead city. He can profit that city so much and even after he leaves after playing and ending his career in Memphis. This guy can play til he’s about 38 or 39 and then he can maybe become a bench mark at that age. Dam! why did this have to happen to memphis.

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