Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  81 responses

Welcome to the Difficult Life of Lionel Hollins

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

As long as Allen Iverson is coming off the bench — as he did yet again last night — things are going to be awkward in the Memphis Grizzlies’ locker room. A.I. is of course used to these sort of things, having partaken in his share of battles over the years.

Lionel Hollins, though, you should probably feel a little sorry for. He’s more of an innocent bystander in this clash, and is being asked by his boss to nevertheless fix the situation. Prior to the game against the Warriors last night (which the Grizz lost), some light was shed on Lionel’s plight.

From the Commercial Appeal:

Iverson, despite his opposition, will play a reserve role for the foreseeable future. Griz coach Lionel Hollins made that clear before the game. Earlier in the day, Hollins received the backing of team owner Michael Heisley, who was thousands of miles away doing business in the Middle East.

“Lionel will handle it,” Heisley said via telephone. “This is a situation that’ll be handled between Lionel and Allen. What Allen said was inappropriate, but I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. Allen expressed his frustration about not playing and I understand that.” It’s no secret that Heisley made the Iverson acquisition happen. But Heisley reiterated Wednesday that he won’t tell Hollins how to coach. “It’s up to the coach to handle these issues,” Heisley said.

For his part, Allen Iverson more or less reiterated his points from a few nights ago — saying he’s still upset about having to face the shame of coming off the bench.

The team owner brought Allen to Memphis, and Michael Heisley made it clear from day one — perhaps not to Iverson — that he’d be coming off the bench. It’s now up to Lionel Hollins to somehow get this message through to his unhappy star.

Wish him luck.

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  • tavoris

    from what I hear, there are a couple of disgruntled PG’s in Portland…Heck, even Jamaal Tinsley would be a better option. Maybe I’m just down on Conley, cuz I haven’t seen him get one bit better. It doesn’t even look like he’s gotten any bigger. He’s gotten plenty of minutes to not play like a 12-year old against adults.

  • Forrest Crunk

    IZZO said: “Is allowing AI rack up his customary 20 and 6 on his whistle stop tour better than trying to develop a long term prospect at the 1 on a team that’s all about long term potential?”
    The answer is yes, if the person you are talking about is Mike Conley.
    If you are going to build for the future, you need to let these young cats see what it feels like to WIN A FEW GAMES behind a battle-tested vet like Allen Iverson, this is not Stephon Marbury we are talking about here, but a former league MVP who took a squad to the Finals that, without AI, might possibly have been lucky to win 25 games that year.
    Lionel’s trying to put his foot down and be the big boss and believe me I understand, he is no Kenny Natt but I’m not sure it is appropriate in this instance. I would hate to be a Memphis fan, the Grizz are in a perpetual state of long-term development.

  • Forrest Crunk

    Jamaal Tinsley is indeed, better than Mike Conley.

  • rog123

    Just because someone comes off the bench, doesn’t mean they can’t get a lot of minutes. Look at ginobili. 2 or 3 years ago whenever he was 6 man of the year, he finished 6 in mvp voting

  • tavoris

    rog-dude, it’s because they aren’t giving him Ginobili minutes. Nor are they winning.

  • Ghoul

    so let me get this strait A.I isnt starting,
    damn hollins

  • NUPE

    AI likely has 2-3 good and effective years left in him (after this one). There is too much free agency etc to build/develop the future of the team too far beyond 2-3 years. The Grizz could see how/if AI can contribute and play with Rudy, OJ and Zach and from there determine who stays adn who goes. Extending AI’s contract a few more years to play with Zach and OJ is not a bad idea. They can use Conley and Rudy as trade bait to bring in the right complimentary talent. Granted, AI won’t be playing 5 years from now but that further in the horizon than they can really work with now. There are plenty of pg’s that can provide Conley type numbers, but it’s still the few that can put of the kind of numbers that AI can (at his current age).

  • doyouwantmore

    LOL. I love it. There is literally nothing and no one in the entire Grizzlies organization I would root for, in any way. Elvis sucks too.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Co-sign Forrest Crunk.
    Izzo, you’re missing the point spectacularly.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    It doesn’t matter who starts–Iverson should be getting the minutes he deserves spectacularly.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Izzo

    Teddy: Coming from you, that’s great.

  • http://slamonline.com tealish

    Hard to defend AI being put off this early, unless they basically told him that this is his role for the entire season.
    I also can understand his frustration. Mike freaking Conley is starting in front of him. Now, we all know Iverson wouldn’t like playing behind anybody, that’s for sure. But I have a feeling if he were told to play behind someone who was actually better than him and better for the team, he’ll concede and play from the bench albeit with a chip on his shoulder. (As if that chip is never there)
    This is just a bad situation that was never going to work. But in the 0.1% chance that it DOES work, AI is a starter. That much I know.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    They should just start AI and let Conley or Marcus Williams come off the bench to start the 2nd quarter and play the majority of the minutes. Everyone wins!

  • http://slamonline.com Russ Bengtson

    If I were Hollins, I’d start AI and play him 48 minutes a night. Every night. Eff it.

  • http://idunkonthem.blogspot.com/ albie1kenobi

    why hasn’t Russ been hired as an NBA head coach already?
    because we need him here for amazing game recaps and insightful comments.

  • BostonBaller

    At this stage AI is still better but he needs to stop being a distraction. He said whatever it took to get a contract knowing that he wasn’t going to honor his word of “playing whatever role was asked of him”. I still love watching him but he has to realize that there weren’t many teams beating down his door this Summer. this should be very interesting.

  • paul

    They should let AI start they are a better team with him and conley is obviously a bust

  • http://www.sixers.com 360vue

    being a sixers fan i genuinely think i appreciate AI more than most, and although hes always had flaws he was a complete warrior so it was all yin and yang. but he’s fast becoming a disgrace. the attitude that coursed through his veins in the years of ’01 and ’04 would deal with being on the bench and persevere and deliver the performances. instead, since being in denver, then detroit, and denver, hes just moaned and moaned. although, hes not always had a fair deal especially in detroit, hes still being far too much of a baby about things. he said he’d retire before coming off the bench, several seasons of being on the bench, he’s still playing… its evident he wants to play ball but he seems far more concerned with putting his opinion out in the media than delivering the goods on court, its paradoxical behaviour, and ultimately, a shame to see a great act like this

  • Shem

    OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay hate each other? Is it over the amount of shots?

  • http://myspace.com/brandnew Bryan

    Shem I thought you were done with slam?

  • tavoris

    Shem, it’s because Memphis became Mayo’s team as soon as he got there. Gay was looking for Durant-type freedoms once Pau got traded.

  • ThaRussian

    last game Conley shot 3 of 10 and Iverson shot 8 of 12, Conley played more minutes

  • http://fjklf.com Jukai

    I got a good solution to this mess— start AI, play him for five minutes, than immediately sub in conley and play Conley for the rest of the game! AI gets to start and his ego is rubbed by hearing his name, and Conley gets developed!

  • CARTEL

    A.I. came to memphis believing he was going to start…he could have played on playoff bound teams but didnt due to the possibility of him coming off the bench, so why are people shocked that he has a problem with his role…why would an all star come to a struggling team to play a bench role???…if he was willing to play a bench role, he wouldnt have even made it to memphis, he’d be playing in L.A. for the clippers(who actually look like they’ll be playoff bound when Griffen gets healthy)

  • http://fjklf.com Jukai

    In fairness to everyone though, while AI should be coming off the bench for the betterment of the team, I’m a bit confused as to why Allen Iverson wasn’t in during the end of the game.
    I’m not buying this ‘training Conley’ nonsense– they must have signed Iverson for more Ws, why else would they sign him?

  • http://fjklf.com Jukai

    “CARTEL Posted: Nov.5 at 9:46 pm
    A.I. came to memphis believing he was going to start”
    I find this highly unlikely, since it was noted many times by both the owner of Memphis and the coach that Iverson was coming off the bench. Even if no one told Iverson, does the dude not freaking read newspapers or watch his own team’s press conferences?

  • http://myspace.com/mavus15 Mavus

    TRADE CONLEY!!!! A.I. has shown that he is a winner, Conley must be doing something amazing in practice.. cause he sure doesn’t show it on the court…

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Izzo, is it spectacularly great?

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Izzo IS NOT missing the point.

    ___
    If I’ve got Allen Iverson on my team he’s my starting PG. TODAY. You bring more people to games, you get your young guards learning about giving 110% on the court (what they learn about practice and teamsmanship comes at their discretion). I would expect that if AI for this one year, plays as hard in practice as he can (going STRAIGHT at Mike Conley), gets the starting nod by the coach and replicates that in game settings, he will leave a fine exclamation mark on an otherwise amazing career. They’ll win games along the way AND you know what, the coach will probably save his own job in the process.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Heisley is watching all this unfold and if anything it will say alot about the coach he’s brought in. It’s one thing to have a coach that young guys will listen too, but if you can captivate and motivate the minds of 10-12 year veterans then your coach is going to be very good. In 2 years time, AI not being here and ALSO Lionel Hollins not being around could be very likely.

    MAY I SAY ITS GREAT HAVING RUSS BACK ON THE COMMENTS TRAIL?

  • iLL wiLL

    AI = Artificial Intelligence?

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