Allen Iverson is going to attract more attention to himself than the team called the Memphis Grizzlies, and the national media is going to tend to be more interested in the star power of AI rather than the plight of the Grizzlies. This can work to the benefit of the team, or it can work to it's detriment, so I wanted to start a thread keeping track of an opinion in evaluating AI's perfomance in the "game after the game" - the interview room starting with this his first official game.

This quote taken from Yahoo summarizes why I have him at 0-1 to this point:

“It’s not about me being selfish or anything like that,” he said. “It’s just the fact that this is who I am. I don’t want to change what gave me all the success when I came into this league.”

What? You're not being selfish, but you feel like blasting a developing, gelling team which appears improving (and has a SOLID starting core) while touting yourself is in...whose interests is that again?

No, the Grizzlies don't have it together yet. Yes, it was a loss. Yes the starters were overplayed in my opinion, but AI's statements weren't encouraging or edifying to the team, and I'm not sure if I was his teammate how I could spin them as being supportive of the team as a whole. Of all the things he could say, he couldn't manage to get past himself, and when self wins AI gets the 'L'.

We'll see what happens tonight.

I couldn't agree more which is why I was so perplexed and frustrated by the signing of AI to begin with. His free agent summer didn't change him. He hasn't matured. It has been and always will be about AI.

If he was so concerned about the team winning what difference does it make who starts?

Iverson is so self-centered he truly believes that what is best for him is best for the world. It's sad that the Grizzlies will have this albatross hanging around destroying the franchise for the rest of the year.

OK - so based on the Tillery article, Iverson appears to have recanted and made a fairly decent statement. While not overwhelming, I think it was genuine enough to eek out on the side of favorable and not damaging. So, despite what PTI and others are saying, I give him the 'W' in his postgame from last night, and move him to 1-1.

Then he laid an egg effort wise against the Lakers. At best he is 1-2 now.

Quick question. There have been multiple posts on the blog stating Iverson is moving into the starting lineup tonight. Is this true? If so, what is the source? I cannot find anything to substantiate this on the web. I sure hope this isn't true. If so, the season is lost, as Hollins will have lost the respect of the team and Conley will have been stampeded by Iverson and the ignorant, star-struck, knowledge-deprived "fans" in Memphis who have been clamoring for AI to start while deeming Conley a failure before he's even reached the age at which guys like Steve Nash and Chauncey Billups began to blossom.

I concur. 1-2. How tacky can you be if you REALLY feel like you're not being given the individual attention by the coach that you require that you go to the media to express this prior to going to the coach?

Maybe what he left on was a personal spiritual retreat in order to reorient himself to his new basketball reality. The Grizzlies didn't outbid anybody to get him. The Grizzlies actually landed him for $1.2 million less than we actually aspired to spend on him from the jump. He has always been politically incorrect, but his position allowed him to overcome this. His current position is much less favorable.

His sense of entitlement is much more than his sense of humility. I don't know what it is that he actually has left in the tank, but at this rate it won't matter if he can't get it together enough to stay in the league. I hope this issue that he needs to get resolved truly is personal, and that he will somehow find a niche with the team and stick, but with Heisley flying to LA to talk with him, I have as least a seed of doubt that this is all there is to it.

If AI claims he hates losing more than he likes winning, he needs to realize that he is sucking it up big time in the personal "game" that he is playing to re-establish himself as a legit player in the league! I hope that he can get it together, because I'm rooting for him as a player and a human being; but the Grizzlies need to do what we need to do to improve, and right now he's not helping us at all.