Why A.I. is playing for the Memphis Grizzlies

Okay, at the end of the 2008-09 season, one of the most dynamic shooting guards of all time and a future hall of famer is available. Do you pick him up? No way!!

What? Are you crazy? This guy is one of the best ever, a player who single handly took it to the Lakers in 2000 for the NBA Championship. He knows how to get to the Finals. He is a flat out competitor and still has enough juice in the tank to allow him to be productive for another three years. Why won't you take him?

Attitude. Thats all it is. Heaven help him if he takes the route of a Marbury or a Sprewell, but if Iverson continues to dillude himself that's how he'll be remembered in his declining years. Sure unlike the other two he is a future hall of famer, but he'll take an early exit when he could have helped a team win an NBA Championship. After only one his first game as a Grizzlies player he's already whining.

"Go look at my resume and that will show you that I'm not a sixth man," Iverson said. "I don't think it has anything to do with me being selfish. It's just who I am. I don't want to change what gave me all the success that I've had since I've been in this league."

Now imagine if Iverson accepted his role as the leader off the bench. Any team he plays on would just be plain silly good.

For example - In Boston - Iverson and Wallace? That's a pretty good tandem. We're ignoring the fact that this would mean reduced minutes for an important piece in Eddie House and would totally take Boston out of their offense which remains a set system no matter who is on the floor, but just imagine Iverson buying in to a team's philosophy and accepting a new role?

Iverson still has a lot of ability. He is still a shot creator, a rare talent, he may not be a good one on one defender but he has a decent enough defensive IQ. and he is flat out fast. He can definetly help a team win a title if he comes off the bench ala Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson.

But no, Iverson continues to complain about his role, still wanting to be a starter, but what he doesn't understand is he no longer draws the contact and gets to the line enough to warrant him being a volume shooter who totally takes every other player out of the offense. What Iverson doesn't understand is that in order to win you have to make sacrifices for the better of the team.
Back in his days with Philly, he was a flat out scorer - quick and elusive - he could score baskets that made you say "How'd he do that?' and he wasn't afraid of the contact. But now Iverson is half a step slower, lost a little off his shot and cannot get to the line as he once did. That makes him a liability as a starter and moe importantly a liability to a team's cohesion. Plain and simple, his style of play as a starter no longer puts up the W's.

Players win championships by adapting their games and fitting in to a system or accepting a role on a team, not by living in the past.

In short - Iverson has a big head.