Ball or Nuthin' » Larry Brown

Allen Iverson and Memphis – A Match Made at the Box Office

T Lamont — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:19:30 +0000

This is according to Allen Iverson’s Twitter account.

“God chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career. I feel they are committed to developing a winner and I know that I can help them to accomplish that. I feel that I can trust them.”

The former young gun is now a seasoned veteran who would be supplying potential leadership for Memphis.

So much for the potential reunion with Larry Brown. A.I. looks to have agreed to a one-year deal with the Memphis Grizzlies (as reported by the Memphis Commercial Appeal) worth approximately $3.5 million and additional possible incentives.

The motivation for this move by the Grizzlies seems to be fairly straight-forward – they need all the help they can get bringing people into the FedEx Forum. Allen Iverson means more interested fans and more ticket sales.

Of course, this is only a short term ‘answer’ to a problem that will take a while to fix. If I were Memphis, I’d be more concerned with the development of a winning franchise. Fans always come out to support winning teams, even if they don’t have the greatest superstar attractions (prominent examples are the Pistons and Spurs teams from earlier in the decade).

Having Iverson hanging around for a year (and demanding a decent amount of minutes) will only stunt the progress of the Grizzlies future backcourt. It remains to be seen how Lionel Hollins plans to pair up his guards, but any combination involving A.I. will put either Michael Conley or O.J. Mayo on the pine. If the plan is to make the Grizzlies into winners, Conley and Mayo need as much time on the floor together as possible.

And no, Memphis wouldn’t dare talk playoffs – even with the addition of the dangerously streaky scorer.

But as the team’s two best SG’s, O.J. and A.I. will be tussling for P.T. – putting the Grizzlies in the NBA’s basement A.S.A.P.

Top Reasons Flip Saunders Will Not Transform the Wizards into an Elite Eastern Team

T Lamont — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:56:05 +0000

Get Shareaholic

I guess it’s good for the DC area fans to get excited about the Wiz. The guys definitely need some support after an absolutely abysmal year. But I’m gonna squash all that – starting with this Flip Saunders hiring.

He’s a professional with a great deal of actual NBA-coaching experience. But I’d strongly suggest that he is not the right fit for this team. In fact, here are my top reasons why he won’t be the huge difference-maker that many expect him to be:

"Yeah...whatever. Anything you say "Flip"..."

– Any coach with the first name “Flip” cannot be taken seriously.

– His coaching style changed Detroit from a team that had a great defense and mediocre offense into a team with a mediocre defense and weak offense. In other words, they got worse on both sides of the ball.

- The guy wears a shag. How can anyone keep from laughing at a guy who looks like he starred in “Welcome Back Cotter?”

Is that a "shag" in the back??

- He coached Kevin Garnett for 10 seasons, and only made it past the 1st round in one of those seasons.

- Gilbert Arenas (assuming he is playing, and not blogging, next year) has too much personality for him. Agent Zero will be the ”real” coach of this team.

- Arenas, Butler and (especially) Jamison do not play defense. Saunders does not stress defense. Looks like a match made in heaven.

- He’s too doggone mild-mannered. Successful coaches have to know how to play mind games (Phil Jackson), push buttons (Pat Riley) and ruffle feathers (Larry Brown).

In all seriousness, the Wizards have no choice but to be better than they were this past year. They’ll get lots of improvement if the Black President is healthy. But please don’t expect Flip to put them over the top. Especially after he has already proven that he is incapable of doing that.

But maybe if he would cut off that doggone shag…