duncan228
11-06-2009, 08:13 PM
Iverson Q&A: Free agency was ‘horrible’ (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ApOoxJJgLy1aZnGx6jTBl2W8vLYF?slug=mc-afterbuzzer110609&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)
By Marc J. Spears
Allen Iverson had plenty to say during his recent trip to the Bay Area – most notably, that he isn’t happy about coming off the bench for the Memphis Grizzlies – and his attitude likely won’t change unless or until the Grizzlies start winning.
Say what you will about A.I., but he has no problem speaking his mind. From his free-agency experience this past summer to his future to even his hair, Iverson touched on a handful of topics – besides his role with the Grizzlies – during a one-on-one interview with Yahoo! Sports.
Q: After things went bad with the Detroit Pistons, did you feel like you needed to sell the Grizzlies on signing you?
Iverson: Nah. I talked with them and had a conversation with them about what I wanted for the rest of my career, what I can do for the squad. But I’m not playing basketball no more to make money or anything like that or fame. I’ve been there and did that. I just want to be happy doing what I love to do. If I felt I had to sell myself or sell out to be somebody that I’m not, then I wouldn’t do it anymore. I’d be playing at the YMCA.
Q: Can you envision the day you walk away from the NBA?
Iverson: Hell yeah. I got a wife and five kids. I definitely can see myself walking away from basketball, walking away from [the media]. I don’t have to talk to y’all every [expletive] day. There is a lot of y’all I don’t dislike, a lot of y’all I love. But there is a lot of y’all I hate. But I understand that media people just do their job. Nobody wants to hear no positive Allen Iverson story about me giving out turkeys, doing something for the Boys & Girls Club. They want to hear stories about A.I. cursing the coach out and stuff like that. That positive [stuff] don’t sell.”
Q: Did you feel like the NBA and your skeptics left you for dead this offseason?
Iverson: Why not? Why not? I ain’t never had a whole bunch of people running around saying “I love Allen Iverson” my whole career. If you say there is a million of them that love me, there is a million of them that love me. It’s more that don’t. There’s more that would rather see me fail than succeed. You think I don’t know that people left me for dead?
It’s not because they’ve seen something deteriorate in my game. It’s because they’ve been waiting for that day that it does happen. But they’re going to be waiting for a long time if they think something has gone away with my game.
Q: Can you describe how free agency went for you this past offseason?
Iverson: It was horrible just not knowing where I was going to be or where my family was going to be – my kids and my wife not knowing. It was just a bad experience. It was an experience that I thought was going to be a good one, but it wasn’t. It was tough on me.
When you get bad-mouthed by certain people, then it makes it that much more difficult. I understand. I’ve heard a lot of different things since the summer passed. If you get bad-mouthed in this league by certain people, it’s hard to get over that – especially the stories that I heard about who I am as a person off the court and who I am in my teammates’ eyes. At times, it used to bother me. But I’ve heard so many of them now that I don’t even think about it no more.
Q: What would you say to those that say you lost a step?
Iverson: Just watch. Just watch. You know what’s crazy about that? I’ve averaged 27 points my whole career. You see All-Star players that let a couple years go by and then they make it again. But you never hear after they don’t make it one year that they lost a step. To the world, that one bad [last] season, 17-[points]-and five-[assists] mark, people hear that and say, “A.I. had an awful season.” But you have guys with 17-and-five making it to the All-Star Game and people saying they had the greatest season ever.
That’s what frustrates me because the people that have a chance to discuss it don’t look at it that way. They only look at it like I went to a team that was already established. You got Tayshaun [Prince], you got Rip [Hamilton], you got ‘Sheed [Wallace] and you got the young boy, [Rodney] Stuckey, that’s trying to make his way. And the Denver situation? You saw how many guys we had. We had ‘Melo [Carmelo Anthony], Nene, Marcus [Camby], Kenyon [Martin] and everybody, and my scoring goes down three, four [points] and they say, “He’s losing a step.” It’s just going to be like that. That criticism will always be there for me. But if I can accept the praise, I damn sure can accept the criticism.
Q: You got rid of your trademark cornrows last year for a short haircut, but you returned to the cornrows this season. Why?
Iverson: I didn’t like that other [stuff]. Nope. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t stand it. It’s hard to find a barber who can do it the way you want it done all the time. I just wanted my hair back. I’ve grown so used to it – and if my daughter [Tiaura] didn’t beg me to cut it, I would have never cut it. But she gave me the OK to grow it back.
********************
A.I. almost a Clipper?
Iverson can ponder what might have been when the Grizzlies visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. Back in July, the Clippers seriously contemplated offering him a one-year contract paying up to $4 million so he could be a “Vinnie Johnson-type” player, a source with knowledge of the talks said. Denver Nuggets assistant Tim Grgurich, who was considered for a job on Mike Dunleavy’s staff over the offseason, also strongly recommended Iverson to the franchise.
The Clippers, however, were concerned about how Iverson’s addition would affect the development of second-year shooting guard Eric Gordon, along with other chemistry issues. The Clippers cooled on the idea after Iverson told Dunleavy in a phone conversation that he would have a serious problem with coming off the bench.
The possibility of signing Iverson became a dead issue once the Clippers acquired guard Sebastian Telfair and swingman Rasual Butler. But had A.I. been fine with coming off the bench, he could very well be with the Clippers now.
By Marc J. Spears
Allen Iverson had plenty to say during his recent trip to the Bay Area – most notably, that he isn’t happy about coming off the bench for the Memphis Grizzlies – and his attitude likely won’t change unless or until the Grizzlies start winning.
Say what you will about A.I., but he has no problem speaking his mind. From his free-agency experience this past summer to his future to even his hair, Iverson touched on a handful of topics – besides his role with the Grizzlies – during a one-on-one interview with Yahoo! Sports.
Q: After things went bad with the Detroit Pistons, did you feel like you needed to sell the Grizzlies on signing you?
Iverson: Nah. I talked with them and had a conversation with them about what I wanted for the rest of my career, what I can do for the squad. But I’m not playing basketball no more to make money or anything like that or fame. I’ve been there and did that. I just want to be happy doing what I love to do. If I felt I had to sell myself or sell out to be somebody that I’m not, then I wouldn’t do it anymore. I’d be playing at the YMCA.
Q: Can you envision the day you walk away from the NBA?
Iverson: Hell yeah. I got a wife and five kids. I definitely can see myself walking away from basketball, walking away from [the media]. I don’t have to talk to y’all every [expletive] day. There is a lot of y’all I don’t dislike, a lot of y’all I love. But there is a lot of y’all I hate. But I understand that media people just do their job. Nobody wants to hear no positive Allen Iverson story about me giving out turkeys, doing something for the Boys & Girls Club. They want to hear stories about A.I. cursing the coach out and stuff like that. That positive [stuff] don’t sell.”
Q: Did you feel like the NBA and your skeptics left you for dead this offseason?
Iverson: Why not? Why not? I ain’t never had a whole bunch of people running around saying “I love Allen Iverson” my whole career. If you say there is a million of them that love me, there is a million of them that love me. It’s more that don’t. There’s more that would rather see me fail than succeed. You think I don’t know that people left me for dead?
It’s not because they’ve seen something deteriorate in my game. It’s because they’ve been waiting for that day that it does happen. But they’re going to be waiting for a long time if they think something has gone away with my game.
Q: Can you describe how free agency went for you this past offseason?
Iverson: It was horrible just not knowing where I was going to be or where my family was going to be – my kids and my wife not knowing. It was just a bad experience. It was an experience that I thought was going to be a good one, but it wasn’t. It was tough on me.
When you get bad-mouthed by certain people, then it makes it that much more difficult. I understand. I’ve heard a lot of different things since the summer passed. If you get bad-mouthed in this league by certain people, it’s hard to get over that – especially the stories that I heard about who I am as a person off the court and who I am in my teammates’ eyes. At times, it used to bother me. But I’ve heard so many of them now that I don’t even think about it no more.
Q: What would you say to those that say you lost a step?
Iverson: Just watch. Just watch. You know what’s crazy about that? I’ve averaged 27 points my whole career. You see All-Star players that let a couple years go by and then they make it again. But you never hear after they don’t make it one year that they lost a step. To the world, that one bad [last] season, 17-[points]-and five-[assists] mark, people hear that and say, “A.I. had an awful season.” But you have guys with 17-and-five making it to the All-Star Game and people saying they had the greatest season ever.
That’s what frustrates me because the people that have a chance to discuss it don’t look at it that way. They only look at it like I went to a team that was already established. You got Tayshaun [Prince], you got Rip [Hamilton], you got ‘Sheed [Wallace] and you got the young boy, [Rodney] Stuckey, that’s trying to make his way. And the Denver situation? You saw how many guys we had. We had ‘Melo [Carmelo Anthony], Nene, Marcus [Camby], Kenyon [Martin] and everybody, and my scoring goes down three, four [points] and they say, “He’s losing a step.” It’s just going to be like that. That criticism will always be there for me. But if I can accept the praise, I damn sure can accept the criticism.
Q: You got rid of your trademark cornrows last year for a short haircut, but you returned to the cornrows this season. Why?
Iverson: I didn’t like that other [stuff]. Nope. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t stand it. It’s hard to find a barber who can do it the way you want it done all the time. I just wanted my hair back. I’ve grown so used to it – and if my daughter [Tiaura] didn’t beg me to cut it, I would have never cut it. But she gave me the OK to grow it back.
********************
A.I. almost a Clipper?
Iverson can ponder what might have been when the Grizzlies visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. Back in July, the Clippers seriously contemplated offering him a one-year contract paying up to $4 million so he could be a “Vinnie Johnson-type” player, a source with knowledge of the talks said. Denver Nuggets assistant Tim Grgurich, who was considered for a job on Mike Dunleavy’s staff over the offseason, also strongly recommended Iverson to the franchise.
The Clippers, however, were concerned about how Iverson’s addition would affect the development of second-year shooting guard Eric Gordon, along with other chemistry issues. The Clippers cooled on the idea after Iverson told Dunleavy in a phone conversation that he would have a serious problem with coming off the bench.
The possibility of signing Iverson became a dead issue once the Clippers acquired guard Sebastian Telfair and swingman Rasual Butler. But had A.I. been fine with coming off the bench, he could very well be with the Clippers now.