Thursday, November 19, 2009
Larry Brown on Allen Iverson
Posted by Chris Herrington on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Larry Brown, the coach who had the most success with Allen Iverson, did a radio interview recently in which he touched on the Iverson situation. (Found via True Hoop.)
A choice excerpt:
On if he thinks AI’s unwillingness to play a supporting role is hurting his chances of finding a team that will be a good fit for him:“I think so, but he doesn’t think he needs to. Here’s what happened - when he thought about coming with me he said coach I don’t care if I start, you just give me an opportunity to start. And I said that’s fair. I hope I do that with all my players. But I told him that if he came with me, I have two guards sitting there and they would be unhappy, and I didn’t think that was fair. So when the Memphis situation came up, I looked at their roster. One, he made more money with them which I thought was a factor. And two, they just had Conley and Mayo and he was under the opinion that he would get a chance to start. Well, he missed all of training camp and I think that hurt. And then he was a little impatient. But the real factor was his family wasn’t with him. His family’s in Atlanta and I think they didn’t want to move to Memphis. And I think that was the major reason he wanted to leave.”
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Puts a different spin on it. For all we know, A.I. was getting "Ima leave yo a$$ before I go to Memphis!" from his wife. Or his kids were crying at the concept of being bored in Memphis. Atlanta is indeed a great city . . .
It is easy to forget that these guys have families, complete with the idiosyncracies that go along with it. One could even argue that if he was hearing noise from his family, he took it out on his teammates . . . especially if he can't start the way he thinks he should.
At any rate, I wish him luck. And I wish US luck.
L3E.....you make some great points and if what you say is true, then Allen owes Memphis fans, his teammates and his coach an apology. We all have stress and sometimes it manifest itself in anger. But the true sign of an adult and man is to come back and say you know what, I love my family and I felt it was more important to be with them...my bad to my teammates, the Memphis fans who support me and Coach for taking the heat.
A.I. I hope you can adjust so you can prolong your career, wished you could've done it in Memphis...good luck where ever you land. Don't let this be the way people remember you and your career!
AI is not a ticket taker, he would be gone most of the time even if he played in Atlanta.
X:
True. But at least his family is happy in Atlanta (apparently). If you can't be around Daddy as much as you like, then at least you want to be in a city you like. And if you're a good husband and father, you want your wife and children to be wherever it makes them happy.
All that said, even Larry Brown's remarks are just conjecture. We don't know what the "personal issues" were/are. We don't know the dynamics of that marriage or family. I'm reminded of Jesus' sound advice: "Judge not lest you be judged."
Good riddance to The Punk! If he isn't man enough to own up to a $3 mil contract -- more in one year than the rest of us poor schleps make in two-three lifetimes -- he's not man enough to contribute to a team that may be shockingly competitive, despite the fact that its owner p*ssed away the #2 pick on the second coming of Manute Bol. Now if Heisley would just stay in Chicago...
Props to Lionel Hollins for telling The Punk like it is...
Pissed away the #2 pick on manute bol. Yep, thats a good one. Heisley couldn't recognize bball talent if it was handed to him. Grizz will be working on manute thabeet for the next 3 years to improve his backup game.
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