Iverson’s Grizzlies’ debut: 15 points, 1 assist, lots of whining

In past years, I often debated with fellow NBA fans and friends who disagreed with my assertion that Allen Iverson was the toughest player in the league — even if the conditional phrase “pound-for-pound” weren’t thrown into the argument.

While he never met a shot that he didn’t like, there was no bigger A.I. fan than me.  He was lightning quick, tough as nails and electrified the crowd.

That said, Iverson, who made his season debut (off the bench) with the Grizzlies last night, has already picked up where he left off last year.  (As I’m sure you remember, he was sent home for the last several games with Detroit due to his “back.”)

In 17 minutes last night, Iverson posted 15 points and one assist, but he’s already upset about sitting on the bench, which he says is “the only thing I had a problem with.”

“I’m not a reserve basketball player,” Iverson said, per Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. “I’ve never been a reserve all my life and I’m not going to start looking at myself as a reserve. That’s something for the media to talk about. It’s only a big issue when the media talks about it. The subject never came up in my career until everything happened in Detroit. No one talked about me being a sub or anything like that until last year.

“In all the other years of my career, it’s never come up. I’ve been a starter on All-Star teams, Olympic teams and NBA Finals teams. It’s just a big deal now. I think it is something people should let go. To answer your question, no, I’m not a bench player or the sixth man. Go look at my resume, it will show you that I’m not a sixth man.”

“If we’re winning, I can play 10 minutes and I’m happy,” he said. “When we’re losing, that’s when I trip out.”

I understand his competitive nature and not wanting to view himself as a “reserve basketball player.”  But there are reasons why there was only one team that seemed to express any interest in Iverson.

And if he’s complaining after game one, it seems like this is going to spiral out of control — and fast.

Tags: Allen Iverson