Sports Radio Interviews

Chris Wallace: “I think you’ll see Allen Iverson back in professional basketball and probably back in the NBA at some point”

So Allen Iverson’s tenure in Memphis lasted all of about three games.  Wow, Terrell Owens thinks that’s a short time in a new city.  After playing his first game in Memphis it was already pretty clear that he was going to be a big headache for General Manager Chris Wallace and the Grizzlies.  Iverson came off the bench in his Memphis debut and after the game he immediately started running his mouth to the media about not wanting to come off the bench and not wanting to be a part of a rebuilding team.  Here’s the thing that Allen Iverson has to realize.  There were no other contending teams that went after him this offseason and that wanted him to have a prominent role.  Memphis was the only team that was interested in him at the time. 

There’s no question that he still has talent and he can still put points on the board, but at this point in his career, I think he’s best served to come off the bench.  I think Iverson has a couple of choices here.  He can go to a bad team, possibly start and take 30 shots per game and maybe add to his growing point total.  Another option is that he can go to a contending team, understand his role with that team, be happy getting limited minutes coming off the bench and shut his mouth and play.  The final option is that he can just sit on his butt at home without a team.  It’s time for A.I. to check his ego, understand who he is at this point in his career and be happy coming off the bench because that will be his only chance to play for another NBA Championship. 

Chris Wallace joined WHBQ in Memphis to talk about the timeline for Allen Iverson’s departure from Memphis, why they decided to part ways, whether or not he thinks Iverson will be back in the NBA this season and how he feels about the way things went down between Iverson and the Grizzlies.

On the timeline for making the decision to part ways with Allen Iverson:

“Well that was the first game that he played with this. Let me walk back through this. Allen was injured on Sunday, October 4th in Birmingham in the first quarter of our public scrimmage. He did not play in any of the eight preseason games and he only had two practices between that date and when we played in Sacramento which was the second of November. We had a new player coming off a hamstring injury that both parties agree has to be handled very carefully so it does not become a more long lasting injury and then he comes off the bench but plays 18 minutes. I would say that was a good first game for him in terms of his usage. I doubt that any other team in the NBA would’ve used a player with those same elements in his portfolio any differently. Then he comes back two nights later and plays 27 minutes, so the minutes are up. I believe he gets into the twenties at the Lakers on Friday, so essentially he averages 22 minutes per game. Then on the day after the Lakers game, Saturday November the seventh, he asks for a leave of absence to take care of personal business, which is granted. Then yesterday, we all agree it would be best for both parties if Allen would move on. We respect his decision. Any of the things about Allen’s personal business and his leave of absence you’d have to ask him and his camp, they would have to answer; we’re not going to go into that. We are in the process of putting the paperwork together to make this official and finalized today.”

On whether Iverson asked for guaranteed minutes or a starting spot:

“No one from his side asked for a guarantee of minutes or starting status or anything like that.”

On why he took the leave of absence:

“That’s his situation.  I’m not going to go into that.  They asked for a leave of absence which was granted and he wants to step away from the game right now and we wish him all the best.  He’s a terrific player and it’s too bad this didn’t work out on a longer term basis, but now we gotta go about our business.  We’ve played four games without him since Los Angeles.  We gotta go about our business of getting our team ready for the rest of the NBA season and he needs to take care of whatever it is that he needs to take care of.”

On when he think Iverson will come back to the NBA:

“I can’t give you a date that he comes back and plays.  I just always felt, and I said this last week, that I thought he would come back for us.  It didn’t happen.  I still think he has a great deal of basketball left in him.  Several years.  I think he’s too good of a player, too prideful, too much of a competitor just to call it quits right now.  If I had to venture a guess I think somewhere, somehow, someway he will play professional basketball again.  Maybe it’s in Europe, probably in the NBA, maybe the combination of both.  Who knows, but I think you’ll see Allen Iverson back in professional basketball and probably back in the NBA at some point.”    

On whether he’s upset about the way things went down:

“I ‘m not saddened at all.  We would’ve like to have Allen and have Allen play at his full potential the rest of the year, yeah that would’ve been fantastic.  It did not happen.  We went out and took a shot with Allen…maybe taking a shot is not the right word because somebody of that caliber, a future Hall-of-Famer, I don’t know if it’s taking a shot.  We provided him with an opportunity; we did not risk anything in terms of a long term asset for our franchise.  We did not send out any of our young players, the contract was not long in duration, which would strangle your teams salary cap, so I feel comfortable how we handled the situation.  This is a business of trying to go out and seize opportunities.  This particular one didn’t work for us, but I have no regrets at all that we went out and signed Allen nor do I have any regrets of how the situation took place as far as the Grizzlies conducted our business.”

On what he has to say to season ticket holders that bought tickets to see Iverson play:

“You guys are baseball fans; maybe that pitcher gets hurt in pregame warm-up.  You can’t guarantee who’s going to step on the floor of the field in sports.  You can’t guarantee how long they’ll be with the team.  We went out in good faith and signed Allen and again unfortunately he’s no longer with us.”

Listen to Chris Wallace on WHBQ in Memphis with Dave Woloshin and Brett Norsworthy

Tags: Allen Iverson, Chris Wallace, Memphis Grizzlies, NBA