Grizzlies begin play in Allen Iverson glare

[La Bomba]

Allen Iverson had been wearing a Grizzlies practice jersey for all of two hours when coach Lionel Hollins, surrounded by television cameras and notebook-toting reporters, asked the media a question of his own:

 

"Are you going to ask me about him after every practice?"

 

That was eight days ago at Birmingham Southern College, where the Grizzlies held training camp and came to the slow realization that things were different now, that their anonymous existence as a struggling, small-market franchise was over. Iverson, a future Hall of Famer, has changed all that.

 

It is a coincidence that Iverson's official public unveiling as a member of the Grizzlies will play out tonight in Richmond, Va., a short drive down Interstate 64 to the Atlantic shore, where he grew up. The Grizzlies' preseason opener against the Washington Wizards promises to be a homecoming of sorts for Iverson, still beloved by many in the state who watched him star in football and basketball at Bethel High in Hampton, Va.

 

But the game also underscores an indisputable fact, one to which the rest of the team must grow accustomed: Iverson, at this stage of his career, is a bigger brand and greater draw than the Grizzlies. And it could create an interesting dynamic as Hollins continues to emphasize the need for team building.

 

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/oct/06/grizzlies-begin-play-in-iverson-glare/

[Art]

Tough season ahead perhaps.