The Grizzlies from A to Z

[La Bomba]

Of basketball, bears and men of letters ...

 

A: ... is for Arthur, Darrell? Alternate road jerseys? Nah, just messing with you. It's for A.I., of course. The Answer. Allen Iverson -- the franchise's first superstar, and one with an aura, a presence, an undefinable and undeniable something, that a few superstars would go down to the crossroads to possess.

 

B: Buzz. How sweet the sound.

 

C: Cocksure and cold-blooded -- qualities we like in a point guard, but haven't quite seen from Mike Conley. But we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, for now, based on his 39 games last season after Marc Iavaroni was fired as head coach and replaced by Lionel Hollins -- averages of 14.3 points (on 45.4 percent shooting overall, 41.3 on 3-pointers), 5.7 assists and 3.9 rebounds.

 

D: Defense. Yeah, we know they're the only team with four players who averaged at least 17.5 points last season. But will there be a defense beyond trying to outscore the other guys?

 

E: Ezail. Allen Iverson's middle name.

 

F: Five years. As in, "They'll be gone in five years." It's what cynical Memphians -- pardon the redundancy -- said when the Grizzlies arrived in 2001. They've been saying it every year since. Welcome to year nine.

 

G: Grizz the mascot. Got hops. Defense needs work. He's a Grizzly, after all.

 

H: Heisley, Mike. The majority owner. The de facto general manager. The man who signed Iverson, because he could. Because it's his team. No matter that the basketball people were against it. No matter that Iverson

had no other NBA option.

 

If Heisley has erred, it's on the side of entertainment. If it all works, he'll light his victory cigar with the three-year plan.

 

I: Team. Oh, wait. There's no "i" in team. Well, we'll see about that, won't we?

 

J: James, LeBron. This should be the season fans show up to watch the home team. But if you're wondering: King James, Shaq and the Cavs visit Dec. 8.

 

K: Kobe's here Feb. 1 and 23 -- by which time we'll know if the Griz are a team or a train wreck.

 

L: The Logo. No, not Jerry West -- the Grizzlies' bear logo. You know, that big blue-headed, yellow-eyed, honest-to-badness beast that stares out at you as if you're a Minnesota Timberwolf covered in red-eye gravy.

 

On the NBA blog "Both Teams Played Hard," Matt Moore waxes awestruck: "You know why you will know its wrath? Because of the evil eye. Seriously. Check out that expression. That's no screaming wussy tantrum-throwing Bear. This bear isn't surprised to see you. It's just ready to kill you."

 

OK, it's not Faulkner's "The Bear," but when was the last time you can recall someone suggest in writing that anything Griz-related strikes fear?

 

M: Memphis. The name on the front of those new alternate road jerseys. Nice touch.

 

N: A lower-case nugget about Iverson's one full season (2007-08) as an upper-case one in Denver:

 

The Answer actually had one of his better seasons -- statistically, at least -- with a 45.8 shooting percentage (his best clip in a decade), including a 34.5 percent on 3-pointers (career best). He averaged an Iversonian 26.4 points, handed out 7.1 assists a game (a total that would have led any of the last six Grizzlies teams) and played 82 games (only the second time in 13 seasons). The guy may prove to be old at 34, but he sure was sprightly at 32.

 

O: "It did not emerge, appear: it was just there, immobile, fixed in the green and windless noon's hot dappling, not as big as he had dreamed it but as big as he had expected, bigger, dimensionless against the dappled obscurity, looking at him."

 

No, not an old Jerry West scouting report on Jake Tsakalidis. It's Faulkner from his famous story of the bear, Old Ben.

 

P: We could talk about the playoffs or Sam Young's poetry. But we can't help ourselves: "We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you've seen me play right, you've seen me give everything I've got, but we're talking about practice right now. ... Hey I hear you, it's funny to me too, hey it's strange to me too but we're talking about practice man, we're not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we're talking about practice ... How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?"

 

Q: Quotable -- another of Iverson's gifts, and not just when he's riffing on practice. The man has become a philosopher of the game. Don't just watch No. 3 this season -- listen.

 

R: Riveting. A word ESPN.com's Marc Stein uses to describe the 2009-2010 Grizzlies, as in, "Have we ever been able to call the Grizz 'riveting' in this space? Can't see them winning 30 games, but I can tell you this: I'll be watching them. Gay, Mayo, Thabeet and Gasol + Iverson and Randolph = irresistible."

 

S: The schedule -- 12 of the first 19 games on the road. They'll need that "Memphis" on their jerseys to know where to come home to, once November ends.

 

T: Twenty-eighth. Where ESPN.com's Stein, for all the kind words he lavishes, ranks the Grizzlies among the NBA's 30 teams. Twenty-eighth?

 

U: And you wonder why the team marketing campaign includes such fighting words as "Us against the world" and ...

 

V: "Viva los Underdogs!"

 

W: Win total. What the heck, 42.

 

X: X-ray. As in, X-rays of sports editor's head reveal nothing following prediction of 42-win Grizzlies season.

 

Y: Youth, impressionable. This from Sports Illustrated, quoting a rival scout: "Allen Iverson will not be a good influence on their young players for three reasons: his off-court demeanor, his work habits and his need to have the ball in his hands. ... Zach Randolph hasn't been consistent since he was in Portland and Rasheed Wallace was there, staying on his butt. He's extremely talented, but when he's screwing up, what do you tell your young guys?"

 

Z: Z-Bo. Zach Randolph. The NBA player most likely to have "extremely talented" and "screwing up" written in the same sentence about him.

 

That's the crux of this season, isn't it? Is this a team on the rise -- or the precipice? Will Iverson play nice and share? Will Randolph play hard and care? Will Hollins -- who should draw Coach of the Year votes just for surviving it -- turn this collection of undeniable talent into a team?

 

It's a reckless thing Heisley has done, really -- a borderline crazy way to construct a team and claim it's all about winning, not marketing.

 

But like the man from ESPN.com says, it ought to be riveting. For sure, it beats the heck out of last season's Z-word.

 

Zzzzzz.

 

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/oct/25/the-2009---2010-team-from-a-to-z/