Iverson Worth The Risk For Grizzlies

What on earth, you might ask, would a team like the Grizzlies—a young, impressionable and still very much rebuilding bunch—want with an aging malcontent like Allen Iverson? Fair question, because many around the league are asking the same thing. As one East general manager told me, "You have a kid like Mike Conley. You have a kid like O.J. Mayo. You have Rudy Gay. You have Hasheem Thabeet, the No. 2 pick in the draft. How is a guy like Iverson going to help them?"

Considering the events of last season, when Iverson was traded to Detroit for Chauncey Billups and proceeded to shred the Pistons' chemistry, skepticism about Memphis' signing of Iverson to a one-year, $3.5 million deal is rampant. But it shouldn't be. Because, in the end, consider what the Grizzlies just did—they signed the 16th-leading scorer in NBA history to a contract that ends in seven months and costs them less than half what they're due to pay Marko Jaric.