- Ron Artest/Metta World Peace
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
We’ll never forget the Malice at the Palace and we probably know more than we care to about his many bizarre and potentially regrettable choices made over the span of his career, but we also know he is a former All-Star, Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA champion. More importantly, we heard it directly from Metta World Peace himself he looks good in a Grizzlies jersey and that he doesn’t mind gushing on and on about how much better the Grizzlies are than the Clippers.
As a bonafide tough-as-nails competitor, and as one of the greatest defensive stalwarts the sport of basketball has ever known, World Peace is the archetypal player for the Grizzlies’ style of smashmouth basketball. May God have mercy on the miserable soul foolish enough to try to pick a fight with a Grizzlies squad that features Tony Allen, Zach Randolph, and the man formerly known as Ron Artest.
- Allen Iverson
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
If you blinked, you may have missed the Memphis Grizzlies’ Allen Iverson saga, so his brief tenure as a Grizzly does not exclude him from this list. He only played three games as a Grizzly, none of them in front of the home crowd at FedExForum, before he decided to leave the team for “personal reasons”(personal reasons that made it impossible to accept a role coming off the bench). Although Iverson seemed to quickly abandon his initial proclamation that it was the work of the Almighty Himself who had delivered the prolific scorer to Memphis, Grizzlies’ fans had every right to celebrate his arrival with great expectations. His acquisition generated so much excitement that the Memphis Grizzlies organization and the entire city erupted in fanfare for a public introduction that included bestowing a blue electric guitar to The Answer, because a key to the city would not have been grandiose enough for a superstar of his caliber. Say what you will about his subtle aversion to practice or other noted issues, but few individuals have ever impacted any sport the way Iverson did through his elite talents and playing style on the court as well his ineffable cultural significance beyond the hardwood. Iverson epitomized a signature toughness and rebellious underdog mentality that also emanates from every corner of the Memphis Grizzlies’ franchise. His detractors claimed he was too small, too selfish, too thuggish, too unprofessional, too much of a headache for David Stern, and, yet, none of them can deny the four-time scoring champion’s greatness. He stands out as a player Grizzlies fans could have related to and rallied around: basketball’s ultimate anti-hero playing with a chip on his shoulder.
- Stephen Jackson
Before the “Believe Memphis” Grizzlies team made history and upset the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the opening round of the 2011 playoffs, Captain Jack and the 2007 “We Believe” Warriors team made a late-season push to get to the playoffs for the first time in over a decade and then upset the top-seeded reigning champion Dallas Mavericks. In his prime, Stephen Jackson was an unquestionably tough wing player and a gifted scorer who, despite being a consistently mediocre three point shooter for his career, had a penchant to answer the bell and knock down huge clutch shots with his team’s season on the line. Though oft maligned for his choices on and off the court, including his violent role in and later commentary on the Malice at the Palace, it is Stephen Jackson’s fearlessness and outspokenness that would make him most endearing to the Griz faithful.
For a fanbase that fervently waves “We Don’t Bluff” growl towels and adamantly supports the dispute resolution techniques utilized by Zach Randolph on Kendrick Perkins and Steven Adams, Grizz Nation would have quickly embraced the addition of the kind of playoff-proven veteran who calls out “Serg Abaka” for being a fake tough guy. Honestly, if Stephen Jackson had been a Memphis Grizzly rather than a Spur when he made this type of remark about a despised rival, who among us wouldn’t have “He aint bout dis life” printed on a t-shirt and a growl towel framed to adorn the walls of our homes?
Next: And the Player the Basketball Gods Absolutely Should Have Brought to the Memphis Grizzlies...