Sources are confirming that Allen Iverson will be traded from the Denver Nuggets to the Detroit Pistons. In return for Iverson, the Nuggets will receive Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb.
The trade hasnot been finalized and there is speculation McDyess may nix the whole deal by saying he will not report to the Nuggets if traded.
I haven’t been able to wrap my head around this trade completely. There are plenty of question marks surround this deal Ultimately, I believe the trade is good for the Nuggets and bad for the Pistons.
Nuggets
Denver gets a proven winner; a guy who has won a ring and has been notorious for hitting big shot after big shot in crunch time. He is a better defender than Iverson and is a true point guard who makes his teammates better. He can’t score like Iverson can, but I do not think Denver needs any more of a scoring punch then what Billups provides. What Denver needs is defense and chemistry and I believe Billups upgrades them in both areas along with McDyess. There is no doubt the Nuggets will be a better defensive team after the trade and do think the good veteran influence will be good for the chaotic personalities already on the team.
I know people question whether Billups is getting too old, but Iverson is not a spring chicken either. What I don’t get is why did they trade Marcus Camby in the offseason?If they were trying to cut payroll, then this deal makes no sense. Billups is on the hook for the next few years and Iverson’s contract ends at the end of the year. The Nuggets maybe better off this year but could be a disaster for years to come.
Pistons
For years, the Pistons have had some of the best team chemistry in all of professional sports. With this trade, you take away Detroit’s team leader and captain and replace him with one of the biggest chemistry and coach killers in the game. Which Iverson is going to show up in Detroit? It is a gamble and a risk that I dont think I would want to take. Not to mention the fact that he is in the last year of his contract, which means only the more reason to fire up more shots.
Looking at the team, I am unsure what the starting five is going to be? It looks to me that the Pistons feel that Stuckey is good enough to replace Billups. But, does that mean you start Stuckey, AI, Rip, Amir and Wallace with Prince as sixth man? I do not think Prince will be happy and believe he is too good to be coming off the bench. Do you go with their normal starting lineup and put AI at point? No offense, but the AI at the point has run its course with a couple of teams already and it has not worked. Stop trying.
I understand Dumars wants to take a gamble and shake things up, but I do not think this is the way to do it. Too risky and feel this group will not mesh.
Overall, seems like an odd time for a trade. Both of these teams discussed this trade in the offseason but nothing happened. Why wait until the first week of the season? I feel like that is very bad timing, which probably shows both teams are overly desperate.
Desperation does not breed success.
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I agree with Jaime…
This trade would make much more sense if all of the following were true:
1) I was playing NBA Live and was in Dynasty Mode
2) My favorite team was the Detroit Pistons
3) If it was the NBA LIVE 2003
4) I am trading Lindsey Hunter for Kevin Garnett also.
Okay, so it makes absolutely no sense…
A part of me does want to see an Allen Iverson who is more in Olympic Iverson mode and is looking to distribute and run the show. Iverson will be around the most talent than he has ever had been around in his career. A part of me wants to see him succeed (HAMPTON ROADS VA REPRESENT!). Is it going to happen, most likely no. I can still hope I guess.
Chauncey Billups, comes back home to Colorado and has to play with a team that is not as close and tight knit as to what he is used to. Anyone who has played pick up basketball with 4 other strangers who you might not care for knows how frustrating this can be. A lot is made of Chauncey’s “Big Shot” abilities…truthfully, is he really going to be that much better than Iverson in the clutch? Yes, he does play defense, but I seriously doubt he will play defense well enough at the point to get the whole team to play also…not going to happen. Is Melo going to “halfway mesh” (because I don’t know if he is capable of fully meshing) with Billups like he did with Iverson? Chauncey doesn’t carry the same credibility or juice as Iverson does in the minds of many young basketball players…especially an East Coast kid like Melo.
I am interested to see how things work out. I always thought that Sheed would have been the first to get dealt out of everyone…
Good point. Rasheed and Iverson on the same team. Is that too much attitude for one team to handle?
This was a great trade for the pistons. You have lost 3 conference finals in a row w/ the same team and everyone else in the East got better over the offseason. In adding Iverson, you are no worse off than before and you get the ability to catch lightning in a bottle and make a run. Iverson is the ultimate competitor who is in the last year of a deal so he may put in one of his best seasons in a while to get a ring before he rides out. If you don’t make a run, you let iverson’s contract roll-off and you have crazy cap-room flexibility to make a run at the upcoming class of lebron, d-wade, bosh, etc. I love the deal. Worse case scenario, they lose in the 2nd round of the playoffs which they potentially could have w/ billups. Best case scenario is you win the East w/ Iverson and still let his contract roll-off so you can get younger guns to build around stuckey, maxiell, johnson.
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