Forgive my lack of posts the last two days, it has been hard to focus on basketball with the election drawing to a close. But don't worry this is not a post about politics, in part because chances are if you are reading this you already know Joel or my own views on how we hope things turn out.
So big thing happened yesterday, tricky old Joe Dumars went and traded Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess, Cheikh Samb for Allen Iverson. Although Iverson is no longer the same player he was when he won the MVP in 2001, but he is still a definite force and the trade could do wonders for the Pistons this season. The trade is also one of those rare ones that also manages to benefit the Nuggets.
The Iverson deal is reminiscent of the boost that Rasheed Wallace gave the team when they acquired him in 2004. Although as good as he is at times he can't hold a candle to Iverson, even this current version of Iverson. The shoot first point guard also has to be viewed as a massive upgrade to Billups who seemed to be fading the last two seasons. We tend to forget that Iverson for all his scoring ability is a fucking awesome point guard. It's different to shoot first pass second when you can actually carry your team, but besides all that I just feel that Iverson really isn't that anyway. He has great court vision and if he has a better shot than anyone else why pass it up. Plus for all those who worship the way that point guards should supposedly play, the Pistons still have point guard of the future Ronald Stuckey on the bench. It should be noted here that if this whole things blows up on Detroit, Iverson is a free agent at the end of the year so they can just hand the team over to Stuckey, though I don' t think that will end up happening. And finally, let's face it with the exception of the Boston (yes I love Toronto, but they have yet to prove they're anything over the course of a season and into the playoffs), Detroit already had a good chance in the East. Now they have an even better chance.
Now while the Nuggets seem like the bridesmaid in this deal, I think they did pretty well for themselves. In the last paragraph I wrote that Iverson was an upgrade over Billups for the Pistons, but this doesn't mean the Billups is a downgrade for Denver. Billups style seems to fit the team better than Iverson, as he is more of a traditional point guard. This doesn't mean he can't score of course--we've seen many a time in the playoffs that Chauncey can score when it matters--but it means we're more likely to see the ball go through Carmello which is a good thing for the Nuggets. Denver is his team now, there is no question about that now. I liked Denver with A.I. but it was obvious that his presence confused the team more than helped it. The experiment failed and now the Nuggets have a chance to start anew, with a nice cast of characters. Denver also still has J.R. Smith, who is anything but consistent, but when he's on he can score with the best of them. There's more risk involved for them than Detroit--they're in the west, they've given up the most talented player in the deal--but I think it should work out. At least so much that this team now seems like they could possibly get past the first round of the playoffs.
One last note on the trade (for now at least!), as a lot of basketball writers have pointed out, the deal gives Detroit money to go after LeBron James in the summer of 2010. Though not as alluring as the New York or Los Angeles markets, Detroit looks a hell of a lot more enticing than staying in Cleveland.
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Finally, I actually agree with Joel's current assessment of Stuckey. He's a great player who will probably always be more appreciated by his own fans than the basketball watching nation. But my tongue in cheek scoffing was due more to Joel's about face on the players potential. I'd heard over and over again how he was just a notch below Paul and Williams, now he was being reduced to a good to great player who might make an all star team during an off year.
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