Allen Iverson, Chauncey Billups Swapped

It has finally happened. In a daring move, the Detroit Pistons have released 2004 Finals MVP Chauncey Billups, forward Antonio McDyess, and center Cheikh Samb for the all star guard Allen Iverson of the Denver Nuggets. How exactly will this affect the power shift in the Eastern and Western Conferences? Let's take a look.

This will basically be a trade of guard for guard. Although Antonio McDyess will be included in the deal, it is highly likely that he will not be part of the Nuggets team, as sources state that he may even return to the Pistons. His being included in the deal is so that all of the logistics of the trade will work out.

Joe Dumars recently replaced head coach Flip Saunders with Michael Curry, a relatively unheard of name. In another big swing, he also replaces his star Point Guard and Team Captain with a brute force scoring machine in Allen Iverson. From a team perspective, this doesn't seem to be a very natural move. First of all, the Pistons were the Number 2 Seed in the Eastern Conference, and would have made it to the NBA Finals save for the dominating Boston Celtics standing in their way. The Pistons finished the 2007-2008 season with a 59-23 record, higher than every other year save for the 2005-2006 Championship season. From the second the Celtics trade went through for the Big 3 KG, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, it was no secret that their combination of defense and high powered offense would dominate the east. The Pistons are in second. So this leaves the question: Was it really worth the sacrifice of leadership for more offense?

Allen Iverson has a scoring average of 27.7 points per game, only third behind Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. The scoring power that he will bring to this team will be tremendous, yet he isn't really the type known for that leadership role. Chauncey Billups on the other hand, will provide the Denver Nuggets with much needed leadership that the team has been lacking. Barely clinching the 8^th seed in the NBA Playoffs, they were ousted in the first round by the L.A. Lakers, a trend that seemed to repeat itself for the past 5 years. So even with the arrival of Allen Iverson in 2006, the Nuggets couldn't seem to get on the right track in terms of making progress, as the two superstars Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson couldn't make ends meet.

Even so, the trade will provide to be much more valuable to the Nuggets in the short term than the Detroit Pistons. Allen Iverson is not really a natural point guard, as he is mostly known for his scoring. With Chauncey Billups arriving at the Nuggets (A team he previously played for), there are high hopes that he can mesh well with the big men on the Nuggets Carmelo and Kenyon Martin. The Detroit Pistons will be pleased to welcome in the high powered scorer in Allen Iverson, yet if the team produces worse results with a new head coach and a missing veteran leader, who knows what new measures Joe Dumars will have to take?

Sources:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=den

http://truebluepistons.blogspot.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenyon_Martin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_Nuggets

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings?season=2008