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clearly, denver is the winner in this trade. They have a pure PG to go with Melo and KMart. The west is getting better.

This may not be a great move for the Pistons this season but with AI's huge contract coming off their books at the end of the season, they'll have alot of money to spend on free agents. And it doesn't do much (if anything) to move the Nuggets into the upper echelon of the Western Conference. Billips and McDyess are both past their prime.

This is not helping the Nuggets at all. Billups has only a few years in his career. I mean Denver needs to rebuild around Anthony. They need more depth in their bench, they need more big men. Although the arrival of Billups can get them some more wins in the season, they still would not get pass the first round. It is not the East, it is the Western conference that we are talking about here. This line up Nene, K-Mart, Melo, JR Smith, Billups, and Kleiza is not cannot get pass the first round. Just compare them with Lakers, Spurs, Mavericks, Suns, Hornets, Rockets, and Jazz. Enough said.

On the other hand, the pistons got some advantages on this deal. As mentioned by many, they will have lots of cash after this year. AI will give them instant offense and a Superstar they had been hungry of. However, I am not so sure how AI is going to fit in. He does not like to play the PG position and he always look to score. Also, they cannot start Stucky over AI because AI would not accept being a 6th man.

Detroit just transformed themselves from a class act to drama team. Now the guards have to scramble for minutes. That is not a good sign.

Whats more alarming is that they do not have a point guard and Rasheed Wallace becomes the main big man.

Iverson and Sheed will be starters and they are both way past their primes. Motown fans - welcome to Hollywood!

This was a good deal for Denver. You got a true PG who will get everybody involve and can create his own shot. I thought AI was a bad deal in the beginning for Denver. It didn't make sense when the Nuggets were doing good w/ Andre Miller and it seemed like Denver was going in the right direction w/ it's young and upcoming core. They messed up the chemistry by bringing in Iverson.

I feel bad for the Pistons this year but they are doing this to prepare them for the Lebron sweepstakes.

Dayummmm Im a big A.I fan. Im glad that hes back in the east. I dont know how it is going to work out in DET with AI and Rip, but I know that this makes DET a much better team with a pure scorer in AI. Im a sixers fan and will always have that love for AI. Go head youngin do your thing in DET.

QUOTE(#7):

Originally posted 08:32 AM ET  11.04 by _PHILLY_PHAN

I know that this makes DET a much better team with a pure scorer in AI.

Not so sure about that..........
they may have acquired a 'pure scorer'
but who exactly is distributing the ball??
and if you say stuckey...where exactly are you going to play
AI and Rip?

Why nuggets unloaded Allen Iverson is a really easy answer, A he really doesnt play any defense, B you cant win with him, C he is getting old and has played a lot of basketball and is starting to slow down. Detroit is a perfect fit for him because they stress defense first then offense, its going to be very interesting to see how he incorporates defense into his offensive game granted he has never been known as a defensive player but will give the pistons and extra 10 to 15 points extra a game. I think the deal will benefit A.I because the nuggets cant stop any teams and A.I had to burn a lot of energy on the defensive end picking up every body elses man as to in Detroit just the guy in front of you.

I don't get this 'cap space' argument. Okay, so you have Iverson and Wallace coming off the books for about 40 million this year. Coincidentally, the top 2 free agents this year are (drum roll please) Iverson and Wallace. I think it only counts as clearing cap space if you trade good players for crappy players with expiring contracts (see Raef Lafrentz, Theo Ratliff every year, Rasho Nesterovic in the Jermaine O'Neal trade). It is possible that the Pistons are looking for long-term cap flexibility, but they won't really be a player in this year's market, unless they're signing back their own guys.

QUOTE(#9):

Originally posted 08:57 AM ET  11.04 by uno2343749

Why nuggets unloaded Allen Iverson is a really easy answer, A he really doesnt play any defense, B you cant win with him, C he is getting old and has played a lot of basketball and is starting to slow down.

None of your points make sense. He led the league in steals for 3 straight seasons so how does he play no defense? He made it to the NBA finals with no one else on his team, so how can you not win? He was a top 5 scorer (26.4 ppg shooting 45% for the floor, and playing 41.8 minutes a game) last year so how is he slowing down?

QUOTE(#10):

Originally posted 09:07 AM ET  11.04 by I am Jack's Colon

I don't get this 'cap space' argument. Okay, so you have Iverson and Wallace coming off the books for about 40 million this year. Coincidentally, the top 2 free agents this year are (drum roll please) Iverson and Wallace. I think it only counts as clearing cap space if you trade good players for crappy players with expiring contracts (see Raef Lafrentz, Theo Ratliff every year, Rasho Nesterovic in the Jermaine O'Neal trade). It is possible that the Pistons are looking for long-term cap flexibility, but they won't really be a player in this year's market, unless they're signing back their own guys.

I like your point....
though not sure who wants an old Rasheed.

The pistons see their end coming & mixed it up.
best thing they did is not acquire long term deals
so they can be flexible as to what their plans are
long term....while not giving up on this season

First off, the article doesn't live up to the headline. They traded him because they wanted a pure point guard who played defense. That's just speculation after the fact based on who they traded him for.

Second, AI can still flat out play but he, Rip and Stuckey together creates rotation problems. AI is not going to look to distribute the ball when Rip is on the floor and if Stuckey's off the bench, who's bringing the ball up?

I don't like this trade for DET or DEN.

Billups is a steady guard but he's not going to get Denver out of the first round alone and if AI and Carmelo couldn't do it, how will Billups and Carmelo do the trick?

No one will be better off as a result of this trade. But it does prove Joe Dumars was willing to trade a major player off the team.

Maybe the reason the ickets haven't been selling is that Denver people aren't keen to shell out craploads of money to see a bunch of tattooed hoodlum gangster wannabes running around? The whole cornrowed shamelessly self-promoting human billboard act is so old and yesterday I'm suprised anybody can stomach it anymore.

This trade changed nothing for Detroit, it will still be Boston vs. Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals because quite simply that's what the powers-that-be in the NBA want: LeBron vs. the Champs. It definitely helps Denver, Billups is a pure PG and now that talent can develop since they may actually see the ball once in a while.

Only made the Nuggets better in my opinion...if Carmello was going to become a better player he didn't need AI the Thug around.

Wow! Watch as the Pistons implode. Hamilton and Iverson cannot co-exist. Who will get more T's? Sheed or Iverson?

Carmelo will benefit the most.. AI is past his prime.. He wont ever win a championship with his style of play.

Probably helps the Pistons sell a few more tickets and some AI jerseys but the Nuggest are the big winners here in that they get a true point guard who won't take away shots from Carmelo and K Mart.