Curiously, 2 days after AI announced that he would “rather retire than come off the bench”, President of basketball operations for the Pistons Joe Dumars announced AI was being shut down for the rest of the season with “back pains”. My 80 year old Great Aunt in England, who wouldn’t know what a basketball was if she broke her hip on one, knows that is basketball speak for “this guys a dick and we’re sick of his whining”. Ever since the Pistons traded Chauncey for AI it has been a disaster in Detroit. For the first time in YEARS, the Pistons are actually fighting for a playoff seed rather than fighting for home court advantage and I won’t mince words, its all AI’s fault, well and Joe Dumars for making the trade. It all started with Iverson taking Rip Hamiltons spot in the starting line up which obviously didn’t sit well with anyone else who had been part of those Pistons playoff runs. Then Iverson got hurt and Rip came back from an injury and guess what? The Pistons started to win again, MIRACULOUS!
I have been hearing for years how Iverson is a bad seed and all about himself but I just thought it was because he was on crappy Philly teams and had no one there to really help him and he was sick of carrying a team on his shoulders. Then he went to the stacked Nuggets a few years ago and I thought “this is where AI will thrive with some weight off his shoulders” and it didn’t happen there then either. Then he got traded to Detroit which had me shaking my head for weeks and my friend Darkman said it best “That trade was the biggest steal for the Nuggets and the worst for the Pistons, you’ll see”. Lo and behold, he was right. The Nuggets got the sturdy team oriented unselfish PG they have needed to get over that hump in the Western conference and the Pistons got…6th to 8th seed in the East?
Detroit was always a team that got by with their unreal belief in themselves and their team unity. Obviously either the loss of Chauncey really hurt their pysche in Motown or AI is really that bad a teammate or both. I still to this day don’t know why Joe pulled the trigger on that trade because even if it was to save cap for next year, why did he do it so early? That may be something we never know but this is something I do know for sure, he regrets it. The Pistons have looked flat since the trade and I haven’t seen them mount one of their 4th quarter “lets try now” comebacks in a long while, well actually, since Mr. Clutch left town and it must suck for Piston fans.
With AI out for the season we will now get to see if he was the problem or if the Pistons magic has just ran out with their aging stars finally peaking. One thing we know for sure Iverson won’t have to worry about practice anymore!
Peace!
No related posts.
Sitting on the bench isn't good for you back, that's just the answer for you.
The bright side for the Pistons is the play of Rodney Stuckey, who has looked impresive since the Billups trade and Iverson's injury problems. Poor consolation though.