Subtraction by subtraction?

Count me in the group of people that hated the trade of Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess, and Cheikh Samb for Allen Iverson. Sure Iverson is one of the more exciting players in the league. But when exactly has he made a team better when joining them? When he went to Denver they were already in a “fight” for the final playoff spot, and in the end he didn’t make a difference to them. With Detroit he’s joining a team that has made the conference finals for a majority of this decade. Right now, this team isn’t playing all that great and plenty of that can be pinned on Iverson. Of course, some of it can be pinned on the fact that the Pistons are being forced to play a lot more youth this season than they have in the past, so every game isn’t going to be consistent from the young guys.

But let’s look at the Denver Nuggets since that trade. They are 11-3 and leading their division in the Western Conference. They got exactly what they needed with Chauncey Billups to play at the point as a distributor for Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin. The Pistons? 6-6 and in second place in the Central Division. The only thing I can guess, even including the eminent return of Antonio McDyess in a few days is that Iverson was nothing more than a salary cap clearing move. Both Iverson and Rasheed Wallace come off the books after this season, and while there will be some interesting free agents in 2009, the big class that everyone is waiting for is the class of 2010. In my opinion, if the Pistons aren’t in the running for Chris Bosh then everything that was intended with this trade was a waste of the 2008-09 season. Although I’m not certain this season won’t be wasted anyway.