Empty the Bench

(Author Note: I know you’ve probably already read 100 editorials, analyses, and musings about the Iverson-for-Billups trade. But I’d be most grateful if you read just one more (this one). I’m finally back online after getting all set up here in Bangkok, and have only now had the time to weigh in. Thanks for reading.)

In Joe We Trust.

Make it the Detroit Pistons’ official tagline, embroider it on Pistons’ memorabilia, inscribe it on the hardwood at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Joe Dumars has once again thrown his franchise for a loop, and this time his latest gambit threatens not to only push his team back over the hump and into the NBA Finals, but to dramatically alter the very fabric of this league in seasons to come.

You’ve likely already heard rumblings about what I’m referring to. Nobody truly knows what’s in the back of Joe Dumars’ mind right now, but it’s none too difficult to put a few pieces together: Iverson and Wallace both come off the books next summer, giving the Pistons over $35.6 million in cap relief. They just re-upped All-Star SG Rip Hamilton for another three seasons. They have a potential future All-Star in Stuckey, one of the league’s most respected defenders in Tayshaun Prince, and a slew of big men. They’ve gone to six straight Conference Finals—clearly, Dumars has a proven track record of dedicating himself to building a winning franchise.

NBA superstars like big contracts, big recognition, and big endorsement deals, but the truly great ones are also just as concerned with attaching NBA titles to their career resume. With all of those pieces in place as selling points to members of the Great Free Agent Class of 2010, one that includes the likes of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, Dumars seems to be gearing himself up to cement his franchise as a perennial contender for even longer than it has been.

Who needs six straight conference finals appearances and one title when you can position yourself to compete for even more? And as our main man Adrian Wojnarowski points out, it appears the Pistons have a few things going their way already if they are serious about pursuing LeBron, too.

But juicy as the bigger picture of this blockbuster deal could potentially be painted, the more immediate implications for Detroit warrant significant pause too. And that’s what’s been on my mind foremost these past 24 hours between dodging tuk-tuks on Patchaburi Road and gawking at the competing beer gardens set up for the winter in front of Central World here in Bangkok.

Thoughts on Iverson in Detroit, Billups’ tenure with Detroit, and what the future holds for both after the jump…

Trader Joe is Back on the Scene

Dumars has finally orchestrated the blockbuster trade he’s been hinting at since his team was unceremoniously dispatched of by the Boston Celtics in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. Former NBA MVP Allen Iverson (and his $20 million contract) swaps jerseys with former NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups, former All-Star and Denver Nugget Antonio McDyess, and Senegalese project Cheikh Samb.

It didn’t happen when most, including me, thought it would happen—as Andrew hinted at the other day, this move does indeed come at a slightly odd time. Training camp has come and gone, and the Pistons galloped out of the gates to a 2-0 record at the time this trade was announced. They moved to 3-0 after trouncing the Bobcats, so why make a change now?

A few reasons:

Dumars has been eyeing Iverson for a long time now—don’t forget A.I. almost came to Detroit some years ago in a trade involving Jerry Stackhouse. He’s always been an Iverson fan and obviously still is… and the fact that Iverson will bring all that cap relief next summer is obviously a pot sweetener. (He could still potentially return as an unrestricted free agent, but I think the odds are that he won’t.)

As you’ve been reading ad nauseum for the past few months, the Pistons feel that second-year PG Rodney Stuckey has the look of a future All-Star and is just about ready to run the show on a full-time basis. Billups’ presence over the next few seasons was destined to stunt Stuckey’s development and perhaps cause an uneasy changing of the guard sometime down the road.

I also suspect that Dumars took one long, last look at the makeup of his team before too much time passed this season and decided a new dynamic was necessary. It’s been rumored that Denver extended an open trade offer involving Iverson to the Pistons, and that all Dumars had to do was pick up the phone and work out the details. Remember, as recent as 2 weeks ago Billups was effusing about how pleased he was that Dumars had decided to keep this core together—something changed since then that triggered the change in thinking.

I thought the Pistons had as good a shot as anybody in the East to advance to the NBA Finals this season with Billups in the fold, and I still feel that way. With this move, however, I think they’ve vaulted to the head of the pack, or at least on an even level with the reigning champs. I love Chauncey, but at this point in their careers, Iverson wants it more. That’s not a knock on Mr. Big Shot; just a compliment for Mr. Iverson.

Allen Iverson, Born to be a Detroit Piston

Allen Iverson—scrappy, gritty, gutty, and largely counted out at age 33. He comes to the Detroit Pistons on the heels of a failed experiment with Carmelo Anthony, the Denver Nuggets, and yes, the Western Conference as a whole. Despite lofty expectations (and a lofty contract), AI was not The Answer nor The Savior in Denver that many thought he would be.

He’s still playing some of the best pure basketball of his career, but Iverson’s star has increasingly faded as younger guys named LeBron, Dwight, CP3, and Dwyane have come into their own. The NBA no longer feels they need to lean on AI to be one of their marquee, marketable attractions. Like his new teammate Rasheed Wallace—and you know these two were just born to play together—the league knows he’s an All-Star caliber player and is happy to have his services and the rabid following he’s fostered over the years.

But if David Stern’s Great Marketing Machine had its druthers, AI and ‘Sheed would be neatly swept under the rug as they finished out their careers and the camera turned to less abrasive, less in-your-face, less…. I won’t say it, superstars.

With all that in mind, ask yourself this question: is Allen Iverson not an absolutely perfect fit for a Detroit Pistons franchise that over the last decade has fashioned itself as the place where misfit toys go to resurrect their promise, potential, and glory?

Allen Iverson is many things, but above all else he’s a guy that wants to win. He’s not going to take nights off, he’s not going to coast, and you better believe he’s not going to back down from anybody. Anybody. You might rattle him from time to time, but you’re not going to consistently phase him or get into his head. Perhaps just as importantly, you’re not going to consistently stop him either.

I’ve been an Iverson fan for a long time, and like ‘Sheed while he was playing in Portland, I’ve always hoped he’d one day find his way to Detroit. To have them both now playing together for the Pistons is, admittedly, very exciting… even if this will likely last just one season. One is better than none though—especially if it translates to a title.

Title talk is still purely speculative, but at the very least this season just got a whole spicier for not only me and my fellow Pistons fans, but fans of the Association as a whole. We here at ETB have a long-standing belief that major player movement in the NBA every year or two is a very a good thing.

So Long, Mr. Big Shot, and Thanks for the Memories

To again speak strictly as a lifelong Pistons fan, I’m going to miss Chauncey Billups. His quiet professionalism and cool swagger was endearing from the moment he arrived as a free agent via the Minnesota Timberwolves, and his success in Detroit after a vagabond start to his career truly deserves consideration as one of the best stories to come out of the NBA in recent history. He helped bring the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Motown, and after Ben Wallace made a mad dash for the cash two seasons ago, he temporarily assumed the mantle as face of this franchise.

I’m sad to see him go, and I wish him nothing but the best in Denver (and he’s going to need it). I’ll be rooting for him until the day he retires, but his time in Detroit felt like it had worn a little thin these past two seasons. He’s been All-Star solid, to be sure, but not All-Star spectacular—especially in many of the games in which he originally earned that Mr. Big Shot moniker.

We saw Billups neutralized and frustrated in the past two ECFs by trapping Cleveland and Boston defenses designed to fluster him above the three-point line, and by those teams’ younger, quicker guards like Rajon Rondo and Daniel Gibson. Indeed, and I hate to say it, Mr. Big Shot has progressively become less of a sure thing in the big games.

And I think the Pistons are ready for a changing of the guard and to pass the torch to Rodney Stuckey in the near future. The youngster remains far from a sure thing at this early point in his career, but he needs to be given the opportunity to prove it one way or the other. At 32 years of age and seemingly losing another step every season, the writing was on the wall for Chauncey anyhow.

It really does pain me to critique Chauncey in such a way, though. I mean it when I say it’s been a joy rooting for him during his run with the Pistons, and I feel a little terrible that he’s headed to a franchise that seems a little confused and directionless. Why dump Marcus Camby and his high salary in exchange for a bag of Los Angeles Clippers-branded peanuts when you’re just going to take on the commitment to Billups’ semi-long term deal?

At least Billups can take solace in the fact that he’s back home and will be making at least $36 million in guaranteed money over this season and the next two (team option for $14.2 million in 2011-12).

The Time to Win in Detroit is Now

With Iverson now in the mix as a very expensive hired gun, the Detroit Pistons now face even greater pressure than they already did to get back to where they once belonged. A.I. is now a temporary part of this core, a core that will almost definitely be transformed next summer when, as I mentioned, he and ‘Sheed become free agents. There’s still a, oh, 50/50 chance Wallace could return to finish out his career on a two- or possibly even three-year deal if he’s willing to take a significant paycut. But I could also see him calling it a day, too, especially if his team were to win it all next June.

But even if both of these All-Stars walk away and don’t look back, the Pistons are clearly in a position to “tear it down” without really tearing it down at all. They could throw their hat into the free-agent ring next summer and pursue a, say, Carlos Boozer or Jerome James (just kidding), or more likely bide their time and target one or two of the major prizes in 2010. One way or the other, don’t expect the parade of All-Stars running through Motown over the next few seasons to stop with Iverson.

A.I. makes his Detroit debut tonight in Toronto against the Raptors. I’m absolutely fucking ecstatic to see it—especially since I haven’t yet caught a Pistons game because of this move overseas. Billups and Iverson are drastically different players, so there will be some growing pains and immediate results cannot necessarily be expected.

But they’ll come sooner or later. In Joe we trust.

Related Reading:
- Allen Iverson Traded to Pistons for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess
- Reading is Great! More Reaction to the Iverson-for-Billups Blockbuster Trade