Can Allen Iverson Still Be Productive?

With Allen Iverson out for season with the back injury, I believe that Detroit is a better team; the Pistons are over .500 without him and over .500 with him. We all know that A.I is not the player he was three years ago.

As a Philadelphia 'Sixers fan it seems so long ago when A.I won his MVP and the Sixers made the finals with him. It seemed so long ago when he gave his legendary “practice” speech.

There is a reason Joe Dumars brought in Iverson, there are multiple reasons. The first reason is that if you watched the Pistons playing the Celtics, did you realize that they could not get the ball between the net.

A.I was brought in to score the ball, this guy who averages 27 points per game in his career, and is a four time scoring champion. But there is a reason that he was successful when he was younger. He was the franchise player, if you look at the 2001 'Sixers team; besides Iverson, there was no talent.

Mutumbo was the best player besides Iverson. The Sixers were committed to making him the franchise player. They built around him.

The only way A.I can be successful in his career is if he goes to a team built for him, he is a superstar even at his age, possibly Charlotte, playing under Larry Brown like the good old days. When the Pistons were successful, they did it

Why you ask why can’t Iverson and Hamilton both start and then Stuckey come off the bench, this was another reason Dumars brought in A.I., to make Stuckey the feature player.

Dumars thought that Hamilton would be cool with coming off the bench. Stuckey is in the future plans of this team unlike A.I.

The final reason which was the biggest reason was Cap reasons. The Answer was brought in for the Cap. As much as Pistons fan is suffering, this is to set up money for the cap. And I will be the first to tell you this; Rasheed Wallace will not be re-signed.

I am not saying Pistons management is genius because this is a team that passed up on Carmelo Anthony for Darko Milicic.

Next year’s Pistons will be a new look Pistons, they want to be major contenders soon. The possible unrestricted free agents of '09 are Kobe, Artest, Lamar Odom, but here is the one I think they will pursue which is Carlos Boozer.

I hate to see Iverson play badly, Pistons fan are feeling a great deal of pain but next year or 2010 they will be serious players when free agency rolls on.