Why Allen Iverson Is "The (Short Term) Answer" to the Pistons' Problems

Let me start with a disclaimer by saying that I have been a Piston's fan as long as I can remember. I remember when it was Isiah by himself (with apologies to Vinnie and Laimbeer in the early days), and I remember Kelly Tripucka getting traded for Adrian Dantley, who was then mercilessly traded, midseason, for Mark Aguirre, before the Piston's won their first title. 

I also remember being the only kid in Orange County rooting for the Pistons against the Lakers (the first two times)...those were the good old days. 

The Piston's have appeared in six consecutive Eastern Conference Finals and have one ring to show for it (2004). To put that another way, they've reached the Eastern Conference Finals for four years since their last title and have nothing further to show for it. 

Essentially the same parts, without one to get over the hump. Give credit to Joe Dumars for doing what's necessary (getting Wallace in '04 and C Webb last year) but with apologies to both, what they lack is a legitimate big man. 

What does that have to do with Allen Iverson? Nothing, but the team needed a shake up, and Chauncey was expensive (having signed a four-year $46 million contract last year) and getting old (32 this year). 

A.I. is everything that Dumars was not as a player: a loud, attention hogging, shoot-first, play-no-defense scorer, but he's also what Chauncey Billups was not, a lightning-quick, penetrating scorer that commands the defense's attention. Billups, on the other, spends too much time playing with his back to the basket and shooting from the outside.

After handing the Lakers their first loss, the Piston's finished a four-game West Coast trip at 3-1, and last night knocked off the Cleveland Cavaliers to pull to within a half game of the division lead.

They are now 4-2 with him in the lineup (he didn't play the first game) and play Boston tonight in a rematch of last year's East Conference Finals. Time will tell what this deal means for the Piston's this year, but things should get better quickly, as both A.I. and Rasheed Wallace will become free agents after this season.  

That should leave Joe Dumars with plenty of money to go shopping with.