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Denver Becomes a Contender in the West
By Chase Kuech
11.3.2008 - Updated on 11.3.2008
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The Denver Nuggets made a move today to not only drop a huge salary but also to take an inside track on going deep into the 2009 playoffs. They decided after a mere year and a half the I3-Melo experiment wasn’t working and pulled off a trade that should pay immediate dividends. They bring in a player in Chauncey Billups, who, while aging, is still one of the best guards in the NBA and a player who knows how to win in both the regular and post season.
No one doubts Iverson’s ability to score or draw crowds, and I am one of the biggest Iverson supporter in existence, but Billups is an immensely better fit for Denver. Billups is more of a true point guard who will not shoot first until he needs to and will feed the ball to Smith and Anthony enough to keep points on the board. At the end of the game, Billups will be able to make the right decisions, not turn the ball over and play solid defense. Unlike Iverson, who tends to score because of the ridiculous amount of shots he throws up, Billups will distribute the ball and play solid defense. He has a good head and a winning attitude and will build the entire team up in Denver.
Detroit, on the other hand, may, as Henry Abbott of True Hoop is assuming, be throwing in the towel and already planning for a huge year of free agency. Everyone knows the old addage "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it," which would seem to apply to Detroit. They have made it to at least the conference finals for the past 6 years and won the Championship in 2003-04. They did it with solid defense and grinding out low scoring games. Yes, Iverson should cause the team to score more, but at what cost? This was a team that would hold their opponent to 70-80 points a night and could have any one of 3 or 4 players putting up 20-30 points in a single game. Now, they will just be feeding the ball to Iverson and hoping to grab a rebound. The team concept goes out the window, and I would imagine players like Rasheed Wallace will be calling for the ball more, instantly causing internal problems. Iverson is clearly not a good fit in Detroit, and while he may increase ticket sales, he will decrease wins. If I thought worse of Joe Dumars, I’d say he was tanking the rest of the season and hoping to get a high draft pick as another incentive to bring in good players during next year’s free agency.
I was the first one to condemn Phoenix trading for Shaq and Dallas trading for Jason Kidd, and now those two teams are fading in the West and the teams they traded to, New Jersey and Miami, are looking better early in the East. Iverson may be the big name in this deal, but it is the team he is leaving that will get the better of it. Time will show the same for Marion in Miami and Harris in New Jersey as well. Denver instantly becomes not only a playoff team in the West, but a title contender as well, thanks to the leadership and experience of Billups. Detroit would have to worry about even making the playoffs if they weren’t in a still shaky Eastern Conference.
Denver got the better of this deal by far. I will be extremely disappointed if this was just a play from Dumars to clear up money for next summer.
[image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thanasim25/] |
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Posted by
Chase Kuech
on 11.4.2008 | Allow me to share some statistics then: career true shooting percentage: Iverson .519, Billups .574; playoff true shooting percentage: Iverson .489, Billups .568; career effective shooting percentage: Iverson .453, Billups .493; playoff effective shooting percentage: Iverson .434, Billups .476; career usage rating: Iverson 32.4%, Billups 21.8%; offensive rating: Iverson 105, Billups 117; all stats courtesy of basketball-reference.com. As you can see, Billups is a better, more efficient shooter and Iverson has the ball nearly a third of the time on offense while having a lower rating and shooting percentages than Billups. These stats defend my argument that while Iverson is typically thought of as the better offensive player simply because he scores more, Billups is a better clutch shooter and player and will allow for Carmelo Anthony to handle the ball more which will make Denver a better team. Iverson will just suck up the ball and be less efficient on offense and worse on defense, making Detroit a worse team overall. Billups is a clutch, managing point guard while Iverson is a chucker...that’s why I feel Billups is a better fit for most any team. . | Posted by
Basketball 101
on 11.4.2008 | Chase you need to explain your ignorance to us. But if I were you I guess I would be ashame to interact with us. . | Posted by
BigPistonFan
on 11.4.2008 | Big Pistons Fan here, I dont know if this is the shakeup I wanted, But Detroit definetly needed one. And the Cap room in the future will loom large. As far as Iverson on Defense. His size will certainly pose problems with the few teams who have large guards, but he will have plenty of defense around him. How this will work for the Pistons depends largely on AI’s mindset. If he buys into the team concept, and brings the hunger for a title that Garnett did. Detroit will definetly be amongst the Big Dawgs in the East. . | Posted by
Jack
on 11.3.2008 | I agree Billups ain’t nothin special with y’all, but he is what Denver needed you just watch. He’s right about Denver becoming a title contender mark my words. . | Posted by
on 11.3.2008 | shut up chase, you don’t know what you’re saying..they want cap space, you idiot, not a high draft pick for tanking a season..they are, as many think, the frontrunners to the LeBron 2010 sweepstakes.. . | Posted by
bab
on 11.3.2008 | i cant believe this idiot said title contender, ill put all the money in the world DENVER wont come close to a playoff spot, they still have the worse defensiv and there offensive didnt get better getting someone that cant score as much . | Posted by
MPE
on 11.3.2008 | Terrible analysis..Denver is no better than they were last year. Mcdyess < Camby. Billups < AI.They will still fight for 8th seed, if they get in they will get swept by the Lakeshow yet again.The Pistons are still a threat. Just a little different. Iverson gives them an elite scorer. The team’s defensive mentality should keep the opposition in check when AI decides to gamble for steals. AI is also in a contract year, and this is one more chance, on a shrinking list, for AI to win a ring. I think they still will challenge the Celts in the east finals.I don’t understand why Denver would take the contacts of these two aging players. I thought they were about to rebuild after giving away Camby. They could have let AI go and had money to throw at Boozer, or even LBJ/Wade/Bosh the following year.Can I write for this site? Some of these articles are weak. . | Posted by
radric davis
on 11.3.2008 | i really dont think this guy has ever seen a nba game, billups aint nothing special hes good but not going to change a face of any team, denver for sure wont make the playoffs grizzlies have a better chance of that, and ai for sure wont be jacking up shots as you put in this article, it gives the pistons another short run term at a title if anything, and if iverson really buys into playing a team game they could beat anybody . | Posted by
on 11.3.2008 | ps. we will re-sign mcdyess cuz he doesnt wanna play for some sh1t azz team like denver. ice for dyess. this is the xfactor d needed in iverson and they will have their name on larry obrien trophy in june . | Posted by
on 11.3.2008 | whoever wrote this is a retard. iverson will fit in with his grittyness and he will not be jacking up shots all game. billups did that anyways. but anyways, iverson will be a great 6th man and starting stuckey will be great for him and the pistons. watch him blossom. come playoff time, he will be so good. now detroit can go small/athletic on the court and run the break more often with stuckey, ai, hamilton, prince, and maxiell/johnson. it is a change and a spark for an aging team that lost its spark when ben wallace left. this will be refreshing for detroit and his swagger will be good and he might even be on the court to close out games b/c of his experience and clutch factor. As for how this affects denver, i dont give a fu . | Posted by
Oliver James Simpson
on 11.3.2008 | This is the first person I’ve heard think this was good for Denver. Yeah right, they fu*ked up in the off season giving away Camby, and hesistating on good opportunites with the draft and free agency. Detroit clearly got the better end of the deal, they clear cap room, got rid of long-term players losing a step in their game. They get to rebuild their future and close the overdue chapter on the championship squad. A.I is good for the short-term. It will be interesting to see how the trade works for both teams . | Posted by
www.chasesucks.com
on 11.3.2008 | Your predictions last week sucked azz. Now your points on this article are continuing your suck azz trend. I am convinced you nothing about basketball and I have no idea how you get to write for a high traffic hoops website . |
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