NBA 2008-09 Season

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Here is a good take on the Iverson situation in Detroit:

Some will say that Iverson isn't the right kind of star, that at 33 he can no longer carry a team. But he remains a terrific scorer who averaged 26.4 points in 82 games with Denver last season. More important than his age or the merits of his talent is the style of his play. He holds the ball. He creates for himself.

That's who he is: a player who carries a team. The Pistons know now more than ever that one player can't carry them. They lost eight straight games with Iverson, and after he suffered a back strain last week at New Orleans, the ugliness ended. Rip Hamilton was restored to the starting lineup in place of Iverson, and the Pistons have won every game since.

"By him starting,'' forward Tayshaun Prince said of Hamilton, "we get a comfort level to start the game off and get off to a good start. Of the [16] games he came off the bench, I think 12 or 13 of them in the first quarter we were down six to eight points early. He gives us that chemistry we've had, and it does make a difference.''

"We knew where our guys were at,'' Hamilton said after contributing 25 points and nine assists in the 105-95 win at Boston on Sunday. "That's a key thing for me with Tayshaun and Rasheed and [Antonio] McDyess -- I always know where they are going to be all the time, they always know where I'm going to be."

What has become obvious is that a star like Iverson can't be expected all of a sudden to stop trying to carry a team, because he doesn't know how to play any other way. It would be just as unfair to ask Hamilton to all of a sudden carry a team with his scoring. Could Hamilton have dragged the 2000-01 Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals as Iverson did as league MVP? Absolutely not

The Iverson experiment goes to show that the Pistons shouldn't seek just any kind of star this summer. They need talents like Toronto's Chris Bosh or Atlanta's Joe Johnson, who will both be on the market in 2010 (which unfortunately is a year too late for Dumars, unless their teams choose to put them on the market this summer). The Pistons' recent success also shows that they aren't too far away from becoming relevant again, so long as the right talent is placed around Hamilton (who is 31), Prince (29) and 22-year-old point guard Rodney Stuckey..

"The way Joe's been running this team, he's always going to run it the same way,'' Hamilton said. "He's not going to switch it up because that's not him. This is the style he played in, and this is the style that won us championships.''

By trading Billups, Dumars was hoping to rebuild the Pistons without having to ultimately reinvent them. He wants to bring in two or three ready-made talents to return Detroit to contention next season.

"I'm trying to avoid running the tires completely off,'' he said of hoping to dodge a down cycle that bottoms out at the top of the lottery.

The Spurs have remained relevant by plugging in younger pieces around Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker -- a threesome that is far more dynamic than Detroit's surviving trio of Hamilton, Prince and Stuckey. But Dumars believes in the system and the availability of talent to plug into it. Don't forget that he originally signed Billups as a free agent to the mid-level exception.

"We're not going to change our model in order to lay the success or failure on one superstar,'' Dumars said. "We're going to continue the model that we've had here and that has worked for a long time. We will always try to build one of the deepest teams in the NBA, which is what we've done over the years.

"I'm not averse to a star. But it has got to be a star who can flourish in this type of environment, this type of culture that we've become accustomed to here.''
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Allen Iverson experiment has been instructive for Pistons - Ian Thomsen - SI.com
 
salsadancer7 said:
LMAO!! WHY f**k up a perfectly good conversation with logic???!! :confused::p;):D
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Logic?! Logic? Don't give me "logic"! You don't know what the F* logic is!

I gave you logic! The Pistons have a 1.000 winning percentage when "the answer" is NOT suited up in a D-E-Troit uni. He screwed with the chemistry! What else is there to say!
 
Los Lakers, Los Spurs and other Noche Latina jerseys - Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

ept_sports_nba_experts-4703945-1236186663.jpg


If anyone asks what the heck the jerseys are tonight for some games, here's why.
 
HD MM said:
Logic?! Logic? Don't give me "logic"! You don't know what the F* logic is!

I gave you logic! The Pistons have a 1.000 winning percentage when "the answer" is NOT suited up in a D-E-Troit uni. He screwed with the chemistry! What else is there to say!
Click to expand...

Hey....don't take MY word for it....I have a gentleman that totally agreed with me that knows the team ALOT better the you or me will ever know right here in the Sports Section...*cough* PAUL *cough* ....NOT to mention a SI writer that pretty much QUOTED some PISTONS PLAYER saying the same....

....but, YOU are the absolutely correct one....my bad....:confused::rolleyes:
 
How about 35 points 16 assists 8 rebounds 2 steals and 2 blocks....oh, AND a win!

hmmm....MVP-esque I would say...;)

He has a shot...but personally, I think coach of the year Van Gundy in Orlando....I also happen to think he is THE most underrated coach in ALL of the NBA
Click to expand...

I agree:up
 
SabresRule said:
Cavaliers clinch playoff spot with win over Bucks - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

The only consolation for the Bucks is that they held LeBron to about half of his point total when these teams met in Milwaukee.
Click to expand...

There was no celebration, no champagne, nothing really to signify the win's importance. The Cleveland Cavaliers made the playoffs and hardly cared.

"We got one goal," LeBron James said. "That's to win an NBA championship."
Click to expand...
"We knew we were going to make the playoffs," he said. "If we didn't make the playoffs, that would be a disaster for us."
Click to expand...

I love how professional this team is. Led by their 24-year-old leader, they seem to answer everything the right way.
 
M

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