Could The Iverson/Pistons Problem Have Been Fixed?

Hey guys, not sure how many of you actually bothered to read my last pistons article, but if you liked it you should check out another one I wrote on the Iverson situation. Didn't want to flood the forum all at once.

Iverson IMHO is one of the most misunderstood players alive right now... and probably the most misunderstood of his statue all time? Anyway, instead of a bash fest, I've got a solution that could have worked and would actually be a long shot to still work. If interested check it out.

Full Court Pest: Could Iverson/Pistons Dilema Have Been Fixed?

No. There was no fixing it since October 2008.

You say it's still salvageable? If only we go back to AI with a plan, the same plan that aggrevated his back injury, all will be good?

That ship has sailed Indie. Just let it go.

I know MJ has a statue, but I didn't realize AI had one.

Did you read what I wrote? I don't think what I said has been tried at all. Its unfortunate that Iverson/Pistons are done, but unfortunate for the Pistons... Iverson is still an elite player.

Either way, I said 'could have been fixed' not can be fixed. The long shot is not wether Iverson could help contribute to a better playoff run. He can and would. The long shot is if Curry is man enough to admit he made a mistake. Not that Curry is going to be along much longer anyway after this season.

Heh. Cute.

We are getting more from a guy who makes a couple hundred grand per year than we were from the FBHOF'er. If they were both free agents next year, how close would their contracts be to eachother?

Uh, that's cuz he plays more minutes. Even in 18 minutes vs the cavs AI out produced everyone on the team. Bynum had a missed layup, a missed dunk, a massive rejection from Joe Smith and to lose the lead that Iverson has gotten back from Bynum's 7 point deficit he passed to a Cav (it was not stolen) and ran down to foul Lebron for an and 1. Curry pulled him AI and they proceeded to lose the game.

Its Curry's brutal coaching thats to blame... I'm honestly not sure if thats a popular opinion here or not. And like, if people don't want to read my article I'm totally cool with that, but I get the impression you didn't. If you mean to say Will Bynum is a better player then Iverson, well, I don't know where to go with that honestly.

I don't think AI can be the number 1 guy on a great team anymore but man, Will Bynum is no where NEAR him.

Great points.
My two cents, if AI in going to admit that he's no more the #1 player on a great team by next season, why didn't he even bother to pretend to admit while he was here ? Uhm. . . the Pistons ain't no great team, that's it.

That sentence kind of captures the essence of the article for me.

I'm just glad the Iverson mess is behind us....and I'd like to say that I'm against biulding a statue of Iverson.

I don't think he thought that... I think he felt he was better then 17 minutes a game.

Yea, or maybe the only thing worse then giving up is not really trying in the first place. I think Curry is done anyway. Dumars has wanted Iverson for years and when he finally gets him its just wasted on half-hearted efforts to develop a bench player.

Honestly, I think the Pistons are looking up. There's a lot of young talent on that team.

Are you serious? Lets look at the Cavs game which was the last straw for Iverson that broke him. This was Bynum vs Iverson.

Iverson was finally given some minutes in the fourth. That is after running the offense throuugh Will Bynum created a 7 point deficit in the quarter. 9 plus/minus if you include the Bynum shot that Joe Smith swatted. 11 if you include his missed dunk. 13 if you count his bricked jumper. 14 because he could not stay in front of Mo Williams who hit Bron for an clear path pass on a back door play. The Cavs announcer needed extra dry cleaning to say the least after that.

So at the nine minute mark Iverson was allowed to use the ball. Every time AI pushed, this happened. Drained a pull up. Uncontested jumper in the key. Shot a pass to Maxiell from the 3 point line under the hoop for an easy lay in. Will Bynum got the rock and missed a point blank lay up in transition. -16. Shot Sheed a pass from under the hoop to the 3 point line for a wide open trey. (missed) Split the defense, drove the lane, easy lay up. Will Bynum threw a pass away then promptly raced down to foul 23 for the and 1. -19. (at least he got a dime!) Drew a foul on Big Z trying to contain AI. AI got blocked. Good D by MO. Stuck on MO like glue forcing him to miss a shot. Set McDice(sp) up for a wide open jumper. (missed) Almost turned it over driving to the hole but ripped it away from Varajeo and called time too quickly for him to react. Then as a reward for saving the possession Curry used the timeout Iverson fought for and called to take him off the floor.

For that 5:50, with the ball, they were down 7. Iverson responded with 9 points on 4 of 5 shooting, two assists, two wide open looks for teammates, 1 drawn foul, got the lead, and was pulled from the game. They were down 3 when Curry pulled him. They lost the lead when Bynum threw the rock away and fouled Bron. In fact, the only scoring plays Bynum was involved in during the stretch was when he passed it to AI and got out of his way.

Oh yea, AI had a bad back too that he was not recovered from.

I'm not sure how Bynum's 9 games scoring 15 points and 5 assists producing a 4-5 record (wins against Memphis .291, Washington .238, philly .506 and the Clippers .291) is more then what Iverson can do. Which is keep them in it vs the best defense/team in the league. Ironically when Bynum is the one who lost the game for them.

I mean, you agree with Curry so maybe you can explain how you look at those performances and pick Bynum's Flip Murray impersonation/experiment over AI when gearing up for a post season run. I just don't understand.

That's cruel. Bynum compared to Flip Murray. Bynum actually works his tail off on defense and has the abilty to pass the ball (which he needs to develop more). Ron Murray basically plays for himself.

Bynum is the future I guess, they'd already decided they were done with AI so didn't make the effort, as far as I see it, if you want AI to help, you play him over Bynum as the risk/reward of AI playing is worth it IMO. 18 mins a game shows Curry didn't think this; and he and the management must have known that wasn't going to cut it. Its their decision though and those are the calls they are paid to make and are judged by. I think its wrong but it looks good right now.

What I don't get is why bring him back in the first place, if you had no intention of him being the sixth man and you weren't going to give him minutes? Thats the stupid part, as no one could have thought AI would be ok with 18 MPG after half the forum and the media thought he wasn't happy about being benched.

I'm sorry; i know this is sorta OT, but this was AI's 2ND game off the bench. Maybe his straw was defective ?

I think I'd rather have a bad back than a defective straw.

Granted, but I think its pretty level with comparing Bynum to Iverson. The point too was only comparing the streak Flip had before everyone realized his 25 ppg + was style not substance: you can't rate a player based on 10 games. I like Bynum honestly. He has a future, Flip does not.