Pistons and 76ers – a tale of two cities
December 5, 2008 by James Edwards
Filed under Allen Iverson, Detroit Pistons, NBA Basketball, Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince
NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.
Rodney Stuckey can fly past you, but is he ready to pilot the Pistons to victory?
Chauncey Billups was traded for Allen Iverson. Chauncey was on the decline. He no longer dominated in the playoffs and often left the team stagnant. Don’t get me wrong, he was a Piston warrior, but they were not going to win it all with Billups.
AI will share time with Stuckey and bring more speed and penetration to the offense. This will allow more players to play, like Afflalo, Amir, and Maxiell with an up tempo style.
Is AI the answer? Probably not, but change was needed and Chauncey was from Denver. Joe D cut a deal that seems to benefit both teams.
he’s the guy who has averaged more than 40 minutes a game during his NBA career.
And he says he’s ready if the Pistons want him to revert to his old playing style.
“Yeah, that’s just the competitive nature that I have,” said Iverson, 33. “That’s just inside me. I want to be the guy with the ball. I want to be the guy making the decision. But that’s just not the case anymore, and I have to adjust.
“I don’t have a problem with it. I think the bigger picture is winning a championship.”
Philly is involved in that transition from making the playoffs to being consistently good and challenging to go farther in the playoffs.
EB is not the answer for the 76er’s but he is an important piece to the puzzle.
Philadelphia is still searching for that leader on the court and depending on leadership from the coach. Someone has to rise up and lead with their play. That was the importance of Billups to the Pistons. The 76ers need to find their Billups.
Detroit now belongs to Tayshaun and Stuckey. This will be an experiment due to the fact that neither player has an outgoing personality, a personality to get the team to follow them. This could be where the relentless play of Allen Iverson will fill that void until those players can take over.
Photo source Newscom
As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.
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