Part of me loves the interview because it’s essentially a Curry bash. Part of me wants to throw my monitor against the wall, seeing how Iverson has become the NBA’s Brett Favre, at the expense of our fine basketball club.

The highlight of the interview, for me, was when Iverson said coming off the bench was “the worst year of [his] career.” So coming off the bench for a few games is worse for your career than being signed by a team that notched all of 24 wins last season? If you didn’t already know what Iverson’s priorities were, you do now.

I’ll do everyone a favor and highlight some of the gems:

“If you are a head coach and you feel strongly about this, what would make you think that I want to be around these guys?”

“I’d never been on a team where a coach told me the guys gave up on me. You know what I mean?”

“… I don’t have [anything] bad to say about the organization, especially Joe [Dumars]. I never had a problem with Joe. He’s a stand-up person that I have love for and respect. He was not part of any of the problems I had in Detroit.” [...] “But for [the coach] to tell me these things and for him to go back on his word like that, it was the hardest and the roughest season I’ve ever had.”

Full text here

Regardless, in the amount of time it took for Magic fans to read the article, Rasheed did a complete 180 from a no-good cry baby to an impeccable team player and all-around great guy. Newly ordained Sheed-worshippers commented relentlessly, and 78% of the poll voters agreed that he would fit like a glove in Orlando’s system. He would put the Magic in a lock for the championship, they said. Despicable!

But wait. How many Pistons fans thought about Rasheed in the same manner before February 19, 2004? I’m willing to bet it was a good amount.

—

For many, when the Billups-Iverson trade was announced, A.I. was golden. Finally, an energetic superstar who could penetrate the lane and had the heart of a lion. He could do no wrong. We laughed when he made his press conference “practice” allusion and we couldn’t wait for Allen to take us to the next level.

By the end of the seaons, Allen Iverson was an old, greedy, washed-up NBA antique whom the Pistons should’ve stayed as far away from as possible. Many wanted Chauncey back.

—

Ever since Boston purchased their All Star team, I’ve despised the Big Three. Yes, I hate the way Ray Allen chews gum. Yes, I hate how good Paul Pierce is at mid-range fadeaways. And yes, I think Kevin Garnett needs to lower the dose of whatever medication he’s taking.

But the truth is, when the Celtics offered us Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen, I was all over it. Rondo…a flopper? Never. He’s a future All-Star! Allen…a lucky shot-hog? Never. He’s a future Hall-of-Famer! I’ve always found it disturbing that Rajon Rondo ends up on the ground after every lay-up, but to be honest, I’d be happy to have him do it in a Pistons jersey. If the offer wasn’t so lopsided, many would have thought the same way.

Call it desperation if  you will, the desire to have a team that’s on top again. But we’re all just hypocrites in the end…in the sports world at least.

“Discomfort” usually isn’t enough to bench an all-star on a team that is struggling to maintain a playoff seed, so I’m going to go out a limb and say that there were probably some pretty harsh words exchanged behind closed doors. Whether it was Dumars vs. Iverson or Iverson vs. Dumars or Iverson vs. Curry, this news is going to hurt the team in the playoffs–if they can get that far.

“After talking with Allen and our medical staff, we feel that resting Allen for the remainder of the season is the best course of action at this time,” said Dumars. “While he has played in our last three games, he is still feeling some discomfort and getting him physically ready to compete at the level he is accustomed to playing this late in the season does not seem possible at this point.”

Quote source: Pistons.com

A team’s struggles can never be entirely placed on a coach’s shoulders, but isn’t it tempting?

In no way should the Pistons mid-season slide into mediocrity be solely put on Michael Curry. Perhaps Joe Dumars is to blame for the questionable hiring in the first place. The downward era of an aging team full of NBA Champions and All-Stars alike is not the most ideal time to experiment with a coach who has an empty resume.

Michael Curry is trying his damnedest to get this thing to work. He’s probably just as frustrated as anyone else that the team can’t maintain a flake of consistency. He was probably ecstatic when they knocked off seven opponents in a row, and he was probably crushed when they lost seven of the next nine.

I want to rant about Curry’s shortcomings just as much as the next guy, and I could think of at least 10 things off the top of my head.

However, Michael Curry’s whale of a flaw that led the Pistons into this mess is his inability to coach anything but Flip Saunders’ Pistons.

The lineup remained relatively unchanged during the two years Curry was associated with the Pistons, both of which Flip Saunders was head coach. All of the administrative experience Curry has ever had came during a period when consistency was married to an untouched roster that ultimately failed.

Michael Curry has more of an eye-to-eye relationship with Joe Dumars than Flip Saunders ever did, but in the end, Curry is no more than Saunders’ pupil.

When A.I. came to Detroit, Curry panicked. Stability turned into a hectic “does-not-compute” mentality. Lacking defense and ugly offense took over. No one knew what to do with Allen Iverson.

Sure, Detroit has a winning record. But will they get to that 50-win plateau that Pistons fans know so fondly? Probably not. If they can’t get past the Conference Finals with 64, 59, and 53-win seasons, how do they expect to make any progress with a 40 or 42-win caliber squad?

I hate to put my own team “under the radar,” but as of now, hope is quickly fading.

New coach, new players, new problems.

By Eric Woodyard – Piston Post Writer

With 8.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter following a timeout, the Charlotte Bobcats have possession. The game is knotted at 78 apiece in the Palace of Auburn Hills versus the Detroit Pistons.

Bobcats’ point guard and former North Carolina Tar Heel, Raymond Felton, gets the ball on the inbounds play. The trade rumors are the last thing on his mind as he is matched up against the new star of the Pistons, Rodney Stuckey. He keeps his composure as he sizes Stuckey up with a baby dribble at the 4.1 mark on the clock. Stuckey never bites on the dribble and keeps his balance until Felton uses that baby dribble to bait him into his real move.

Felton goes between the legs, in and out with the left hand, crosses over to his right, and finally pulls up for the 20 foot jumper…swish!! (…his 12th point of a perfect fourth quarter in which he connected on all five of his field goals including two three-pointers!)

He would finish with 23 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds.

The Pistons immediately ask for time to regroup.

With .7 seconds left on the clock, the Pistons hope they can pull a Derek Fisher. For what it’s worth Allen Iverson hit a buzzer beater to take them into halftime with a 48-41 lead over the Bobcats.

Following dagger from Felton, Detroit comes out of the timeout and gets Iverson open from a baby curl set on the other side of the court. He gets an open shot but can’t connect as he clonks the jumper at the buzzer. The Pistons lose 80-78 at home. How hapless!

This is not what Iverson envisioned it would be like when he faced his former head coach/mentor, Larry Brown. The days of Iverson asking “Where my coach?” are gone. This was not a tribute to Coach Brown as Iverson claimed it was following his All-Star game MVP performance in 2001.

As soon as the buzzer sounds and the Pistons lose, Brown greets Iverson with a hug and a few words of advice which means nothing to the Answer as the Bobcats snap their six-game losing streak to the Pistons. This was their first win over Detroit since January of 2007. It had to be gargantuan for Charlotte. I can only imagine it would be.

In Felton’s interview with Pistons’ Broadcaster, Eli Zaret, following the game he expressed why he was so successful.

“I was just taking chances within the game and not forcing things,” Felton says. “(Larry Brown) has made me better as a point guard and he’s always tough on his point guards.”

Although they may not want to admit, Pistons Head Coach, Michael Curry should have followed the same formula that Brown uses for his point guards and been tough on Rip Hamilton by leaving him out of the starting lineup.

Allen Iverson thought different.

“That had nothing to do with us losing this game, the lineup that we started with, that lineup is gonna play the majority of the game anyway regardless if we started that way,” Iverson says. “Tonight we even finished that way, so I don’t think that had nothing to do with it. We just got beat. We lost a game that we should’ve won…easily!”

With an 18-14 overall record since the Iverson project began in early November, you have to wonder ‘just when the Detroit Pistons are going to play consistent basketball?’

The project will continue tonight when they face off against Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis at 7 p.m.

“Allen Iverson should start. The proof is in the pudding that ever since Rip Hamilton has been sitting out, the Pistons have been winning. I believe that they have won 8 of their last 10 games with Rip out so I believe that if it ins’t broke than you shouldn’t try to fix it. Rip can’t create for himself. Stuckey and Iverson can, so they should be starting. Rip is still mourning the trade that sent Chauncey to Denver and he needs to just get over it and play some basketball.” [EW]

• It’s tough for the Detroit Pistons to get accustomed to the sweets sound of the Jazz being played in Utah. The Pistons fell to the Utah Jazz again last night, 99-82, in Salt Lake City which marked the fourth straight season that the Jazz have swept the Pistons in the regular season. [Eric]

•Mehmet Okur was hot early and dominated all 21 minutes he was on the floor. Finishing 8-9 from the field, Memo continues to be a “bad karma” Pistons-killer. [Adam]

•Iverson may have needed Teena Marie to help him out to “turn on his fire and desire.” He was noticeably out of sync and made no excuses, as indicated in his quote after the game.
“No excuses,” Iverson said. “It had nothing to do with being the last game of the trip, dead legs, anything. They were just better than us and they whooped us tonight.” [Eric]

•Stuckey had to “use them and abuse them” as he went off for 19 points to lead Detroit. [Eric]

•Stuck’s ability to play through 33 minutes of pain while commiting minimal turnovers (1) demonstrates his impending leadership. He has shown that his team comes before himself. [Adam]

•Sheed’s back, and although his 8-and-4 performance wasn’t breathtaking, it could have been worse. He’ll shake the rust off. [Adam]

•While failing in other defensive aspects, the Pistons did a superb job containing the monster that is Paul Millsap. Detroit halted his double-double streak at 19 games, the Jazz’ longest since John Stockton’s record 27. [Adam]

•Although the Jazz may have dimmed their flame just a tidbit, the Pistons will continue to roll as they will face the Charlotte Bobcats at home on Tuesday. [Eric]

•Tayshaun’s game has elevated to incredible heights since AI came to town. If Iverson isn’t taking shots in the clutch, Tay is, and he hasn’t disappointed. I used to be scared of wild shots or impending turnovers when Tayshaun took over late in the 4th. Now, however, there’s no Piston I’d rather have with the ball in his hands.

•It’s pretty apparent that J.R. Smith didn’t play at the collegiate level- his ability to be part of a team is nonexistant. Not to say that teamwork is never a part of a straight-to-NBA player’s resume (e.g. Kobe), but Melo shows the same game Smith does. Coincidence? I respect George Karl for holding back and not strangling both of them, because I know the urge is there. I’m happy it panned out in Detroit’s favor, but it’s a shame that J.R. basically solidified the Nug’s loss with his selfish shot selection in the clutch.

•Arron Afflalo. Six HUGE free throws. That’s called keeping your composure.

•Do we even need Rip and Sheed back? Their absences have been felt, but Detroit has pulled out a W in each of the last nine games, save a very narrow loss in Portland. Let them rest, Arron and Amir gotcha back.

•Does altitude affect the rims? I haven’t seen more in-and-out shots for the entire season combined as I saw last night, for both sides.

•Dice seemed to feed off the boos. Sounds like Denver is still a bit sour about the buyout.

Short and simple: they needed someone who would punish our little drama queens when they got out of line.

Judging by his [lack of] decision-making during Sunday’s pitiful performance against the Knicks, he’s not doing a very good job.

There are so many questions. Why, after going scoreless in the first 4 minutes and finishing the first quarter down by 17 points, was the bench not in sooner? How did Walter Herrmann sit the first 3 quarters when the Pistons were getting manhandled? Why did Rodney Stuckey only notch 17 minutes when AI had the shot selection of Larry Hughes (that’s not a compliment)? AI chose a shot over an open man so many times I can’t count them on both hands. Allen Iverson does NOT deserve to start the next game. Start Stuckey in his place.

There wasn’t a problem with Rip until he decided to screw his team over just so he could throw a cheap elbow at Jared Jeffries. The Pistons were within 5 points and this game could have been won with Rip’s sharpshooting, had he not been ejected. Rip does NOT deserve to start the next game. Start Afflalo in his place.

And Sheed. Sheed, Sheed, Sheed. What are we going to do with you? You start and stop on a dime. If only there was some other way to get you started other than technical fouls (which apprently didn’t work today). Is there some magic button Michael Curry can press that turns the lackadaisical Sheed into the low-post offensive monster that he was before he won that big, shiny ring? Rasheed does NOT deserve to start the next game. Start Antonio McDyess in his place.

When the Pistons win, it seems like the headlines always mention how someone came off the bench and carried the Pistons on their back. It always seems like such a surprise to the media when Arron Afflalo scores 15 points or Rodney Stuckey gets 10 assists. Why? These guys play with exponentially greater willpower than anyone who starts (save Tayshaun Prince), and it shows by the way they actually want to win. Get these guys in the game and keep them in the game.

For 4 years I’ve watched the Pistons dwindle into some washed-up team who would like another ring, but doesn’t truly want it. It’s hard to say but it’s true. Luxury continues to trump necessity. The bench, however, has the drive. The reserves have consistently showed Michael Curry their ability time after time, but he does not seem to be understanding.

So far, all I see is Flip Saunders II.

The Answer notched 25 points on 7-12 shooting.  It’s a beautiful sight to see AI meshing in so well with Detroit’s system, I can honestly say I didn’t think the new-look Pistons would look this good, this fast.  Anybody who thinks Allen Iverson can’t adjust to the Pistons offense needs to re-assess- Tayshaun and Sheed both had more field goal attempts than Iverson.
Kobe Bryant held to 12-30 shooting.
The Pistons continue to give far too many offensive rebounds up.  The Lakers had 16 offensive boards, as opposed to Detroit’s 7.  Detroit compensated last night with their hot shooting, but those numbers aren’t going to fly in other situations.
Tayshaun was remarkable.
Arron Afflalo logged some heavy minutes, and made the best of his hefty time (26 minutes).  I keep noticing Iverson-Afflalo connections, particularly during streaking fast breaks, that could evolve to something notable soon.
Sasha Vujacic is an a**.

Harris scored 19 points in the third quarter alone.  He was aquired from Dallas as part of the Jason Kidd trade last season.

Allen Iverson scored 24 points in his Pistons’ debut and notched 6 assists and a steal.  He definitely looked like the AI I know, taking the ball to the rim and drawing double and triple teams, then kicking it out if he hadn’t already drawn a foul.  He looked extremely good, considering he is still very unfamiliar with Detroit’s gameplans.

Unfortunately, Iverson’s kick-outs often ended up in Tayshaun’s hands.  Tay was the victim of another notorious off-night following a big game.  He had 27 points on Wednesday night, only to follow it by missing 11 of his 15 shots last night (27% shooting).  In my opinion, he was the X factor in this one.

Congrats go out to Chauncey and the Nuggets, they downed the Mavs (in Dallas) 108-105 in Billups’ first game.  He had 15 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

Regardless, keep your eye on AI and the Pistons, they won’t let last night’s game get them down.

Detroit pulled off a 100-93 win in Toronto yesterday night- without Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess, or Allen Iverson.  Chauncey still hasn’t taken his physical over in Denver, but it is scheduled for today so Iverson is almost guaranteed against the Nets on Friday.

It was “one of those games” for Tayshaun, who knocked down 10 of 13 and finished with 27 points, 9 rebounds.  He was unguardable last night, swooping to the bucket at will.

There were so many second-chance points that fell in favor of Detroit.  I can’t remember how many times Amir or Sheed would tip the ball in after a miss, or swipe it back up to Stuckey or Bynum at the point.

On the subject of Will Bynum, what can I say about him?  He really came out of nowhere.  The guy can get to the rim at any time, whenever he wants to.  His box score doesn’t show it, but he has some serious potential and I hope his role only expands.  Wonder why we’re winning without an Iverson or a Billups?  There’s your answer.

Jose Calderon has nothing on Rodney Stuckey.

Bosh was a force last night, and even though he missed 13 of his 24 attempts, he was the reason Toronto was as close as they were.

Sheed hit a monster three ball from about 6 feet behind the line.

Amir Johnson picked up his first foul 51 seconds into the game.  I know the refs are a bit tough on him, but he really just has to learn to play defense that isn’t right up on the other man.

From what I’ve seen in interviews, it looks like it.  The veteran has said numerous times that he wants nothing else than to win a ring with Detroit.  Dumars said he was “bouncing off the walls” with excitement.

“I’ve done so many things in this league as far as being an All-Star, scoring champion, first-team All-NBA and things like that. But I haven’t accomplished my No. 1 goal and that’s to win a championship. Like I was telling Joe earlier today, I’m willing to sacrifice whatever I’m willing to sacrifice to get it done. I’ve tried it my way plenty of times. I’ve tried it different ways and it hasn’t been done,” Iverson said.

As long as Chauncey, Dice, and Cheikh pass their Denver physicals today, The Answer will indeed be playing in Pistons’ blue tonight.

His offseason promise to shake the Pistons core has been fulfilled, and a trade deal has been finalized that will send Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to the Denver Nuggets in return for one of the league’s premiere (but aging) point guards: Allen Iverson.

There’s word that Cheikh Samb may also be heading to Denver as well.

I wholeheartedly give my stamp of approval to this trade.  Allen Iverson fits much, much better into the scoring style that Michael Curry has delivered.  AI and Rodney Stuckey could develop into a beautiful relationship.

So long, Chauncey and Dice- it’s been fun…

I’ll keep you up-to-date.