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Who Will Have The Answer?
Thursday, December 14, 2006
By Ed Jennett
Allen Iverson has played his last game for the Philadelphia 76ers, but he definitely has not played his last game in the NBA. In fact, Iverson may pop up in a city near you (or your city) very soon. Tomorrow is December 15, which is the day that NBA teams can begin trading players that signed contracts this past summer. With more players available to be used in trades, it makes it more likely that a team will be able to work out a deal for Iverson.
There are not a lot of teams that are attempting to acquire Iverson, who is still one of the top players in the league. That leads to the obvious question of why? The obvious answer is The Answer himself. Iverson is a small player who plays a reckless style of basketball, which leads to frequent injuries. He is usually able to play through the pain or has been able to return quickly when he has been forced to miss some games. But he is 31 now. His size, style of play, and injuries are going to eventually catch up to him. It will most likely happen soon and it will happen to the next team he plays for.
The massive contract of Iverson is also scaring off many teams. Iverson makes $18 million this season and is owed approximately $40 million over the following two seasons. Combining this with the high likelihood of injuries and declining play it makes sense that teams are staying away.
Iverson the person also has a great deal to do with why so few teams are attempting to acquire him. Last week Iverson stayed on the team bus after the other players left to play a game against the Chicago Bulls. He then asked Sixers President/General Manager Billy King to trade him. Iverson eventually left the bus and played in the game against the Bulls. He also eventually left the game early, with the team saying that he had a back injury. At the time that led to the obvious jokes of Iverson hurting his back because he has to carry the team. The situation is certainly not funny anymore. What is uncertain is the obvious question of whether or not Iverson really did have a back injury. That may be a question that only The Answer himself can answer.
One of a few brave teams will have the chance to ask him this directly though. Those teams will not reside in North Carolina or Northern California though. Iverson told the Sixers that he did not want to play for the Charlotte Bobcats when there were rumors that this is the team where he would be traded. He has also informed his soon to be former club that he did not want to play in Northern California, which would eliminate the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings. Both teams have been rumored to be interested in Iverson. However after initially saying that they were interested in Iverson, Kings ownership reversed their position the next day and said that there was no interest. Most likely they realized that pairing Iverson, who has been a troublemaker throughout his entire career, with insane Ron Artest would be a horrible idea. It is also possible that former Sixer teammates John Salmons and Kenny Thomas had been asked for their input and were not in favor of the idea. Both have played better away from Iverson in Sacramento. The rumor mill had the Kings sending Mike Bibby to Philly for Iverson. This could have been a disaster for Bibby. While he is still friends with former King and current Sixer Chris Webber, his father Heny Bibby is an assistant coach for the 76ers. The two have had a horrible relationship since the younger Bibby was a child. Rumors also had the Warriors sending Baron Davis to Philly for Iverson. But Head Coach Don Nelson wanted to pair the two in his backcourt. It is also unlikely the Sixers would have wanted the highly paid Davis, who is legitimately injury prone and also milked and exaggerated his injuries to get traded by the New Orleans Hornets. He would most likely do the same thing playing for the terrible Sixers.
It is possible that any of those three teams could get involved in a three-team trade to help someone else acquire Iverson. The Bobcats would be the most likely ones to do this. They have already informed the 76ers that they are willing to use their enormous cap space to help them make a trade.
There are teams that are trying to get the Answer for their own squad. The frontrunner among those clubs is the Denver Nuggets. Denver has two first round picks in the upcoming 2007 NBA Draft, which is supposed to be very good this year. Trading those picks to the 76ers would give them three first round picks. The Nuggets also have some smaller contracts that expire this season or next, which is when the humongous contract of Webber runs out. The stumbling block is that the Nuggets do not want to trade Marcus Camby or J.R. Smith. Denver is willing to trade Nene, but he is difficult to move because he signed a $60 million contract this past offseason after missing all but one game last year after tearing a ligament in his knee. He was also injured again earlier this season. Because of this Philadelphia does not want him. These issues will also make a lot of other teams want to stay away from Nene. One team rumored to be interested in helping make the deal is the Portland Trail Blazers, who have the huge expiring contract of Jamaal Magloire. There are reports that Portland is no longer considering getting involved, but that could just be a smoke screen by the Trail Blazers to get one or both of the first round draft picks of the Nuggets.
Despite Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor saying that his team would not get involved, there continues to be rumors that they are trying to trade for Iverson. This could be due to the fact that Kevin Garnett began lobbying for the acquisition of the answer as soon as the news of his trade request was broken. The Timberwolves do have Villanova alumni Randy Foye to trade to Phildelphia, but they have very little else. Plus in order to make the transaction they would have to send out nearly as much salary as they would take in. Most of the players on the Minnesota roster have horrible contracts that other clubs would not have any interest in. The only player, besides Garnett and Foye of course, who does not fit that description is Ricky Davis, whose deal expires after next season. Davis and Foye do not come close to matching the salary of Iverson however.
Another long shot candidate is the Los Angeles Lakers. Head Coach Phil Jackson has said that the club is interested. But is shot-happy Kobe Bryant? How will the newly christened number 24 continue to hog the ball with Iverson on the club? Will he get mad if he can no longer continue to take too many shots? What happens the next time Bryant is questioned by the police after a wild night with another sleazy hotel employee? Will he snitch on Iverson? Will it be considered the worst dime in the career of either player? The Lakers are definitely a long shot, without even factoring in the whole Iverson-Bryant dynamic. Their one prized young player is Andrew Bynum. It is very difficult to replace a quality center, although the Lakers do have a history of acquiring them. The two players on the roster that have appealing contracts are Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown. But trading any of them except Mihm (who is out for the season with an ankle injury) would be crippling. The Lakers front court will be missing Lamar Odom for at least a month due to a sprained knee. Los Angeles cannot afford to thin its front court even more.
The Los Angeles Clippers are another team rumored to be involved in the Iverson chase. But the 76ers want Shaun Livingston, who the Clippers seem to have absolutely no interest in trading. It does not look like a deal will be made their.
In the East, there are rumors that the Indiana Pacers are interested, but it is highly unlikely that these teams will make a deal. The Pacers would have to send the Sixers the large and lengthy contracts of another trouble maker in Stephen Jackson, along with Marquis Daniels and injury prone Jamal Tinsley. The 76ers would have no interest in that. Plus it would be crazy of the Pacers to bring in Iverson after trading the aforementioned psychotic Artest.
One legitimate Eastern conference destination for Iverson would be the Miami Heat. James Posey has an expiring contract this season, while Jason Williams has an expiring contract next season. If the Heat is willing to toss in a young player(s) and/or a draft pick(s) this would be a trade that would be just what the 76ers are looking for. It is hard to imagine an effective backcourt of Iverson and Dwyane Wade though. Plus there may not be enough shots once Shaquille O’Neal returns from his knee injury, especially since Iverson is so shot-happy, to put it kindly. To be blunt he is a ball hog and shoots too much.
If Iverson does stay in the Eastern Conference, the team most likely to get him however will be a division rival of the Sixers, the Boston Celtics. Boston has the huge contract of Theo Ratliff, which ends after next season. The Celtics also have a lot of young talent. Despite being division rivals, the teams also were part of a three-team trade with the Utah Jazz at the 2006 NBA Draft that would have sent Iverson to the Celtics and would have also involved Wally Zczerbiak of Boston and Carlos Boozer of Utah. Because of his incredible play this season though Boozer is now an untouchable and will not be moved by the Jazz, so the three-team trade with Utah will not be revisited.
4:45 PM
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