Detroit will be the Motor City for another reason on Dec. 23.
That's the first time super-speedy rookie Derrick Rose will match up with aging-but-still-really-fast Allen Iverson, whom the Pistons acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Nuggets on Monday.
The Pistons sent their captain and former NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Chauncey Billups, along with Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb, to the Nuggets for Iverson, the 2001 regular season MVP.
The Nuggets might buy out the remaining two years and $15.6 million of McDyess' contract, allowing the defense-minded veteran to possibly re-sign with the Pistons if he clears waivers.
Acquiring Iverson, 33, is a safe gamble by Pistons general manager Joe Dumars, who vowed to shake up his veteran roster following another disappointing playoff exit in the spring.
Iverson had expressed a desire to play for a championship-contending team again. A motivated Iverson would make Detroit a co-favorite with Boston to win the Eastern Conference. No matter what happens, Iverson's $20.84 million contract comes off the books in the summer.
The Pistons always were going to be and still will be better than the Bulls. But Iverson's return to the Eastern Conference—he spent his first 101/2 seasons with the 76ers—will feature some dynamic matchups with Rose.
In an interview at the Beijing Olympics in August, Jazz guard Deron Williams called Rose already one of the fastest players in the league with the ball. Though Iverson essentially is a shooting guard in a point guard's body, he long has been considered one of the game's fastest players as well.
Rose said he enjoys matching up against all the opponents he's facing and hopes to learn something from each outing.
Iverson is expected to start alongside Richard Hamilton, offering more offensive firepower than the steady and more defense-oriented Billups.
There are two underlying factors to the trade: Dumars viewed emerging second-year guard Rodney Stuckey as Billups' replacement even before this trade. First-year coach Michael Curry's ability to relate to and handle players—Iverson and Rasheed Wallace? Wow!—can't be overlooked.
As for Denver, the Iverson-Carmelo Anthony experiment clearly didn't work. Billups, while starting to decline statistically at 32, should prove a better fit alongside Anthony.
The Bulls will first face the new-look Nuggets in a Nov. 23 road game. Billups is a native of Denver who played his college ball at Colorado.
