A screenshot from Pistons.com:
Allen Iverson isn’t only taking Chauncey Billups’ spot on the roster, he’s also wearing his old jersey number. No time to be sentimental, I suppose. For what it’s worth, Rodney Stuckey was apparently open to giving up his No. 3 but the NBA said a switch can only happen after the season (at which point there’s a good chance AI will no longer be in Detroit).
For what it’s worth, Iverson is saying all the right things. From MLive:
“I have done so many things in this league, as far a being an All-Star, a scoring champion, All-NBA first team, but I haven’t accomplished my number one goal, and that’s to win a championship.”
“Like I was telling Joe (Dumars) earlier today, I’m willing to sacrifice whatever I have to sacrifice to get it done. I’ve tried it my way plenty of my times. I’ve tried it different ways and it hasn’t been done. Once again, I have to look at myself, I have to look in the mirror at myself and think of things I can do to help us to win a championship. Maybe there are some things I have to change.
One thing is for sure, two things for certain, I’m going to do whatever the coach wants me to do on the basketball court. If he gives me an assignment, I’ll just try to carry it out to the fullest.”
Check out that link above for audio of the press conference. For snippets of video, check out NBA.com, including a funny moment when AI reprises his famous practice rant.
Update: AI talking to Stoney and Wojo on WDFN: “Happy is an understatement.” Listen to the whole interview, via DETPistons:
I REALLY don’t like this… damnit…
Makes me so sad…seems a little cold to be giving the new guy your former captain’s number after trading the guy for him too.
That whole quote from Iverson just got me really excited.
I know it’s only a quote, and he’ll have to prove it through his actions on and off the courtb, but you have to love hearing the mindset he has coming to the Pistons.
i am absolutely pro-deal.
but there’s something weird about iverson getting billups’ number.
My vote says that this move puts us heads and shoulders above Cleveland and Boston in the East.
It’s not disrespecting Chauncey at all to give AI “his” jersey. Was us starting a point guard yesterday disrespectful toward him too? Chauncey is a Nugget now, he’s moving on with them. He’s not taking his jersey with him - and if he was concerning himself over whether his old team let the new guy have his old number, he wouldn’t be the professional that he is.
Since J.R. Smith wears #1 in Denver you wonder if Chauncey will snag up Iverson’s #3 over there. That would be an interesting swap.
@Matt: Update of NBA League Pass. Cogeco (Windsor’s only cable carrier) only offers LP with their sports package which they want 30 bucks a month for. However as early as this weekend (I’ll believe it when i see it) LP for broadband may be available in Canada. I think this may be the only solution. This is completely frustrating.
Sean: League Pass here in the states is $170 for the season, which is roughly $30 bucks a month. Make sure that the Pistons games won’t be blacked out, though. (I *think* Pistons games are blacked out on League Pass in the Detroit area since they’re supposed to be available on local channels. Make sense?)
Iverson is all about practice lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IdoCLk3kCo
Joe D with the jokes!
LOL@ that press conference
Here’s a clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY1JcvgH0XQ
Joe D got jokes
Sorry bout the double post
This is a terrible move. How in the world do you go from an unselfish team-first oriented, less I leave out, winning ball club, and trade for a notouriously selfish, egotistical bragat whom is at the end of his career. I think Joe Dumars, AKA “The Silent Assasin has finally screwed up royally. I am an avid Piston fan, and I do not respect the win now at any cost mentality that Mr. Dumars has so obviously undertaken. The team chemistry and win loss record will suffer do to his dumbfoundness. Here’s an idea, lets kick Joe’s butt to the curb and bring our beloved point gaurd back. And just when I thought that Joe had sunk as low as he could go; he threw gasoline on a lit grill when he smillingly gave Allen “It’s just Practice Man” Chauncey Billups jersey. After all of the years of sacrafice, reinventing his game in order to become the unselfish leader of a championship contending team. Joe, I have lost all respect for you!!! Good luck Chauncey, wherever you are..
@PistonBloodThroughnThrough
Why dont we actually wait until he suits up and plays first?
Relax.
This is the best thing to happen to Pistons since we signed Billups as a free agent. Ironic, but true.
Mr. Big Shot gave us 6 great years. I am so happy he was a Piston. BUT, once Ben left we lacked the fire in the belly, and in fact Billups was often on the wrong side of the intensity equation. His run was done.
WELCOME AI!!! This is going to be a great year! Iverson is going to like playing for Curry, and he is going to bring energy and passion to the floor every second he is out there. He is exactly what we needed. This team just became the favorite in the East IMHO.
Dumars is a genius. GO PISTONS!!
Chauncey was great but this was a really good deal on many levels. For those who don’t understand that maybe you’d like to watch the former core get bounced in the second round again because “they’re the better team.” Blegh!
Loyalty is nice but I’d rather get continuously kicked in the junk than watch that rerun again. Let’s give AI a chance, I truly believe this move will ignite this team again. Besides, nobody will be complaining when we are pursuing Bosh or LeBreezy in 2010.
Trust in Joe.
I’ll complain if pursuit is all that it turns to be. This move makes the Pistons a worse team this year, with only a chance of being great IF a top free agent comes to Detroit.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
AI can take over a series, we never had that. This is addition by subtraction. Tell me who is gonna stay in front of AI and Stuckey?
Defensively, it’s a drop off but if you haven’t noticed, we have Amir and Maxey helping weak side down low. Sheed can float outside all day long because our other bigs stay home. If I were Boston, I’d rather deal with the Billups led Stones. Iverson/Stuckey will give them fits. I love this deal under Curry. I can honestly see the Pistons back in the Finals.
Iverson’s practice joke in the presser absolutely cracked me up.
“AI can take over a series, we never had that.”
Is this true anymore? Philly Iverson was a terror in the playoffs, and he was great as recently as his series against our second Finals team. I’m not devaluing those accomplishments, but his playoff play in Denver has been less than impressive. He was outright terrible against SA, and he was mediocre against the Lakers.
Does anyone remember thinking we were in deep shit when Ben left for Chicago? We were written off by everyone, yet we still got close. I have been bitter about this deal since I heard about it, but Joe knows. Ben was my favorite, then Chauncey got there and won my heart. A big reason we didn’t throw the bucks at Ben was that we had to re-sing Chauncey. It sucks that 2 of the starting 5 champs are gone, particularly for AI, but it’s better than the way things ended with the champ franchise in the early 90’s. We watched them go one-by-one to retirement, trades, and free agency. It was a lean 14 years with some ups and many downs, and Joe is trying to make sure it isn’t that way again. The jersey thing is a big steamy pile of shit. That should be raised to the rafters on AI’s opening night with the bold letters reading “BILLUPS” on the back.
Uh, Denver didn’t play SA last year. They got bumped by LA in the first round. Also, AI had a pretty good series (If you consider 25 and 5 while shooting 45% from the field good)
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3094/gamelog;_ylt=AiF4BJW7Ba.ULaYBlJpKlycWPKB4?year=2007
i’m new here!so just forgive if i don’t know your culture. i don’t live in the states. but am a big piston fan.
i’m really excited that iverson is now a piston, like the other comments, i too am wary of the the playing attitude of iverson. but lets give him a try. i really thinks he may have grown more mature over the years and i think joe d. would have considered this.
when the pistons lost to the celtics last season, it was their complacency and lost of focus that cost them. true, that flip should be responsible for this, but aside from flip, chauncy being their captain should have step in to lead the team. i think he exhibited poor leadership qualities. and also, in the post season, the competing team has always ganged up on chauncy, limiting the offense tremendously.
iverson could bring in more energy and dynamism into the court.
joe d made a great move. he has an objective for the team and for the organization. and he is really working towards that objective.
funny isn’t it that we get angry with the team if they didn’t make it to the finals. and now some of us are getting angry with the team for making changes.
i am a piston fan, more because of the organization.
AI has a great team around him finalls, you cant jusy throw him together with another 30 PPG player like Carmelo, and he doent have to be a 30ppg scorer for us, I love this deal for now and the future, we desperately need a slasher and someone who can take us tot he line and in the penaltly so our great foul shooting guards and can get some easy buckets, I think AI will do alot more for this team then alot think, Im not saying hs gonna bring us the title, im just saying we are still an elite contender, its possible even abitmore so now, and im excited.
So has it been said if hes playing for sure aganst T.O?
C4Life and Rban-True and true.
The whole number 1 thing is overblown a bit. Does anyone realize that last year a rook was wearing number 3? Thanks to Chauncey for his time here but a move like this was overdue.
Also, Congrats to President Obama.
From here out, I see it as “Hey, isn’t weird how Chauncey Billups used to wear Allen Iverson’s number?”
I was never a huge Flip Saunders fan, but let this be said… nearly all of the key players for the Pistons admitted at one point or another that they more or less coach themselves and that, even when losing to Miami, Cleveland, and Boston in the conference finals that the Pistons were the better team. That was probably the most aggravating part. If big men were easier to come by, the best guy to move would have been Sheed, but where do you get his size and abilities inside and out? If it comes down to guys lacking the killer instinct when it matters most, I would have to say Sheed is the guiltiest, especially after Ben left. I am die-hard Detroit, and maybe I will grow to like this trade, but it sucks to see the end of an era.
the end of the era was when Miami came into the palace and ran us off the court 3 years ago.
I disagree UTEP2STEP. Right now is the end of the era, because we are a different team now. Curry came in and changed the offensive and defensive philosophies to a much more fast paced, aggressive, attacking mode. It turned out that Billups wasn’t the guy to lead this new offense, and he was going to have to go anyway to make room for Stuck, so we conveniently got AI to lead the new Detroit Pistons. New era starting now. Actually Sub-Era…
All of this is still encompassed in the Joe D era.
Did you expect a snake to be a saint?
@Sauce:
Any way we can get that tinfoil hat off your head so you can get back to the awesome comments I personally valued many months ago? Or just the one line nonsense about fear. Let me know, man…
Man, Maxiell signs, Rip signs, we get Iverson, and then Obama? Best week ever.
IVERSON! OBAMA! CHANGE I CAN BELIEVE IN!
I’ll throw my 2 cents in. As I’ve posted here before, I’ve been living in DC the past several months. After Obama’s victory speech, I tossed on my Pistons hoodie and went over to the White House to check out the celebration. This city is absolutely insane right now. There is a completely ridiculous celebration going on. I did not support nor vote for Obama, however, it is hard to walk around this place tonight and not have a smile on my face. We are so very fortunate to live in a place where this type of celebration is possible. That we can gather on the front lawn of our President and mock him and celebrate his opposition party’s success. It is my sincere hope that all the people who are partaking in that celebration have profound respect and appreciation for that freedom. So, congratulations to Obama and his supporters. He is now my President too, and I hope he succeeds.
Lest you think this is not about the Pistons, my unofficial exit polling at the party in front of the White House was 100% (3 votes) in favor of the Iverson trade. Even during that celebration I got several comments for the Pistons. PISTONS 08-09!
OM: I’ve been walking around in my Pistons hoodie in SE DC, and people keep hollerin’ “Iverson!”
Rob, I had the same thing going on. Where in SE?
Oh shit there was an election today? I just assumed all the people outside my apt in Boston chanting “yes we can” were trying to reassure themselves the C’s could still beat the Pistons with the Answer. Iverson-Johnson in ‘09 baby.
@Forty
That rocks dude.
Just think…
a few years back Joe D. took a chance on a former top 10 “bust” who was coming off of a solid year as a backup point guard for the Timberwolves. Joe D. invested the mid level exception ONLY, in order to get Billups to the squad.
Billups played for years under that MLE when he had been filling up the cup and being the leader of the team long after Ben and his tantrums thought they’d be better off in Chicago.
He got the money he finally deserved last offseason, we treated him like a god in Detroit.
If Detroit ever had a superstar after Isiah Thomas or Grant Hill, Billups is the closest thing to it. He is your prototypical point guard, he made good decisions with the ball, he passed first unless he thought he could create off the dribble…
I guess where I’m going with this is… we got a championship ring and a Finals MVP for the MLE. We parlayed that success into a guy who averages 27 a night.
I think it’s a solid trade, only if McDyess decides to come back IF he’s actually bought out. McDyess will likely fill the “Dale Davis” role with the Pistons with the emergence of Amir, Maxey and the short term we have to decide on whether to keep Kwame or not. Likely with this trade occuring, Detroit could sign a top flight FA and re-sign Kwame if he pans out (god, that sounds weird to even think)
MP: I live in Fairfax Village (Hillcrest) across the Anacostia. Not too far from the Iverson Mall!
i dont know what everyone is sad about….its not like the players care, they’re still making their millions of dollars, just elsewhere. i guess im sorta sad to see chauncey go, but the dude couldnt get it done in the playoffs anymore, and AI is a guy that will light a fire in this team that we’ve desperately been needing. everyone was begging for a change this summer, and it finally happened…i dont understand why everyone is in a frenzy.
ps
does anyone else feel that most of the guys at espn are and always have been irate hacks (adande, legler, hollinger) btw, did anyone see stephen a. go off on skip bayless this morning
i have some questions:
who’s going to be captain? can’t be iverson!
what i’m going to look out for is the chemistry between iverson with the whole team, particularly with sheed and coach curry?
I’m not sure if anyone has posted this yet as I have not quite sifted through all the comments so if it has been brought up already I apologize. Rip, AI, and LeBron all have the same agent. Depending on how this season plays out maybe AI would be willing to stay with the Pistons at a reduced price (in pursuit of repeating as champions hopefully) knowing that in 2010 LeBron may be heading north. If Iverson wants to win a championship as much as he says he does I could see him taking less money to stay with a consistent contender. The whole LeBron thing is best case secnario obviously but if he wants to be a champion he shouldn’t go to the Knicks, the Nets move to BK looks like it is falling apart and LA is already Kobe’s town. It definitely wouldn’t be the first shady move ever pulled by an agent thats for sure.
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« Iverson is wearing Billups’ No. 1
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BEN WALLACE OWNS THE NUMBER 3 IN PISTONS! period
Nah, Mike Payne, how about you guys stop drinking the kool-aid.
Besides, I’m too busy Baracking ’til the break of dawn.
http://baracksteady.ytmnd.com/
Matt, not so sure how you’re so confident that AI is out next season. PG4L, what do you like less, this, or MSU owning your piss poor football team? Crickets. As for the notion that we’re “taking a step back this year”, AI worst #’s are better then Chauncy’s BEST #’s. We just got better, with our without Dyse coming back. Much love to chauncy, and i’ll get to see alot of him now, but we just got closer to the chip.
what happened between skip and stephen a.???!!! dying to kno