One Month Later: A Look Back on the Iverson Trade (Part II)

If Joe Dumars did trade Billups for Iverson in order to facilitate a championship run this season, he appears to have committed his greatest blunder since drafting Darko Milicic. At this stage of their careers, Chauncey Billups is simply a better basketball player than Allen Iverson.

Comparing the two on defense is almost comical. Billups is a good, steady defender while Iverson is one of the worst defensive players in the NBA. Stats cannot tell the whole story on defense, but they do provide some insight. So far this season, the Pistons allow an additional 5.7 points per 100 possessions with Iverson on the court compared to when he is off the court. The Nuggets allow 1.4 points fewer points per 100 possessions with Billups on the floor. Opposing point guards have posted an 18.9 PER against Iverson this season, while Billups has held point guards to a 13.4 PER. Iverson has been even worse in his limited time trying to guard shooting guards.

Subjectively, Iverson’s defense has been every bit as bad as those stats suggest. While on the ball, Iverson lacks the strength to fight through picks. Off the ball, he is focused on jumping into passing lanes which has produced occasional steals and frequent open looks for the man he is supposed to be guarding. In his first three weeks as a Piston, Iverson was lit up by Devin Harris (38pts), Beno Udrih (18), CJ Watson (17), Mo Wiliams (25), Rajon Rondo(18), Randy Foye (23, 14ast) and Ramon Sessions (21). Even in the Pistons past two games, against Portland and San Antonio, the team clearly played its best defense with Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo matching up against opposing guards.

While no one expected Iverson to be an upgrade on the defensive end, the hope was that he could provide a boost on offense. The evidence suggests otherwise. On a points per possession basis, the Pistons were sixth in the NBA offensively in each of the previous two seasons. This season, when Iverson has not been on the court, the Pistons have scored 113.7 points per 100 possessions, a total higher than any team in the NBA so far. With Iverson on the court, that number drops to 104.3, which would be near the league average. Billups’ team has been an astounding 16.9 points per possession better offensively when he is in the game.

Allen Iverson’s biggest problem offensively is turnovers. Iverson has committed 3.1 turnovers per game as a Piston, nearly double Billups’ 1.6 mark in Denver. Iverson is also a much less efficient scorer than Billups. Iverson has a 52.2% true shooting percentage on the season, which pales in comparison to Billups’ 59.1%. Detroit’s top scorer in recent years – RIP Hamilton – has also been adversely affected by the arrival of Iverson. RIP averaged 20 points per game in the four games before the team acquired Iverson, but has averaged less than 15 points per contest alongside the future hall of famer.

Part of the reason the Pistons have struggled so much with Iverson can be attributed to an adjustment period. With that said, as Isaac Newton explained: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” If the Pistons are struggling due to an adjustment period, we should see the same thing with Billups in Denver. There are problems with Iverson that patience and acclimation will not fix.

It’s far too early to call the deal a bust for the Pistons. The team does have a chance, albeit not a great one, to land either Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire in 2010 if it is able to preserve its cap space. Also, Joe Dumars is concerned with the product the Pistons have on the court in the playoffs, so judging players based on the regular season is somewhat unfair. I just fear that with Iverson taking over for Billups, there will be fewer playoff games than usual for Dumars to judge.

(Stats courtesy of 82games.com and ESPN.com)