Iverson plays tonight

Settle down, buckle-in, and grab your favorite beverage (mine will be either the Formula 50 or the XXX Vitamin Water), because tonight begins the most-likely short-lived (like the duration of the '08-09 season, only), almost universally unexpected, but in Pistons Nation, unanimously anticipated Allen Iverson Era on the Detroit Pistons...

For those of the readers out there who did not grow up in MI, or have not paid attention to Pistons basketball, or just haven't thought anything could measure up to the Bad Boys, this might be just the occasion to consider following what will be the undisputed management challenge of the NBA season, as well as the most scrutinized on-court dynamics since the end of the Kobe-Shaq tandem...

For the past couple of years, we have been grumbling in Pistons Nation that things were staid, that the style of play had become way too predictable, that wins were most likely to occur in 2/3 of the games in the season, but that it really was not that enjoyable to pay attention, unless you were some myopic diehard that just felt that it was necessary to support Billups and Co. for the sake of argument...

That has now changed...

Wins will probably be relatively achievable, in the most likely scenario that will transpire, but honestly, if you happen to read any analysis about the Pistons until at least January, if not until the day before the playoffs start, and maybe even all the way to the final minute of the last game the Pistons play this year that claims to be fully formed or to be definitive in its conclusions on whether the Iverson trade was a good one, please feel free to move on, without any additional consideration, because you can be sure that no one on Planet Earth has any idea what is about to happen...

The options are plentiful, and some of them are very, very good...this is a solid NBA team, before Iverson; coupled with the youngsters coming along, and basically by getting Iverson for two vets that were expendable because of the youngsters, the Pistons have an extremely dangerous squad...i really think Joe Dumars made one of the most incredible adjustments in modern sports history following the 2005 NBA Finals loss:

- he didn't re-sign the heart of the team: Ben Wallace...

- he didn't panic and sign or trade anyone that would disrupt the plan...

- he welcomed Webber when the time was right, and then decided against bringing him back the following year, to ensure that no one could accuse him of tampering with the plan...

- he drafted well with Amir, Stuck, and Max...not to mention the potential bonus rounds of Afflalo and Sharp...

- he didn't overpay Billups...

He may have been flawless in execution, considering that almost always sports franchises have to go through mediocrity, if not downright being terrible for a period of time following a good run...he has potentially made the kind of moves that no one else in the business could have done, he is, for sure among a lot of Pistons fans and probably broader yet, the best Basketball executive operating today...

and then there is Iverson; the trade pretty much threatens every thing he has done to date, and yet it is fairly defensible to say he had to do it, or at least that it was just another, albeit enormous, piece of the puzzle...Billups was declining, McDyess was done, and the youngsters are ready, so really getting Iverson is like getting him for free, because Joe did not have to give up anything he really liked or needed except for Samb...

Why do it, then?...you will never get Joe Dumars to admit, ever, but i think the basic reason, beyond all the things stated above is that he was sick-and-tired of going to Pistons games...more than that, he was sick of being neglected in the media, by fans, by former players, and by Detroit as being the head of a boring-azz basketball team...he probably made the final call to seal the deal to bring Iverson to MI, hung up, and spent a moment by himself in a dark room, and just smiled...no one, absolutely no one will be able to claim the Pistons are boring this year...

quite the opposite is a virtual guarantee...so, without breaking down the scenarios, or making any wild predictions, after i said that no one can honestly predict, i will end this post with a push of encouragement to at least catch some of the game, or if you are really not in to the NBA, read an article, or whatever, i know a lot of basketball fans that will be watching out of the corner of their eye, so as to ensure they do not accidentally fully witness a slow moving train-wreck...

but, it will be impossible to look completely away...