Pistons Blog

Category: Pistons

Odds and ends

There's been a lot written the last couple of days, here and elsewhere, and there will be a lot more up on detnews.com later, but I just wanted to touch on some things that may or may not have fallen through the cracks.

First of all, Iverson will wear No. 1 and Stuckey will keep No. 3 for this year. The NBA told the Pistons on Tuesday that they couldn't change Stuckey's number in the middle of the year. There are a lot of complicated reasons for that involving licensing and marketing. If Iverson re-signs, he will certainly wear No. 3 next season. Stuckey, who isn't partial to any particular number -- he took No. 3 to honor Dwyane Wade -- said he would probably wear No. 9.

Do the Pistons veteran players like the trade? No, not really. It has nothing to do with Iverson and everything to do with Dumars doing what he said he was going to do -- break up the core.

Richard Hamilton seems most affected by it. He still won't talk about it. He doesn't want to say the wrong thing. You can understand where he's coming from. He just lost his all-star running mate. He lost the guy he played in perfect tandem with for six-plus seasons. He lost a guy who knew his game and knew how to set him up on the court better than anybody he'd ever played with before. He's hurting and he's probably a little uncertain how his game will blend with Iverson's.

But here's the important thing: Whatever they feel about the trade isn't going to affect how they play or prevent them from welcoming Iverson with open arms. If anything, the trade has snapped them to attention. They played their most focused game of the season on Monday, the day the trade went down. They aren't going to play comfortable and cocky any more, is my guess.

All the chatter about the Pistons positioning themselves to make a run at LeBron James. Whatever. Who wouldn't want to make a run at James if you have the financial muscle to do it? But Joe Dumars hasn't targeted James or anybody else at this point. He made the trade, first and foremost, because he thinks it gives the Pistons a chance to win a title this year. A lot of skeptics are saying that with this trade, Dumars is admitting the window has closed and he can't win this year. Joe will fight you hard on that.

The financial flexibility that comes with this trade will facilitate a lot of things for the Pistons -- resigning Stuckey and Amir Johnson after next season. Potentially re-signing Rasheed Wallace and AI next season if things go well this year. And, of course, seeing what can be bought on the free agent market.

But look at the roster. What needs fortifying is the frontcourt, not so much the backcourt. Chris Bosh or Carlos Boozer would be more logical free agent targets.

But again, if James and his people said, 'You know what, forget New York, forget Brooklyn, forget Dallas, forget LA, I want to play in Detroit,' Dumars wouldn't turn away. But do you really think that is a plausible scenario?

Me neither.