What Will Become of Allen Iverson?

With Marcus Camby’s unceremonious departure from Denver last week speculation is running rampant about who may be next.  Of course the lightning rod for rumors and innuendo in Denver this summer is Allen Iverson and what comes of his expring contract.  Iverson had expressed interest in the past about working out an extension and staying in Denver.

No doubt that when Denver pulled the trigger on the deal that brought AI to Denver they were convinced he was going to be the guy who put them over the top into instant title contention.  Unfortunately Kenyon Martin’s play continues to deteriorate along with his aging, ailing knees and Nene Hilario cannot seem to stay healthy.  So it has largely been the ‘Melo and AI show in Denver the past year-and-a-half.

The thing about Iverson is he is 33 years old and plays with such wreckless abandon that one is not sure when he is going to start showing signs of wear and tear and start slowing down.  Once that happens his career is pretty much over and done with since he has never really taken the time to work on shot selection and becoming a more discipline player on the court so his major advantage over opponents is his superior quickness and once he loses that quickness he does not have the jump shot to survive in the NBA.  But Iverson is coming off of one of his most productive seasons in years.  He posted his second best ever field goal and 3-point percentages and his lowest ever assist to turnover ratio.  Certainly he owes a lot of that to having an elite player like Carmelo Anthony to play off of.  As I am sure Anthony will be the first to let it be known that having a guy like Iverson, who attacks the rim and demands the attention of defenses, as a teammate has led to him getting cleaner looks and shots at the basket.

Mavs Want Artest; Camby Insulted by Trade

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the Mavericks have offered Jerry Stackhouse and Brandon Bass to the Sacramento Kings for Ron Artest.  It goes on to say that the Kings will not seriously entertain Cuban’s overtures unless Josh Howard is thrown into the mix.  I guess one cannot blame Cuban for trying but I don’t really get the interest here.  Granted Stackhouse’s better days are behind him and Bass had his best season as a pro scoring 8.3 points and grabbing 4.4 rebounds per game coming off the bench in Dallas last year but did he seriously believe the Kings would bite at this?  Or, does he believe the Kings are that desperate to unload the increasingly unhappy Artest?  Surely Artest has more trade value than this.  Heck, the Lakers are reportedly willing to part with Lamar Odom who is a lot more productive than either Stackhouse or Bass are at this stage with likely more productive years ahead of him than Stakchouse does.

What is a bit puzzling about the Mavs reported interest is why the interest is there anyway.  Don’t the Mavs already have Josh Howard who is essentially a slimmer version of Artest?  Is the intent to move one of them to shooting guard?  If so that would definitely be an interesting offense to witness in Dallas.  Then again with Rick Carlisle as the new coach they may be looking for more defensive minded players who can excel in a halfcourt tempo offense.

Switching gears a bit, Marcus Camby tells the Rocky Mountain News that he felt blindsided and insulted about his unceremonious departure from Denver.  Essentially Camby is miffed about how the deal all went down and felt like the team should have given him a heads up about what was going on.  He says he knows this is strictly a business move and the team really does not owe him an explanation but he felt that after six years he would have been treated a little better.  He goes on to say he feels as though maybe the organization is using him as a scapegoat for the team’s failure to advance deep into the playoffs.

I get where Camby is coming from but it is not as though he is the first guy to be treated this way in pro sports.  He just needs to get over it and move on.

The Nets reportedly offered the Nuggets a package of young players and expiring contracts in exchange for Camby but they were not interested in taking any salaries back for Camby.  It is an interesting rumor to say the least.  Why not take back a Josh Boone or Sean Williams and Marcus Williams in addition to say Stromile Swift for Camby?  At least you get some good young talent on the roster in the event Kenyon Martin and/or Nene go down to injury again.  But, obviously, the Nuggets were interested in just dumping salary and saving money instead of competing for a championship next season.  Instead they are looking at Francisco Elson, David Harrison, and Chris Anderson to fill the void left by Camby.

NBA Coaching News and Notes

Here some hot NBA coaching news and notes floating around:

-Rick Carlisle interviewed for the Mavericks job today.  I am not sure it really matters who they hire here as unless the Mavs shake up the roster they are going to remain in the second tier of Western Conference teams for the foreseeable future.

-Carlisle is also rumored to be on John Paxson’s list of candidates for the job in Chicago, though I don’t necessarily see that as a good fit.  Carlisle is one of the no-nonsense, my-way-or-the-highway kind of coaches and they just got rid of a guy like that in Scott Skiles because he could not seem to get along with the players.  Carlisle is not deemed as extreme as Skiles, but it just does not seem like a good fit especially given the talent that is there.

-Avery Johnson is rumored to be on Paxson’s list as well.  Of all the candidates currently out there he is probably the best fit for Chicago.  He will get the Baby Bulls to play defense and they have the athletes to run the more up-tempo offense he had in Dallas.

-New York is also rumored to be in the mix for Avery’s services but given their druthers I cannot imagine that a coach worth his salt would be terribly interested in the New York job until they get their crap together.  Hiring Donnie Walsh is a huge step in the right direction but they still have some personnel issues to resolve before they are going to be competitive again.

Avery Got a Raw Deal in Dallas

It is that time of year again when NBA coaches start finding themselves out of work and teams begin the process of finding their replacements.  Avery Johnson was let go earlier this week as was expected.  It had been widely rumored that owner Mark Cuban almost fired him before the playoffs after he and Johnson had a blow up over the direction the team was going.  It was being widely speculated that for Johnson to keep his job the Mavs were going to have to make a deep run in the playoffs and after the Mavericks barely put up a fight against Hornets Cuban decided it was time for him to go.

Unfortunately for Johnson Cuban failed to realize that firing Johnson is not the solution to all of the Mavs problems.  For one Dirk Nowitzki is looking like a guy whose career peaked two seasons ago.  For the second straight season Nowitzki’s scoring and rebounding numbers both went down.  Since the 2005-06 season Dirk has seen his scoring go from a career-high 26.6 to 24.6 to 23.6 points per game while his rebounding numbers have dipped from 9.0 to 8.9 to 8.5.  His .359 mark from 3-point range marked his second worst percentage since his rookie season and his worst since ‘03-04.  Dirk is still an elite player but he is not the guy who was considered one of the two or three best players when he was leading them to the NBA Finals.

Next on the list of problems is Jason Kidd.  I never understood why the Mavs were so hot to trot to land Kidd when they had Devin Harris who is younger, better-on-the-ball defender who is a better scorer and gets to the line more than Kidd does.  Granted, Kidd is a better distributor of the ball and Harris is not quite as accomplished in leading teams into battle as Kidd is, but I really think Harris is a better fit and the Mavs are going to regret making that deal when all is said and done.  It seems to me that the main reason Cuban made this deal was because he thought he needed to acquire a big name to keep up with the Suns and the Lakers.

Ultimately their downfall was weaker defense.  Overall Dallas’ scoring did not drop off but they gave up over 3 points per game more this season as opposed to last.  Getting an aging PG does not help improve you defensively.  During the first round of the playoffs Jason Kidd was exposed for the aging veteran that he his.  He looked woefully slow in comparison to Chris Paul who routinely ran circles around him during that series.

Bottom line is this: The Dallas Mavericks are an aging team, only Brandon Bass, Antoine Wright, Jose Juan Barea, and Josh Howard are under the age of 29.  Of those players only Josh Howard has established himself as a star player while the other three have been nothing more than bench players, although, Brandon Bass looked like a guy ready to do something towards the end of the season.  The Mavericks need to look to shed some of the older veterans on the team and replace them with some younger fresher legs that can help get them deeper in the playoffs.  I am not convinced that Avery Johnson’s replacement is going to have significantly better luck in Dallas next season.