The Question — Takebacks on AI Deal?

If hindsight is 20-20 in the real world, then it’s got to be somewhere around 20-5 in the sports world.

I point this out because I’ve been tinkering with a question about my beloved Detroit Pistons (who are becoming a little less loved every game right now). If given the opportunity, would you renege on the Allen Iverson trade that brought him to Detroit and shipped longtime Piston point guard Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets?

When Joe Dumars pulled the trigger on this trade one month ago, I was at the reins of the Iverson bandwagon. I even wrote of my everlasting love for Joe D. and his brilliance with this move.

Needless to say, the Big 3 (auto companies, not Celtics players) have rubbed off on the destructive Iverson as he has brought the Pistons down to mediocrity in the Eastern Conference. Detroit is 6-6 since the swap. Iverson has missed a practice, has quietly started grumbling about playing time and is shooting 39 percent from the field. There’s a quote that keeps sticking with me from Iverson’s former coach in Denver, George Karl, who said (perhaps with sour grapes in his mouth), that he glad he doesn’t have to deal with “the wasteful, cheap possessions that we used to have 10 to 15 a game” when Iverson was with the Nuggets. At times, you can see what he means.

Another unquantified stat against The Answer is his questionable defense. While Billups, a stout 6-foot-3 point guard, was capable of taking on any guard in the league, Iverson’s defense has been average at best (which is below average by Detroit Pistons standards).

Besides Iverson, shooting guard Richard Hamilton looks out of sorts without his steady rock (Billups) feeding him the rock. Through 16 games, Rip is averaging his lowest points per game since his rookie year. In 1999. His field goal percentage (40) worthy enough for bench time. Maybe Rip misses the cornrows or maybe the Lasik eye surgery has started going haywire on the All-Star guard. Whatever the cause, Detroit’s smooth shooting off-guard is more “off” and less “guard.”

Yes, I know it’s early. Iverson still needs and has time to get acquainted with the Pistons offense. He is a big enough star where one missed practice shouldn’t be cause for alarm. New head coach Michael Curry is still feeling his way out with this team.

And perhaps I’m overreacting to a streak of 12 games that has been substandard. I think the reason for my initial response to pan Joe D.‘s move one month after lauding it is that Pistons fans are experiencing something they haven’t gone through in five years: Drama. Since the arrival of Billups, Hamilton, forward Tayshaun Prince and Mouth in the Middle, Rasheed Wallace, the Pistons have been drama’s opposite of Britney Spears. The Pistons have been consistent. Too consistent, most would argue (including Dumars, who threaten to ignite the TNT wick to his starting five this summer).

One month into the Allen Experience, do I think the Pistons would be a better team than if they had kept Billups? Yes.

Do I think they will be a better team with Iverson instead of Billups when the playoffs roll around? Maybe.

Do I wish the trade could be taken back? No.

Let’s face it: The Pistons probably weren’t going to win an NBA championship with Billups and they aren’t going to win one with Iverson. Especially not with Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles (Lakers) and San Antonio still strong.

The key to the Iverson trade is his expiring contract, which affords the Pistons serious cap room to make a run at Chris Bosh or LeBron James in 2010 (keep dreaming about BronBron because I doubt it will happen). Billups had a rather large, new contract for a 32-year-old point guard while Iverson will be jettisoned out of Auburn Hills at season’s end.

The move still makes sense, even if the nightly product isn’t as pleasing this season.

In Joe D. I still trust. I can’t take that back.