Iverson

Now to the other big Celtics story

The published and unpublished reports are that the 76ers are determined to move AI before the start of the season. Ainge had conversations before the draft that had to involved moving Raef or Wally (the two big contracts) plus various young players and/or picks.

I'll admit to completely conflicting sentiments about this.

On one hand, from a pure talent/productivity standpoint, trading away Wally/Ratliff and getting back Iverson (if those are the only substantial pieces to this) is an absolute no-brainer. I love Iverson's insane competitiveness and drive. If only he'd gone into an individual sport, instead of one with all those annoying team-mates and coaches, he'd no doubt be a world champion. He's clearly one of the top 20 players in the game, and would be deadly next to Pierce in a half-court setting. Anyone who can average 33 points and 8 assists is doing something right.

At the same time Iverson insists on having the ball during something like 70% of his team's total time of possession and 100% of crunch time. He has absolutely failed to get along with every other good/great player he's ever been paired with. He has consistently been an absolute coach-killer. He refuses to practice. There's no evidence that he makes anyone on the court better. I could go on. The only time Philly went to the Finals was a year (2001) that the Eastern Conference was awful and they were succesfully able to surround AI with role players that played manical defense, rebounded, and got out of his way on offense. That doesn't describe the current Celtics roster. Leaving aside his talent AI's rap sheet reads even worse than the "bad Pierce" that so many people were complaining about ~18 months ago.

I just don't see how he and Pierce do more than tolerate each other on the court. This trade has as much a chance of ending up like a Stephon Marbury/Steve Francis pairing as a playoff berth. Great for a rotisserie league, lousy in real life. Before this rumor broke I would have said that the Celtics biggest needs were: interior defense, perimeter defense, post scoring, and better PG play. Despite the fact that this describes something like 75% of the game, Iverson gets you none of them.

This exact dynamic, though, seems to be depressing his value around the league. Iverson is a top 50 all-time NBA player and the only other teams interested are Memphis, Golden State, Denver and Atlanta. Are you kidding me? Even with all I said above, if you can get Iverson for .50 cents on the dollar and give the Celtics a good chance to catapult into a 50 win team, I'm not sure you can turn that down.

Here's the thing, though: You can't overpay for someone. If only Memphis, Golden State, Denver and Atlanta are interested and we can far and away make a better offer than all of those teams with the possible exception of Atlanta, who has no No. 1 pick next year because it's already promised to Phoenix. Would Atlanta be dumb enough to trade Marvin Williams AND Josh Smith to Philly for a 31 year old guy with some miles on him? I don't think so.

I have to say, it strikes me as a Dan Duquette/Lou Gorman type move to overpay now for AI. From what little I saw I thought AI slipped noticeably on the defensive end last season and the new rules didn't have as big of an impact on his game as they did for Arenas, Kobe and others. In addition, smaller players who take a ton of contact just don't last that long in this league. Look at guys like Tiny Archibald, Isiah, Mo Cheeks, Kevin Johnson and others: they all slowed down noticeably when they hit 31-32. The mitigating factor is that Iverson is such a unique player and athlete, maybe he's just indestructable, but he does not take care of his body and there have always been rumors dogging him that he goes out every night, gets 2-3 hours of sleep, refuses to care about nutrition or exercise, etc etc. He's averaged something like 65 games a year for the last 7, so he's just not that durable. Finally, I suspect he would walk all over Doc.

And then there's this: The market for AI will be much more reasonable in December and January when Philly sucks and he starts pushing to leave... it never, ever makes sense to trade for someone who's on the block in July. Teams always get more desperate near the start of trading camp or during the season. I would offer Rondo, Green, Ratliff and a lottery protected No. 1. And that would be it. If Philly doesn't take it that's fine, you walk away happy. But I really don't think Philly can do better than that. Giving up Green and Jefferson and Rondo/Telfair seems absolutely insane. It's a Lou Gorman move.

The problem with it is there's no free agent that will help us this year, with AI we would be over the cap next year, and we would have used all our trading chips. So there would be no real way to get a third impact guy, with no one left on the roster with the potential to become one.

If Iverson really does want to come here, we're better off having him be pissed that a trade didn't happen, then sabotaging his Philly situation a la Vince Carter. If you're AI, Boston is the ideal place for you - another top-15 player as wingman, good young players willing to play in your shadow, close to home. My vote: If they don't accept Rondo-Green-Ratliff-No. 1, wait until the season starts and then make another run.