Fast Break: The Pistons Disagree with George Karl and the Nuggets Regarding Allen Iverson--By How Much We Don't Yet Know

If the Pistons were giving Iverson 100% freedom as the Nuggets did, then they would have maintained his shooting guard position. So we already know that changes are afoot. But we do not know yet what they have directed and we don't know yet to what extent they will avoid falling into what I call the "Iverson two point guard trap."

The Pistons and Iverson have stated that the plan is for "Iverson to be Iverson." Do not be fooled. That is a big media throw away line that sounds nice but that really does not mean much. In sports as in politics, what the public line is is often nothing more than a "false flag." Do you think that the Pistons brass are going to tell the public exactly how they are using Iverson and exactly what he has been told? Do you think they would reveal their exact strategy to the public and thus to the other 29 teams? For that matter, do you think Iverson would give you that? No, they are not going to reveal those details.

The only way to find out what the Pistons have told Iverson to do is to carefully track statistics, including ones never seen before, to see to what extent Iverson's game changes from the Sixers and the Nuggets. Which is of course exactly what I will be doing.

Editorial Note: Please be aware that a "Fast Break" is a short and quick preview of some of the topics that will be explored and proved in more detail in upcoming regular reports. Fast Breaks will often reappear in full reports with only minor reediting, but there will be more important details, more evidence, and more implications and explanations in the full reports. Moreover, there will be topics that never appear in any Fast Break in a full Report.

Fast Breaks are especially useful for the first few days after major news breaks. They are also very useful for people who will seldom or never have enough time to read a full Game/Team/League Report. Fast Breaks are the type of article that more typical web logs feature almost all or all of the time.