Full Report: Warriors 111 Nuggets 101 and the Lone Wolf: Allen Iverson

The Warriors defeated the Nuggets in Oakland California on Wednesday, November 5 111-101. Paradoxically, Warriors Coach Don Nelson won the game with the beyond outstanding play of his non-starters, when he only played 2 of them since he only played 7 players in total. Brandan Wright played at the superstar level, and produced a game whose massiveness was rare for a non-starter. Kelenna Azubuike was just about as good as Wright.

The best Nugget by a good margin was Nene, but he was upstaged a little by both Wright and Azubuike. Carmelo Anthony emerged from obscurity, but he didn't rise up to the star or superstar level yet. J.R. Smith, by far the biggest wild card factor for the Nuggets on any given night, was no where to be seen; it was a full scale disaster for him, which meant the Nuggets had no chance to win this game given the Wright and Azubuike onslaught.

But the earthquake news is that Allen Iverson did not play for the Nuggets in this game, because he is no longer a Denver Nugget. Regardless of to what extent the Nuggets and their fans try to downplay it or hope that no one tracks all the angles, and uncovers all that is shoved under the rug, I am going to work feverishly to make sure that the Nuggets don't pull the wool over any of my reader's eyes. I am getting underway toward that objective by devoting the entire rest of this report to Allen Iverson.

Why do I spend so much time on one basketball player? One reason is that a lot can be learned about basketball guards by studying the Iverson situation.

Another reason I spend a lot of time on this is because there are millions who do not understand Iverson as a basketball player, but who think they know and are constantly making flat out wrong derogatory statements or neutral but misleading statements, both of which while ignoring the global or historic context.

I don't like it when someone who never quits and who fights for scores more than anyone I know is incorrectly typecast by hordes of people, including often his own coaches. In fact I am sick of it; no player deserves the manure that is dumped on Iverson daily here in the internet age. If the Iverson can't...(fill in the blank) crowd gets it's way, then Iverson will be drifting from team to team for the rest of his career. And everywhere he goes, all the know it all fans will be criticizing him for doing what he keeps being asked to do by his coaches, while nothing much is ever said about the coaches and what they are telling him to do.

At this point the Iverson can't... crowd looks as Iverson as nothing more than a multi-million dollar hot potato to be kicked around from team to team for basketball economics advantages and dreams of future acquisitions. If Iverson has been misled by any of this coaches it's his tough luck, and don't expect any current coaches to make any corrections either; they would be stupid to try to change anything. That is the exact position of the Iverson can't... group.

Is this any way to treat someone who stood up to the mighty Los Angeles Lakers in an NBA Championship in a series that forever hooked millions on basketball, who did what he was instructed to do in Philadelphia and Denver and played a big role in getting them hundreds and hundreds of wins, who made the owners of the 76'ers and the Nuggets many millions of dollars, who represented the United States in the World Olympics, who was in about a dozen All Star Games, who was Rookie of the Year, who was Most Valuable Player, and on and on and on? No, this is embarrassing to the whole country is what it is. Do you think that if Iverson was French or whatever and played in Europe, that many of the French would all the time be claiming Iverson is bad for his teams and can't do this and can't do that? No, the French would be hoping that someone like Iverson would come along and be on their favorite team. It's just embarrassing to be associated with a country where roughly half the population thinks that there is no way for Iverson to help a basketball team.

I am going to be keeping close track of every important thing with regard to Iverson on the Pistons and how it compares with Iverson on the Nuggets. This will include things that just about no one else will track, yet many are talking about these things all the time.

Most seem to agree that the main problem with Iverson is that he shoots too much and does not pass enough. It's the starting point because it's the one thing almost everyone agrees about. Yet, and this starts to show you just how screwed up the Iverson mess is, George Karl and the Nuggets never agreed with that. Yet the great majority refuse to criticize George Karl for refusing to ask, instruct, demand, or persuade him, whatever it would take, to shoot less and pass more. They act as if Iverson would have refused to reduce his shots had he been asked. Yet I have proof that you will see soon that Iverson reduced his shots on his own, without even being asked.

Yes, Iverson may have reduced his shooting mostly because of the Carmelo Anthony factor. But always keep in mind that it is a known fact that Karl told Iverson to do the opposite: to shoot pretty much as much as he wanted. Karl said that Iverson was a "special player," and it is clear that Karl thought that the last thing you would want to do with an historic, special player would be to ask him to change his mix of actions on the court, or his designated position. Moreover, it seems that to Karl, some players are more important than the teams they are on.

Now let's jump to the present time. In his November 4 Pistons news conference, Iverson is saying this:

Quote:
I have done so many things in this league, as far a being an All-Star, a scoring champion, All-NBA first team, but I haven't accomplished my number one goal, and that's to win a championship."

"Like I was telling Joe (Dumars) earlier today, I'm willing to sacrifice whatever I have to sacrifice to get it done. I've tried it my way plenty of my times. I've tried it different ways and it hasn't been done. Once again, I have to look at myself, I have to look in the mirror at myself and think of things I can do to help us to win a championship. Maybe there are some things I have to change.

One thing is for sure, two things for certain, I'm going to do whatever the coach wants me to do on the basketball court. If he gives me an assignment, I'll just try to carry it out to the fullest."

Allen Iverson, Nov. 4, 2008

It is now or never to test that promise and see if is true and legitimate. This is the last chance, I am afraid, to try to end the Iverson as a lone wolf thing, and to give this man a team for once.

THE BIG QUESTIONS, AND HOW PLUS/MINUS RECORDS WILL HELP ANSWER THEM
So the big questions are whether the Pistons will change Iverson in the way that most think would be better for any team that he might be playing for, and by how much. They have already made a major change already, by making Iverson the designated point guard. This all but guarantees that there will be more minutes of Iverson and SG Richard Hamilton than there will be minutes of Iverson and PG Rodney Stuckey.

I will reporting on those minutes, and the plus/minus for those two combinations.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets record in terms of Iverson paired with the Nuggets who correspond with Hamilton and Stuckey is already history and is sitting on the internet for anyone to see, at NBA.com in fact.

In 2007-08, there were 1,048 minutes of Iverson and SG J.R. Smith on the court, the vast majority of them without Anthony Carter or any other designated point guard. Per 36 minutes, the Nuggets were 7.52 points better than their opponents with the Iverson/Smith pairing.

In 2007-08, there were 1,687 minutes of Iverson and PG Anthony Carter on the court, with the vast majority of those minutes without J.R. Smith or any other designated shooting guard. Per 36 minutes, the Nuggets were .47 points (about 1/2 a point) better than their opponents with the Iverson/Carter pairing.

The Nuggets were a little more than 7 points better than their opponents per 36 minutes with Iverson/Smith than with Iverson/Carter.

So it is obvious that on the Nuggets, Iverson with the shooting guard was vastly superior to Iverson with the point guard. This alone proves that the Nuggets were foolish not to designate Iverson as the point guard, as the Pistons have done from day one.

For the Pistons, in 2007-08, there were 1,840 minutes of PG Chauncey Billups and SG Richard Hamilton on the court at the same time, with the vast majority of those minutes without Rodney Stuckey or any other designated point guard. Per 36 minutes, the Pistons were 7.56 points better than their opponents with the Billups/Hamilton pairing.

Notice that, amazingly, the Iverson/Smith pairing was almost exactly as good for the Nuggets as the Billups/Hamilton pairing was for the Pistons. Yet due mostly to the large number of anti-Iverson basketball watchers, and partly due to the circling of the wagons in Denver now that Iverson has been cast off from there, the Iverson/Smith combination is being shoved under the rug as if it never happened. But in reality, not only did it happen, it was every bit as good as the Billups/Hamilton pairing, which no one is trying to shove under any rug.

The Nuggets thought of Iverson as a shooting guard, so therefore there were 1,687 minutes while PG Anthony Carter and Iverson were on the court at the same time. As we already have seen, this was mostly a spinning the wheels combination: there were almost as many points given up as there were points scored by the Nuggets with this set up. There was no way you could win a playoff series with that combination.

Now the corresponding Pistons combination would be PG Chauncey Billups and PG Rodney Stuckey at the same time. These two were not out there at the same time for more than a trivial amount of minutes; there is no plus/minus data at all showing up for this combination!

Why is there no Billups/Stuckey to be found? There has never been any controversy or confusion regarding Billups being a point guard, and the Pistons would never be stupid enough to play two point guards at the same time for any significant amount of time. Whereas there has always been a hidden away controversy and confusion regarding whether Iverson would help his team more as a point guard or as a shooting guard.

The Nuggets never acknowledged the existence of the neatly hidden from the public controversy and confusion, whereas the Pistons not only acknowledged it, they took the other side of it from day one of acquiring Iverson. But the Pistons know that Iverson has been designated a shooting guard for much of the last 10 years, and they will hedge their bets by being ready to throw in a lot of Iverson/Stuckey minutes into the mix to go with the generous number of Iverson/Hamilton minutes that they will put out there.

What if the Nuggets were wrong about Iverson being a pure shooting guard? Then they were wrong about the huge number of minutes they played Anthony Carter and Iverson at the same time.

Aside from tracking this season's Iverson/Hamilton and Iverson/Stuckey, I will also be tracking Billups/Smith. All of the relevant comparisons will be made, which means there is a whole lot more truth to drop before the fat lady sings.

OTHER MEASURES WILL REVEAL MORE TRUTH
The following performance measures have been established for Allen Iverson's entire NBA career. Some of these are most likely never seen before. By finding out what happens to these measures this season with Iverson as a point guard for the Pistons, we may be able to gather more evidence than we already have that the Nuggets made an error by not designating Iverson as their point guard.

1. Shots Per Assist
2. Points Per Assist
3. Shots Per Game
4. Shots Per Minute
5. Assists Per Minute

Now these five, if used at once in a package, are great for evaluating any player who is a high scoring point guard, to judge whether his mix of shooting and assisting is the right mix or not. This package is also great for evaluating any player where there is confusion regarding whether that player should be a shooting guard or a point guard. You compare the player you are evaluating to players whose 1-guard or 2-guard status is obvious and non-controversial.

Chris Paul is generally considered to be the best point guard in the NBA right now. He is also a high-scoring point guard, yet there is no controversy or confusion about whether it might be better for him to be a shooting guard. Allen Iverson is not at all like Chris Paul you say? Careful now, you might be surprised a little. Look for a fascinating comparison between Allen Iverson's history and Chris Paul's history in an upcoming report.

When you have "combo guard confusion", you also look at the history if there is one. Allen Iverson has a long history, and there are already some amazing twists and turns in it that show up in these measures that will be revealed in future reports.

Stay tuned and fasten your seat belts. Detroit City, Michigan, and the Pistons have cleared us for takeoff.