The Left Field Trade

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3679931

I don't think most people saw this one coming.

Cheikh Samb (yeah, I know, WHO?!), Chauncey Billups, and Antonio McDyess were traded today for Allen Iverson.

Ummm...on paper, this looks like a horrendously bad deal. But the break down makes a lot more sense.

Chauncey is locked up for four years at $46 million. He's currently 32.

McDyess has a two-year deal at $13.5 million.

A.I. is in the final year of his deal, at around $21 million.

Now McDyess has said he doesn't want to play for Denver. So really, Samb and McDyess were players included to make the deal happen. McDyess will either retire or be bought out. I anticipate a buyout, and him resigning with the Pistons.

Who knows what Denver will do with Samb, although with Nene, Birdman Anderson, and Kenyon Martin being the major players in the front court, Samb might actually get some tick.

For Denver, they get a true point guard, which they haven't had since....well since they traded Andre Miller for Iverson. Although I'm sure Denver will look back in 1-2 years and completely regret having pulled the trigger on this trade because of an aging and less productive Billups.

For Detroit, this is a stellar deal. It opens up the youth movement, giving more time to Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell (who just got an extension) and Rodney Stuckey. Lots of different rotations, including Stuckey at the 1 or 2, Iverson at the 1 or 2, Hamilton at the 3, and a variety of options at the 4 and 5.

For my fantasy team, this might actually do wonders. JR Smith gets consistent minutes, as does Stuckey.

Overall, this trade is average at best for Denver. But it's phenomonal for Detroit. Why? Because Rasheew Wallace is also in the last year of his deal. SO, it frees up becaup cap-room for a 2009 AND 2010 free-agent pool that includes: Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Lebron, Kobe, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson, Dirk, Amare, Ginobili, etc.

In addition, in 2010, Rip Hamilton's contract is up. So we could be looking at an entirely new Pistons team within 1-2 years. I like what Joe Dumars did. Amazing.