NBA Notes - IVERSON TRADE RECALLS NBA HISTORY - December 2006

James Loving - National Radio Text Service - Saturday December 30, 2006

Can Allen Iverson and Carmello co-exist? - Traded Bill Russell - Wilt Chamberlain - Robert Parrish - Eddie Jones - Glen Rice - Kobe Bryant - Norm Nixon - WHAT worked and what didn't? READ ON...

IVERSON TRADE RECALLS NBA TRADE HISTORY

As the year winds down December proved to be a month that noted several big names in the news that have moved on to new frontiers or are rumored to make a change.

The biggest story is the NBA's Allen Iverson's love hate relationship has come to an end as he was traded to the Denver Nuggets after 10 turbulent years with the Philadelphia 76ers that resulted in no championship rings.

In the deal Philadelphia received for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two 2007 first-round picks.

Iverson was the Sixers and No. 1 overall pick in 1996. He takes his 31.2-point scoring average to the Nuggets to join NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony.

When Iverson had a falling out with the Sixers that came to a head when he failed to appear at a team function he asked to be traded. This wasn't a case of agree to disagree this was a case of the Sixers did agree that it was time to move on and make a change.

Half the league was interested in acquiring the mega star guard but his large salary created salary cap issues. Surprisingly the Lakers Phil Jackson was reported to be interested in acquiring AI and that raised many questions.

The deal with the Nuggets makes sense since Anthony and Iverson play two different positions guard and forward. Former NBA great Charles Barkley said that Iverson never found a shot that he didn't like. That being the case, how could Iverson and Kobe Bryant co exist with only one basketball?

Bryant led the league in field goal attempts last season with 2173. Last season Iverson took only 1822 shots but missed 10 games. He led the league in shots taken the previous year with 1818. He also led the league in that department during the 1998/99 season with 1056.

Of Anthony's three NBA seasons his highest number of field goal attempts in a season was the 1572 he took last season. In the world of shoulda, woulda, coulda this trade of Iverson to the Lakers didn't happen.

On the other hand the Lakers have been associated with some of the most bone headed trades of all time and some of the best. One of the best was The LA Lakers acquiring Wilt Chamberlain from the Jerry Chambers, Darrall Imhof and Archie Clark on July 9, 1968. The result led to the Lakers winning the NBA title in 1972.

One of the worst was the Eddie Jones trade with Eldon Campbell to the Charlotte Hornets for Glen Rice, JR Reid and B.J. Armstrong on March 10, 1999.

Jones maintained his solid play with Charlotte after the deal and was selected to the NBA All-star game in 2000. Campbell wasn't as productive. Rice's career started to slide. He was a superb shooter prior to the trade but his chemistry with the Lakers and their emerging star Bryant didn't work.

His scoring average and minutes played dropped. He was unhappy during his two years with the club and was eventually traded to the New York Knicks September 20, 2000. From there it seemed as if his confidence was shattered.

He played only one season with the Knicks before being traded to the Houston Rockets August 10, 2001. Rice was a Rocket for two seasons and for the first time in his career failed to average double figures. The Rockets traded him to the Utah Jazz September 30, 2003 but he did not play a game for the team. The LA Clippers signed him as a free agent October 10, 2003 but waived him January 16, 2004.

Armstrong was gone from the Lakers almost as soon as he arrived. Jones is the ONLY PLAYER from that trade that remains in the league. That trade is a prime example of how it can build or destroy a career. It demonstrates how important team chemistry factors into positive or negative results.

The strange thing about the Bryant, Jones chemistry is the deal was made after they both appeared in the 1998 NBA All-star game. It was Bryant's first and Jones second. Bryant scored 18 points making 7 of 16 field goal attempts in 22 minutes of play.

Jones scored 15 points while making 7 of 19 field goal attempts in 25 minutes of action. The question is with Bryant's maturation in only in his second NBA season a factor in the trade?

The Lakers acquisition of then 18-year-old Bryant July 11, 1996 was a great trade. Then Lakers GM Jerry West picked up Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for veteran center Vlade Divac.

After being drafted right out of high school Bryant had never played a game in the NBA but played a lot of street ball in the Philadelphia area against NBA pros. Strange enough much of his competition was against Jones who also attended Temple University in the city of Brotherly Love.

The question about who would control the ball and be the point man in distributing the ball and making decisions problem was also a big factor in the trade on October 10, 1983 of Norm Nixon to the then San Diego Clippers when Magic Johnson was the other guard. Johnson wanted control of the ball. This was after they won two NBA titles playing together in 1980 and 1982. Johnson's career flourished while Nixon's diminished.

It brings into focus with Anthony out with a 15 game NBA suspension for fighting in the brawl between the Nuggets and New York Knicks when the Iverson trade was made, can they blend in together and coexist when he returns to the team?

Will the 31-year-old Iverson and the 22-year-old Anthony egos create construction or destruction? There is only one ball. What! Cut the ball in half???

Half ball is a game where a hollow ball is split in half and when pitched hit with a broom handle. It's a game we played in the Ghetto (ahem) years ago.

The NBA ain't no ghetto (brawling aside) and it's against the rules to split a basketball in half. Will the Iverson trade work?

You've had some examples. Iverson is known as a problem and Anthony has his brief three-year NBA history blemished with troubles. If it works it could be a beautiful thing. Stay tuned.

THE BEST TRADE OF ALL TIME?

In the 1956 Red Auerbach made what many consider the greatest deal of all time when he obtained Bill Russell from the St. Louis Hawks. At the time Russell had never played an NBA game.

He was drafted by the Hawks in the first round (third pick overall) of the 1956 NBA Draft. He went on to win a record 11 NBA titles as a player including two as a player coach (1969 & 1969). He is considered by many to be the greatest player in NBA history.

Auerbach made another great trade by obtaining Robert Parrish June 9, 1980 from the Golden State Warriors. He was a member of four NBA championship teams and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. He played in the NBA until he was 43-years-old. He retired just five days before his 44th birthday after playing a record 21 NBA seasons.

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