http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 40360/1127What's wrong with Pistons? It's Iverson
Trade hasn't worked because he hasn't fit in on offense and his defensive shortcomings leave Pistons vulnerable. It's one thing to have mismatched personnel. It's one thing to execute poorly, to miss assignments and open shots. It's one thing to be beaten by a superior opponent. It's another to play a game you have loved your entire life, a game that has afforded you riches beyond your wildest dreams, and be utterly miserable doing it. The Pistons are all of those things right now. They still haven't adjusted to playing with Allen Iverson. Their execution has been atrocious at both ends of the floor. They have been beaten by any and all opponents. But worse is their joyless, dispassionate approach, which they put on display for a national television audience Sunday night in a 99-78 loss at Cleveland. "Everybody's got a frown on their face, they aren't helping each other, not talking to each other," coach Michael Curry said after practice Monday. "Everybody is looking at it, everybody can see it. But I know it's not like that. They talk to each other. They spend time with each other and have fun with each other. But for whatever reason, we haven't gotten that bond on the court."This is where it comes back to Iverson, fair or not. Truly, it isn't Iverson's fault. He has played basketball one way for 13 seasons. He has amassed more than 23,000 points and 10 All-Star appearances doing it. The Pistons knew who and what he was when they traded for him and they did not expect him to change when he got here.
They expected him to play better than he has, certainly. But they knew what they were getting. They knew they were going to have to alter their defense to protect his deficiencies. They knew they were going to have to make a hard decision with Richard Hamilton, having him come off the bench, because they knew they had to have a point guard on the floor (Rodney Stuckey). What they couldn't have known was that it just wouldn't work. And it doesn't work, as the present six-game losing streak and the freefall back to .500 (27-27) attests. Even when Iverson plays his best, like he did against San Antonio, the rest of the players on the floor with him become statues. They stand around and watch Iverson skittering all over the floor, probing for a shot. They've never had to play that way. They aren't very good at it and they don't like it. So down the stretch, the Spurs, like all good teams will do, forced the ball out of his hands and no other Piston could make a winning play. It's worse on defense. The Pistons built their foundation on trust and accountability at the defensive end. They have run a lot of good players out of here (Maurice Evans and Jarvis Hayes to name two) because of their inability to hold their own defensively. So here comes Iverson, who because of his offensive production has never been held accountable defensively. He's a bad on-ball defender who tends to follow the flight of the ball and lose his man off the ball. Every time the opposing team needs a score, they go at Iverson with a high success rate. The Pistons have had to revise their defensive schemes to protect him, which has put an extraordinary burden on the front court players, especially on the two 34-year-olds, Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace.
Too often McDyess or Wallace will leave their man to help, but Iverson or another weak-side defender won't pick up their man. When that happens repeatedly, you lose that trust and nobody helps anybody -- the result being uncontested layups and open jumpers. "We're telling them to play hard, to lay it on the line and trust each other," Curry said. "But no one is going to go all out unless somebody has their back. When one guy helps, somebody has to help them and we just aren't doing it." That's when the frowns and visible frustration almost add up to surrender. Which is what happened Sunday in Cleveland. "I don't even know how to talk about this; there are no words for it," Tayshaun Prince said. "I have never experienced anything like this so I don't know how to get out of it. I go out and I play hard. "It's fixable, but everybody has to be willing to make the fix. Not just one person." Curry continues to tweak and massage the schemes and rotations. He's using zone defenses more to stop dribble penetration, to foster more communication and to take advantage of the one thing Iverson does well on defense -- play passing lanes. Walter Herrmann is back in the mix. Without Chauncey Billups, the Pistons' lone 3-point threat has been an erratic Wallace. So teams can load up their defense in the paint to stop Iverson and Stuckey with no penalty. Curry hopes Herrmann can hit some 3s and spread the defense. But none of that is going to matter if the players don't find some way to rekindle their passion for the game, get their hearts and souls back into it and start competing. It's the least they can do.
