Iverson: A Help or Hinderance?

Has the super-star A.I. been helping the Pistons since his arrival in Motor City? Stats show otherwise.

Throughout his career A.I. has averaged between 25 and 27 points per game according to Yahoo's career stats. His two previous full seasons with the Denver Nuggets provided him with 24.8 points per game (2006-2007) and 26.4 ppg (2007-2008). Iverson was also averaging 7.2 assists in each of those seasons.

However, since his trade to in November 2008 to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncy Billups and Antonio McDysse his influence on games has decreased. Pistons president Joe Dumars thought the trade would bring Detroit a player who could take the clutch shots and keep the points flowing at a steady pace. Dumars' choice seems to have been his first bad trade decision.

A.I. has averaged only 18 points, 1.7 steals, and 5 assists per game. From his previous years this is a 8.4 point decrease and a 2.2 decrease in assists. Although his field goal and free throw percentages remain unchanged since previous seasons at 42.5 FG% and 78.1 FT%, his contribution isn't more significant than Billups.

Billups averaged about 17 points a game and 6 assists; while holding nearly 88 percent free-throw shooting and about 41 percent field goal percentage. These stats are not much more significant than Iverson's since the trade.

Richard Hamilton, one of Detroits go-to scorers has now had to share points with Iverson; which is part of the decrese in A.I.'s point contribution. With all of the scoring options Detroit has available to them: Tayshaun Prince, Richarm Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, and Rasheed Wallace, Iverson has yet to take over a game.

Yes, the trade brought Detroit a 12 time all-star game player, but the help has not been as signigicant as Joe Dumars Pistons president had hoped. A.I. still makes his contributions to the team with 10 games scoring 25+ points. But since his injured back from which he has missed 12 games since February 27, 2009, Iverson has not been a key factor.