HoopsHype.com Columns

It could work
by Eddie Johnson / December 21, 2006

Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, the two leading scorers in the NBA will lace them up together for the next few years and I am looking forward to it. The Denver Nuggets finally have gotten a high scoring twosome again. Not since Kiki Vandeweghe and Alex English formed a high-scoring duo has the Mile High City been this upbeat.

The Nuggets were in need of a jolt, especially after the suspensions of Anthony and JR Smith. Denver has now become one of the most visible teams in the league and the Western Conference has gotten even tougher.

The question is... Will it work?

I think it will only work if Iverson becomes the scoring and passing point guard the Nuggets will need him to become. Iverson has that ability to average 10 assists along with his normal 30-plus points. But with the ability to score of Anthony, Smith, Earl Boykins and Marcus Camby, he could settle for 18 to 20 a game and make Denver become a clone of the Phoenix Suns, with a potential five to six players scoring in double figures.

That's the challenge George Karl will face in the next few months. But if Allen and Carmelo are still scoring 28-plus points per game in April, then I surmise that they will be battling just to make the playoffs. That projection is based on the fact the Nuggets will struggle for the next 14 games without Anthony and Smith, thus putting them in a hole they'll have to climb out of when both return.

The Sixers, on the other hand, will go a long time to make up for the loss of Iverson and it still will not change if they are lucky enough to get the first pick next year and select Greg Oden. Iverson is the hardest working and most relentless player not named Michael Jordan I have ever seen. You can never replace what he brought, but the trade had to be done and building with draft choices was definitely the way to go for the Sixers. AI took them as far as he could and having a 33 or 34 year old Iverson paired with (possibly) Oden would not guarantee the Sixers becoming a great team before Iverson's skills started to decline.

Andre Miller will help them stabilize, but I think they will find out quickly that he likes to score and is an average passer at best. Joe Smith will give them good veteran leadership inside, but is not a serious upgrade.

So the three first-round picks the Sixers have next year will become the measure of this trade for years to come.

Good luck, Billy King. You will need it.

Eddie Johnson is a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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