Pistons Trade for Anthony, Not Iverson?
Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince top Nuggets?
Many people thought Pistons GM Joe Dumars didn't want to go after Carmelo Anthony in a trade because he wasn't Dumars' type of player. Anthony doesn't play much defense and the Pistons already passed on him in the NBA Draft because of it.
But now reports are that the Pistons and Nuggets are talking trade quite often, as the media speculated earlier.
A Carmelo Anthony trade would help the Pistons' offense greatly but the defense would suffer and Dumars seems to be going the defensive route again for his Pistons with the recent hiring of Michael Curry as head coach.
Losing Prince and Billups in a trade for Anthony sounds like lot to give up, but the Pistons have a deep faith that Rodney Stuckey, a second-year player, can be a starter and perhaps an NBA All-Star. Stuckey would take Billups' spot if he were traded to the Nuggets from the Pistons in some sort of trade for Carmelo Anthony.
Some view Stuckey as a two-guard but the Pistons think he can be a great point guard, too.
The Nuggets also reportedly wanted any Carmelo Anthony trade with the Pistons to include the aging Marcus Camby. A Camby and Anthony trade seems to make sense for the Pistons because they need more rebounding and interior defense from their power forward or center to pair with Rasheed Wallace.
But the Pistons might not want to get Camby in a Carmelo Anthony trade for Prince and Billups or someone else because they believe they have a young Camby-type player in Amir Johnson. Joe Dumars was angry that Flip Saunders didn't play Johnson at least a little bit against Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals and he believes that Curry will play him much more this year, especially now that Johnson is older and has a year of some NBA experience under his belt. Johnson is a great shot-blocker and could be a very good rebounder much like Camby so a Pistons-Nuggets trade for Anthony and Camby wouldn't make a whole lot of sense because Camby is so old.
Dumars doesn't want another big man to get in the way of Camby's development unless he's a star player, it seems.
Overall, it was a little surprising the Nuggets reportedly turned down the trade offer from the Pistons of Tayshaun Prince and Chauncey Billups for Carmelo Anthony. But expect the Pistons and Nuggets to continue to talk trade whether for Carmelo Anthony or someone else.
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