Sunday's Latest Iverson Rumors

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Iverson A Bobcat?
Dec 10 - The Charlotte Bobcats have inquired about Allen Iverson's availability, and they might make an offer for the superstar guard now that the Philadelphia 76ers say they'll trade him.

"We made some inquiries if it was real," coach-general manager Bernie Bickerstaff told the Observer on Saturday. "Michael (Jordan) and I plan to sit down and chat" about whether to make an offer. -- Charlotte Observer

From Philadelphia ...

# Sources say that there is little chance that Iverson will ever play another game with the Sixers and that he'll be sitting until a trade can be worked out. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

# The Sixers are aware that Boston is willing to surrender a first-round pick and anything else but Paul Pierce to get Iverson. They know Minnesota would probably give up Villanova product Randy Foye. And judging by Snider's vow, that Iverson "probably" played his last game in a Sixers uniform, this ship has finally sailed. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

# Chances are Iverson has played his last game as a 76er. But where once he might have fetched some interesting talent in return, Iverson and his $20 million fee will be good now only in salary-dump-for-salary-dump exchange, the Sixers likely bringing back three $7 million failures.

That's their cost for being so hesitant to trade Iverson, back when everyone else knew it was a good idea.-- Delaware County Daily Times

# With every loss this season, the Sixers' fortunes may improve dramatically in the short term. For they have the good fortune to stink in a year where stinking could pay off, in a franchise-altering kind of way.

Next year's draft could be one of the best ever. With premier freshmen who had to go to college for one year under the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement before becoming draft-eligible, combined with an unusually high number of talented sophomores and juniors who didn't leave school early, personnel types are salivating over the prospective talent in the 2007 draft. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

# The Sixers, as you might have noticed, are sinking to that position, which would bring up an interesting dilemma should the Sixers win the lottery and get the No. 1 pick.

Do they take Greg Oden, and thus make it clear they're giving up on Samuel Dalembert? Or do they do what the Trail Blazers did in 1984 by passing up Michael Jordan because they had Clyde Drexler? -- Wilmington News-Journal

Around the NBA ...

# No matter what you might read in cyberspace, Allen Iverson is not in the Mavericks' future. He has demanded a trade, but it won't be to Dallas.

"We can knock that rumor down right now," owner Mark Cuban said Saturday night. -- Dallas Morning News

# The Nuggets spoke with Philadelphia on Saturday. But word is the 76ers are interested in Nuggets center Marcus Camby and have no interest in injured forward Kenyon Martin and forward-center Nene. Denver has no interest in moving Camby, which makes a deal with the Sixers doubtful unless their mind changes.

The Nuggets were open to trading guard Andre Miller and Camby for Iverson last summer, but not now. Plus, the rise of young and hot-scoring guard J.R. Smith satisfies the Nuggets' quest for another scorer to complement Carmelo Anthony.

Expect the Nuggets to use one of their excess bigs at some point to improve their roster, but a major team-altering move for Iverson is doubtful. -- Denver Post

# Although Danny Ainge had nothing new to say with regard to speculation that Allen Iverson will soon be a Celtic, a league source said the Celtics would be very interested in a deal as long as it did not involve Gerald Green. The source said one possible scenario was sending Theo Ratliff, Delonte West, Sebastian Telfair, and Al Jefferson to Philadelphia for Iverson. -- Boston Globe

# "There's nothing you can do about it," said guard Mike James, whose name has been thrown into some of the rumors, which had the Philadelphia scorer joining Garnett for an NBA title push. "Just keep working. You can't get caught up in it. If I'm part of the trade, so be it." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

# The rumors have Wolves No. 1 draft choice Randy Foye, Eddie Griffin, Ricky Davis and Troy Hudson going to the 76ers for Iverson.

Told of the rumor, Kevin Garnett lit up. "Bring it on, I love The Answer," Garnett said with a big smile. "We welcome A.I. with open arms. Where is Kevin McHale? C'mon, boy. I can't think of anybody who wouldn't want to play with him." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

# On Friday Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said there would be no trade because pairing Iverson's big salary with Garnett's would be prohibitive, but on Saturday he eased off his initial reaction.

"I just think Allen Iverson on any team probably makes it better just because at any time, he's hard to stop," Taylor said. -- St. Paul Pioneer Press

# With Allen Iverson available to the highest bidder, Knicks coach and president Isiah Thomas said yesterday he has no interest in pursuing the former league MVP and four-time scoring champion.

"No," Thomas said at the team's morning shootaround when asked if he's interested in pursuing Iverson. "I like my team. I like just the way we are, and I'm not looking to change anything. We're just looking to get healthy." -- Newsday

# Drop the Nets from the Allen Iverson sweepstakes. "We're not really interested," team president Rod Thorn said. -- New York Post

# Minnesota and Charlotte are among the early candidates to land Iverson, but the Warriors also figure to surface in trade speculation, even if it's probably a longshot. They talked briefly to Philadelphia about Iverson in the offseason.

"We're going to get tossed into every trade rumor until we make the playoffs," Jason Richardson said, offering a thin smirk. "If I vouch for (Iverson) to come, I'd probably be the one leaving. ... We'd love for him to come, but you never know. All you can do is control what's on the court and let the front office be the front office." -- San Francisco Chronicle

# LeBron James made it clear he wasn't trying to start any rumors. But he sure wouldn't say no to playing with Allen Iverson.

"He's a guy you know is going to play hard every single night and give it his all," James said Saturday.

"I'm not trying to stir up nothing around here. But he's a Hall of Famer. Who wouldn't want to play with a Hall of Famer?" -- Akron Beacon-Journal</div>

AI is dominating the headlines.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Charlotte seems intriguing. I remember Jordan was making promises to force the ownership to spend some money when he came aboard and, considering they have all the assets to aquire him, I could see them making a move for him.</div>

I agree the Bobcats are intriguing and they have the compliment players to surround Iverson with. The Bobcats have the defensive weapons and solid rebounding you need in order to win with Iverson.

The question becomes how much do you have to give up to get Iverson if you're Charlotte? Is Brezec, Morrison and Voskul enough?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Celtics have the advantage of being able to add Theo Ratliff's $11.7 million contract into the mix, while the Memphis Grizzlies would be one of the few teams able to offer Philadelphia cap relief for next summer through Eddie Jones' expiring $15.7 million contract -- if not for the inconvenient fact that team president Jerry West's hands are tied because of the pending sale of the team, precluding him from making trades.

Dallas also could offer a package starting with two expiring contracts (Jerry Stackhouse and Austin Croshere), as could New Orleans (Desmond Mason and Mark Jackson add up to almost $13 million), while the Charlotte Bobcats are far enough under the salary cap to take back Iverson in a trade in which the salaries would not have to even come close to matching.

Another team that can't be totally dismissed is the New York Knicks, who are in the unique position of being able to take back both Iverson and Chris Webber in a trade. Because the salaries of Iverson and Webber add up to nearly $38 million, the Knicks would have to offer at least $30.4 million worth of contracts back -- a total that could be reached with a package of Steve Francis, Quentin Richardson, Malik Rose and Channing Frye.

And although the Sixers would prefer to trade Iverson to a Western Conference team, they're going to take the best offer that's out there, East or West, even in their own division -- and they're going to do it soon. </div>

Iverson Will Be Traded Within 48 Hours

 

That's an attractive trade proposal from the NYK because of Frye and you're getting rid of Webber.

Charlotte won't let go of Morrison, the Sixers best shot, like Smitty said, is at Wallace.

 

The Hornets offer is intriguing to me. Normally when blockbuster trades go down, the team the player gets traded to comes out of nowhere. The Hornets can offer some attractive pieces to land Iverson, and really make a push to win now out West.

I hope Iverson stays in the East.

I agree with TBM, the Knicks deal is the best one for Philly, because they get to unload Webber and Iverson at the same time.