After establishing himself as a potential Hall of Fame guard, with offensive skills never before seen in the league and establishing himself as a perennial winner who's only flaw was that he was surrounded by insufficient backup, the last year has done a lot to tarnish that reputation. After being traded to Detroit he was an outright disaster, unable to find his place in the offense or in the locker room. Meanwhile the guard he was traded for, Chauncey Billups, lead his team to the Conference Finals.
As a free agent this summer, Iverson needs to go somewhere quietly and rebuild his image, much the same way that his old coach Larry Brown has in Charlotte. But it might be another small market team Iverson ends up with. One that now features an... eclectic makeup of personalities.
The Bobcats could spend the next three years treading water in Charlotte, mired in mediocrity or worse, while support for the franchise continues to erode and Jordan shirks more front office duties.
Or they can take the bold step, light the fuse and sign Iverson as a free agent next week, enjoying the fireworks that surely will follow when he and Brown renew their love/hate relationship.
The news out of Detroit is that the Pistons have decided to part ways with their head coach of this past season, Michael Curry. The move was an obvious if unexpected one, as Curry made some huge mistakes in his first year in charge -- including alienating the team's number one star, Rip Hamilton, with the way he handled the Allen Iverson situation.
Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.
Even in hard economic times, the top players like Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Kidd will leave teams and get their financial reward in other places. The squeeze will be on the lower-level free agents who must settle for minimum or various exceptions.
What hurts this class is that only seven teams really have major room under the salary cap to make something happen, and they usually aren't the NBA's biggest spenders. Unless the free agents stay with their current teams, only Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland, Toronto and Detroit have major room.
Although there has been plenty of dancing and unofficial talks the last few days, the real dealings can't start until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Here is a breakdown by position of the five most intriguing – and unrestricted – free agents.
When a video goes "viral" it circulates wildly around the internet. And today's special is DJ Steve Porter's remix of a slew of different sports rants. Via Kissing Suzy Kolber, it basically hinges on Allen Iverson's "Practice" rant while mixing in Jim Mora's "Playoffs!" freak, slicing some Terrell Owens into the fold and even including a little Mike Gundy and Joe Namath, although not together. It's freaking beautiful, too, people. Holy meme.
Allen Iverson is arguably the top name on the albeit limited 2009 free agency list. And though his stint in Detroit could accurately be described as disastrous, and his skills are diminished with age, he's still The Answer, and scorers of his mold will always be sought after.
Except by his former coach from Philadelphia. Kind of.
Larry Brown said this week that while he 'loves' Allen, he doesn't see a reunion between the hard-line coach and the temperamental superstar next season with the Charlotte Bobcats. What's surprising is in saying that, he's looking out not for his own squad, but for Iverson.
The struggles of Allen Iverson have been noted. He has been unable to find a groove with the Pistons, finally ending his 2009 season with back problems. His scoring average of 17.4 with the Pistons is the lowest of his career. The trade for Iverson sent Chauncey Billups to Denver, and Billups has been fantastic for the team.
All that still doesn't seem like it should warrant this graphic ABC Sports showed during Game 4 of the Cavaliers-Pistons series (large image after the jump). The Cavs swept the Pistons, and the folks in the ABC truck decided to do a playoff comparison of Iverson and Billups, even though A.I. hasn't played a single game this postseason.
Maybe they should rename the building, "The Palace King James Tore Down."
The Cavaliers took no time in putting their foot to the throat of the Detroit Pistons, closing them out in the third quarter with 16-6 run. The Pistons, a powerhouse over the last seven years, will not reach the conference finals for the first time in seven years. The cause of their downfall? The only man with less fear of the Palace than Ron Artest.
LeBron James had 36 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists to again create the majority of the punch for the Cavs, who will now have up to a week of off time before facing the winner of the Atlanta-Miami showdown.
With the way the Cavaliers are playing, those teams might want to put off facing the Cavs as long as possible.
Last Monday, Pistons beat reporter Chris McCosky of the Detroit News wrote on his newspaper blog that Allen Iverson had been banned from two Detroit casinos for "boorish behavior," which included throwing his chips at dealers when losing. Two days later, on April 15, the Detroit Free Press refuted McCosky's story, citing casino spokesmen who denied that Iverson had ever created a disturbance, let alone been banned.
As I mentioned last week, barring some sort of organized cover-up by both casinos, it seems clear McCosky fell for a bad tip. Except, here's the odd part: instead of posting a retraction, McCosky actually went on the offensive with another post on April 15, glossing over the fact that the thrust of his original report (that Iverson was banned) was wrong while adding that Iverson was seen "spitting at a dealer" and "even accused of cheating more than once." Under Michigan gaming laws, cheating at a casino is a felony offense.
CLEVELAND -- They posted the result on the end scoreboards at Quicken Loans Arena, and gradually, the crowd noticed and erupted. "CHI 105 BOS 103," the news flashed, followed by "ROSE 36." I'm not sure what more this ohhhhhhh-noooooooo, disbelieving city requires in regard to positive reinforcement, but when the Celtics lost at home to Derrick Rose and the Bulls, it should have reminded every doubting soul in northeast Ohio that the Cavaliers have an express lane to the NBA Finals.
And if that wasn't enough, what about You Know Who, launching a prayer just past the midcourt stripe and watching it bank in as the halftime buzzer sounded? What more do you possibly need, Cleveland? Isn't it time to forget those deep, ugly wounds and start buying into this "ONE GOAL" stuff printed on every T-shirt?
Allen Iverson needs to lay low for a while. 
The 
Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.
The struggles of 
Maybe they should rename the building, "The Palace King James Tore Down." 
Last Monday, Pistons beat reporter Chris McCosky of the Detroit News wrote on his newspaper blog that 
