Iverson to Denver

Well, finally (thank God), the speculation over where Allen Iverson will be traded to is over and done with, or so it seems. Let's break it down.

Everyone, by now, must be familiar with the addage that if you're to trade a superstar, you must get a superstar in return. The fact is, Philly was never going to receive a superstar in exchange for Iverson. No contender had any interest in swapping their golden boy for a golden boy with massive ego and chemistry problems. But the 76ers did get some value. Andre Miller is a quality point guard who can step in for Iverson immediately. Obviously, he won't score like A.I. but perhaps the team will develop offensively as a unit. Joe Smith is a stiff (I don't think anyone has taken the plunge from rookie of the year to total nobody over their career like he has), but it's the two first round picks in the next draft that should have Philly at least smirking, if not grinning. Now, what they turn those draft picks into is another story, but Philly fans have to understand that they never had any leverage in this nightmare right from the start when their team stupidly said, "Hey NBA, we don't want him anymore. Any offers?" 2007 is a very deep draft, too, and this time next season, we could be talking about Greg Oden arriving in Philadelphia. All things being equal, Sixer fan, at least it wasn't as bad as the Charles Barkley trade.

As for Denver... well, what do we have here? To me, it looks like a team that is certain to have more internal problems while improving by perhaps 3-5 games over what their prior projection was. Still a first-round loser in the playoffs. The West is just full of so many good teams and Denver, for all their scoring presence, just flat out isn't as good. Consider, now, that Iverson is the veteran leader on a pretty young team, many players of which are already accustomed to standing around while Carmelo Anthony fills it up. It shouldn't go unnoticed that Melo is A) the current scoring leader in the league and B) Iverson has never gelled with another scorer in the history of his career. Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Hughes, Glenn Robinson, Chris Webber, they all resulted in total catastrophe. George Karl, experienced with players like Gary Payton, has his hands full. Iverson doesn't make his teammates better. It'll be interesting to watch as the microscope will be on Denver the rest of the year, now, but again, I can't imagine the Nuggets being any better than the 7-seed they're projected to be and exiting in the first round of the playoffs. If Iverson's transition is rocky in the early going, expect that same old malcontent garbage.

Top 50 after 2 seasons?

ESPN seems to be pushing Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby to an almost absurd amount as they promote their top 50 NHL forwards ever shtick. Look, Ovechkin and Crosby are without question the future of this league and it's nice to see that there is at least some level of committment by the league to put their two young saviors into the public consciousness (in as much as American sports fans are the public), but c'mon, they're just in their second season. How can anyone measure true greatness in a career after so little time played?

When LaDainian Tomlinson retires from the NFL, he'll likely be included in the same conversation as Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, and Walter Payton. To suggest he belonged in that debate after two years, however, would be absurd. Ovechkin and Crosby may (will) have a legit claim to being amongst the top 50 forwards of all time in a few seasons when they've sustained their success. For now, though, it seems a bit overzealous on the part of both ESPN and the NHL. There isn't a doubt in my mind, though, that we're witnessing the rise of the next Gretzky/Lemieux

So the question then becomes: who do you put on this list ahead of the two premature selections? One, certainly, must be Joe Sakic, who I was stunned to see omitted from the list, given his ranking as one of the all-time leading scorers (greatest in franchise history) and his two Stanley Cups. Swapping out Sakic for Crosby would be a change at center, so it reasons that Ovechkin should be swapped out for a winger. Teemu Selanne's name springs quickly to mind, he of the 74-goal rookie season and continued dynamisn from then on. If Mike Gartner's on the list, Selanne should be, too. Cam Neely's another suggestion.

As far as the list goes, if you have anything other than a 1st line of Gretzky/Howe/Rocket Richard with Super Mario as your #2 center, you're dreaming.