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AP
PHILADELPHIA - Allen Iverson got the new team he wanted, and the Denver Nuggets got the new superstar they suddenly needed.
The four-time scoring champion was traded Tuesday by the Philadelphia 76ers to the Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two 2007 first-round picks. The Nuggets also get Ivan McFarlin.
The deal came just as NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony began serving a 15-game suspension for his part in a weekend brawl between the Nuggets and New York Knicks.
Iverson now takes his 31.2-point scoring average to Denver and ends 10 turbulent seasons with the franchise that made him the No. 1 overall pick in 1996.
“I’m very happy about the trade,” Iverson said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday night. “Denver’s style of play fits my strengths. I’m looking forward to playing with Carmelo, the rest of the Denver Nuggets, and for (coach) George Karl, who is a proven winner.”
Karl expects the deal to have an immediate impact on Denver.
“All trades shake your team a little bit,” he said. “I hope that they realize that we’re doing this to be better, we’re doing this to be special, we’re doing this to contend.”
A seven-time All-Star, Iverson transformed the 76ers from lottery losers to contenders, though he couldn’t bring home an NBA title to this championship-starved city. He came close in 2001, when the 76ers lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA finals. Since then the team has fallen from the elite, missing the playoffs twice in the last three seasons.
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This year has hardly been an improvement. The 76ers (5-18) have the worst record in the league and are on an 11-game losing streak.
“We haven’t won a championship, and I think we were a long way from winning a championship, even with Allen,” 76ers chairman Ed Snider said. “It was time for us to take a deep breath and say we’ve got to move in a different direction. Allen wanted to move in a different direction.”
Sixers team president Billy King said the salary cap room created by the trade, along with the draft picks, will give Philadelphia the chance to rebuild.
Iverson is due the rest of his $18 million this season, and a combined $40 million through the 2008-09 season.
His relationship with the only team he’s ever played for was irrevocably broke once he asked for a trade two weeks ago. He had just been fined for missing a team function and his relationship with coach Maurice Cheeks had deteriorated to where the point guard didn’t want to play for him anymore.
The 76ers sent Iverson home for good after holding him out of a morning shootaround. Soon, his nameplate was removed, his locker was cleaned out, and his highlights edited out of a pregame video package.
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“I talked to Allen this afternoon. He’s fired up,” Karl said. “I believe him when he says he thinks this, of all the places he was rumored, this is the one he wanted.”
The Nuggets and 76ers each have home games Wednesday night and hoped to have their newest players in the lineup, though Iverson’s agent, Leon Rose, said the point guard would not be in the mix. “He’ll play Friday (against Sacramento), for sure,” he said.
The Denver fans would love to see him. This marks the Nuggets’ biggest trade since they dealt Kiki Vandeweghe to Portland for Fat Lever, Calvin Natt and Wayne Cooper in 1984. That move helped them make the Western Conference finals the next season. This one, they hope, will help them make it to the NBA finals for the first time in the less-than-stellar history of the franchise.
No matter the drama in Iverson’s life, it has rarely affected his performance on the court. Even this season, with Iverson unhappy and the 76ers stuck in last place, he still is second in the league in scoring (behind Anthony) and averaged 42.7 minutes and 2.2 steals.
Iverson is averaging 28.1 points, 6.1 assists and 2.3 steals in 697 career games. He scored a career-high 60 points against Orlando on Feb. 12, 2005.
But as dynamic as Iverson has been, and as thrilling as it can be to watch the 6-foot tattooed bundle of energy play, only once did he lead the Sixers out of the second round of the playoffs. And Philadelphia was only a modest 355-342 (.509 winning percentage) with Iverson in the lineup for regular-season games.
At his best, he has been the ultimate gamer, a hustling, hard-charging MVP who became one of the most popular players in the league. His No. 3 jersey was always one of the top sellers.
Iverson thanked the Philadelphia fans Thursday. “They’ve been with me every step of the way, through all the ups and downs,” he said.
And there were some downs.
As much as Iverson thrilled 76ers fans with what he did on the court, he gave the team nearly as many headaches for what he did off it.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.
 | FREE VIDEO |
 | 'One of the greatest players ever' Dec. 19: Philadelphia 76ers team president Billy King thanks Allen Iverson, and chairman Ed Snider says the team had no choice. |
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 | 'We will be receiving Allen Iverson' Dec. 19: At a news conference to announce the trade for Allen Iverson, Nuggets G.M. Mark Warkenstein says “to say that we’re excited is an understatement.” |
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
