Iverson at altitude.

Yeah, I'm late to the party, and these guys cover all the angles better than any of the rest of us could on the Iverson-to-the-Nuggets trade, so read it if you have time. Here are some assembled thoughts, and hopefully most of them aren't too re-hash:

1) The Nuggets are making the conference semis now, guaranteed, and will take whomever they line up with there to six or seven games. They won't beat Dallas or San Antonio, but they have a shot at knocking off Phoenix, and don't question for a second that everyone at ESPN is trying to line up as many of those games in regular season as possible.

2) I'm still not sure if they play a lot of defense, although this could change a bit. Phoenix doesn't play much D either and gets to the conference finals or semis. (I apologize if this is off; my attention doesn't always get to pro ball until the NFL's regular season is over.)

3) Kevin Garnett is PISSED. I say he asks for a trade next off-season.

4) Iverson is a curiousity as a player and case study for the league, as the epitome of a very dedicated, tough, and dogged player, but in a way that appears malicious as opposed to simply competitive. It's unfair that he gets the rep as the most visible face of the first post-Jordan generation of players; most of the label he gets is because he actually had some success. Stephon Marbury should wish he was Iverson. AI will be interested in re-inventing himself -- the man plays through anything, and I bet he wants to play through the popular (mis) conceptions of his ability.

Of course, all of that could be latent Nuggets fandom shining through -- going to garbage regular season games during the Mutombo era of the Nuggets at McNichols is a formative sports memories, and I never went to the Pepsi Center for a basketball game, oddly enough, although I went for hockey quite a few times.