There were rumors floating around this morning that Allen Iverson would be traded from the Denver Nuggest to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess, and it appears that the deal is now set.

Michigan Live is reporting that the deal has been agreed to in principle, which means barring any kind of failed physical, this deal will happen.

Now, while this is definitely what you'd call a big time trade, I'm not sure it does much for either squad. Yes, the Pistons were getting stale with their current group and needed to make a change, but I'm not sure acquiring a ball hog shooting guard with 120,000 basketball miles on his odometer is the way to go.

Plus, we all remember how Iverson was supposed to turn the Nuggets around while playing with Carmelo Anthony, but instead the team never amounted to anything in the Western Conference.

Iverson is a black hole, and that won't suddenly change in Detroit. Plus, he isn't what he once was, like back in 2001, where he could single-handedly win games. I'm not sure this move even puts Detroit ahead of Cleveland, and I know for certain it won't get them past the Celtics.

As for Denver, at least they picked up a point guard who will occasionally pass. McDyess is also a serviceable player down low. I think this move makes it pretty clear that the Nuggets are now solely Carmelo Anthony's team, but anyone who thinks they're getting out of the first round in the Western Conference is nuts.

Like I said, this is one of those WOW kind of trades. But regrettably, it happened about 3 or 4 years later than when it actually would have made a difference.

Although, there is one other way to look at this trade. Iverson is a free agent at the end of this season, and so is Rasheed Wallace. As Fanhouse notes, that'll leave them $20 million in cap money to spend if they don't resign either of those guys. And that would allow them to go after free agents like Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion, Hedo Turkoglu, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Ben Gordon. Or, it could be a move to position themselves for the '10 free agent class, which includes Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire.

Anyway, for Detroit's sake, let's hope this is a move for the long term future of the franchise, rather than the short term. But then, you never know. After all, Detroit GM Joe Dumars did draft Darko after all.

Pistons to trade Billups, McDyess for Nuggets' Iverson [MLive]