The former MTV deejay might be exactly why Anthony will be staying home for the Nuggets next two games. The NBA superstar has played sub-par basketball recently, and seems to be distracted. Anthony has averaged over 20 points and 7 rebounds per game this season, but is averaging a mere 13 and 3 over his last two games.

The Denver Nuggets have been one of the hottest teams in the league so far this season. They were given an unexpected boost with the trade of Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups. While Billups has played great for Denver, the team goes as Anthony goes. Fellow 2003 draft pick Lebron James, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, embarrassed the Nuggets and Anthony on Friday night. Shaq and the Phoenix Suns did the same the next night in a game where Carmelo shot 3 for 13.

Officially, the reason for Carmelo missing the next two games, at least, is a sore elbow. It is obvious that there is something amiss, but two games seems like too short a time to recover from any injury. Perhaps Carmelo needs to clear his head and get away from the game for a bit. He will not be with the team during either of the two games he is scheduled to miss, raising some eyebrows. It is probably a good strategy, because if he cannot forget about basketball with Lala waiting for him at home, there is no hope for him.

The Detroit Pistons shooting guard Allen Iverson was fined $25,000 by the NBA for his mouth.

He said what must have been an inappropriate and what definitely was a costly comment to a fan sometime in the third quarter of Detroit’s 90-86 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

But Iverson, as we know, has a history of saying and doing what he wants.  He once refused to go to a scheduled practice when he played for the Philadelphia 76ers.  He was late for practice over Thanksgiving weekend and head coach Michael Curry yanked Iverson’s starting position for one game.  The organization also fined him.

As part of the trade that sent Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets and Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons, power forward Antonio McDyess was also sent from Detroit to Denver. Although McDyess’ inclusion in the trade didn’t make too many headlines, he’ll be a much wanted man over the next couple of weeks.

McDyess was released from his contract after being traded to Denver and will soon become a free agent. Although the 34-year-old is no longer a star, he’s a very serviceable bigman who can hit the perimeter jumper, defend and rebound. NBA teams will be lining up around the block to try to woo him.

Many league experts expect McDyess to end up back in Detroit. Previously, he had said that he’d rather retire than to play for another team than the Pistons. While McDyess definitely has ties to Detroit, he needs to take a closer look at the situation.

Prior to the season he lost his starting job to Amir Johnson, a young, athletic power forward prospect with an enormous upside. Soon after, the Pistons gave undersized yet energetic power forward Jason Maxiell a sizeable contract extension. Additionally, Kwame Brown was brought in during the offseason to supply bulk to the frontline of the Pistons. McDyess needs to read the writing on the wall and recognize that he no longer fits in Detroit.

While a number of teams will undoubtedly go after him including the defending champion Boston Celtics, the team that McDyess would fit best on is the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs are a team that desperately needs what McDyess can bring to the table. Outside of Tim Duncan, the Spurs lack a quality bigman. And with both Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili out with injury, the Spurs could also use McDyess’ outside touch.

Once the Spurs get healthy, McDyess will have a starting role next to Duncan. He’ll have both Parker and Ginobili to feed him the ball and he’ll get as many open jumpers as he wants. If everything comes together for San Antonio, McDyess will even be able to have a shot at the 2008-09 NBA championship.

Allen Iverson could very well be a Hall of Fame player. He made it to the Finals on a Philadelphia 76ers squad that simply wasn’t that great. He’s been to the All-Star game countless times and is one of the most popular players in the game. That said, the Detroit Pistons made a mistake by trading for him.

The main problem concerning Iverson in Detroit is that he’ll need to play point guard. Although Iverson looks like a point guard and sometimes can even have the stats of a point guard, he’s always been more effective as a shooting guard. Trying to replace the steady hand of Chauncey Billups with the erratic decision making of Iverson is going to be a disaster.

Another problem is the backlash of the supporting cast. Players like Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace won’t like it when they turn into spectators of the Allen Iverson Show. They are going to go from being involved in almost every play to playing a secondary role. If you don’t think this issue can boil over, you don’t know much about Rasheed.

Finally, Iverson simply isn’t as good as he used to be. He’s a player who has depended on speed and quickness in his career but now that he’s over 30, he’s been slowing down each season. This year, he could very well hit the wall and be forced to rely on his shaky jumper rather than his ability to get to the basket.

Pistons general manager Joe Dumars has made great trades in the past but this one will be ugly as Iverson will turn into a bust for Detroit.

Iverson Mix …