Ex-Piston Allen Iverson: 'I was lied to'

"The Pistons are liars." Those are harsh words but they come from Allen Iverson's business manager and high school football coach Gary Moore. He told the Memphis Commercial Appeal that Iverson was promised he would become the leader of the Pistons after a trade that sent Pistons point guard and leader Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets.

Instead Iverson was sent into exile as the Pistons' season crumbled.

Iverson never grasped the team concept and it seemed as if his new teammates never grasped him as a friend.

"People in Detroit weren't very truthful to Iverson," Moore said. "He couldn't really trust what people had told him."

Pistons President Joe Dumars did not return messages to respond.

Moore claims the situation in Memphis is different and that the Grizzlies were honest with him after signing him to a one-year, $3.5 million deal, a huge cut from the $21 million he made last season.

"(The Grizzlies) were up front with him," Moore said. "When he sat down and met with them eye-to-eye he said I just was lied to and it almost destroyed my career. What do you guys want from me? If you want me to come here and sell tickets, you've got the wrong guy. If I come here, I want to win."

Bad chemistry

Let's go back to the 2004 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Pistons. It was a lock that Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were going to crush the Pistons.

That's what I thought when previewing the series. After one practice, I knew the Lakers were so fractured that they were not focused enough to deal with the Pistons' defensive tenacity and mental makeup. O'Neal and Bryant were bickering and it affected the entire team.

The Pistons stayed true to their team concept and rattled the Lakers in five games. Now Lakers guard Derek Fisher tells us what everybody already knew. Bryant and O'Neal were not best friends. But Fisher maintains the media blew their sour relationship out of proportion.

"They didn't always see eye to eye but there was never any feeling those two couldn't function together," Fisher told Sports Radio. "They weren't walking in the locker room punching each other, so it wasn't as big as it was made out to be."

By the numbers

22 Length in minutes of Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame induction speech.

65 Number of double-double games by Knicks center David Lee last season

59 Number of double-double games by the Pistons last season

Summer sickness

Five NBA injuries before training camp even begins

Richard Jefferson (Spurs): Might miss the beginning of training camp because of a dislocated thumb

Francisco Garcia (Kings): Dislocated his right ring finger playing for the Dominican Republic. He is cleared to play.

Rudy Fernandez (Trailblazers): Missed Spain's championship round opener (hamstring).

Blake Griffin (Clippers): Cleared to play (shoulder) after wearing a harness.

Patrick Mills (Trailblazers): Not expected to return until mid-November (broken foot).

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