Pistons acquire Iverson for Billups, McDyess, Samb

DETROIT (AP) -- The Detroit Pistons shook the NBA in a big way Monday -- landing former MVP Allen Iverson from the Denver Nuggets.

The Pistons gave up All-Star point guard and former NBA finals MVP Chauncey Billups, top reserve Antonio McDyess and project Cheikh Samb.

"We just felt it was the right time to change our team," Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars told The Associated Press. "Iverson gives us a dimension that we haven't had here and we really think it's going to help us."

Iverson is in the final year of his contract, making $20.8 million this season. He could debut with the Pistons on Wednesday night in Toronto.

"He was very excited about the trade," Iverson's agent, Leon Rose, told the AP.

Billups is in the second season of a four-year contract worth a guaranteed $46 million with a $14 million team option for a fifth year. The Pistons kept McDyess off the free-agent market by giving him a $13.5 million, two-year contract extension, and they would love to have him back if the cost-cutting Nuggets buy out his contract.

"Two teams had one common problem, or challenge," Nuggets executive Mark Warkentien said. "I think the Pistons looked at [Rodney] Stuckey and saw him as the point guard of tomorrow, and you have an All-Star in Chauncey who was in his way.

"We're just thrilled with the way J.R. [Smith] is progressing and he had a Hall of Famer in front of him. You understand the motivation of both teams."

The blockbuster deal comes two games into the season for Detroit. The Pistons have been a model of consistency in recent years, but they were determined to transform their core following a third straight exit from the Eastern Conference finals last spring.

The Pistons play Monday night at Charlotte, where the Bobcats are coached by Larry Brown. The Hall of Fame coach helped Billups and the Pistons to the 2004 NBA title and guided the Iverson-led Philadelphia 76ers to a spot in the finals in 2001.

Billups returns to familiar surroundings -- he was born in Denver and played in college at Colorado. McDyess also will be enjoying a homecoming of sorts, having been a Nugget from 1995-97 and 1998-02.

The addition of Billups might placate Nuggets fans who have watched the once free-spending franchise trade defensive standout Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers in the offseason and recently decline to extend Linas Kleiza's contract.

Iverson brings considerable star power to Detroit. The 20th-leading scorer in NBA history was the league MVP in 2001 -- four years after being the Rookie of the Year -- and is a nine-time All-Star. He has averaged nearly 28 points for his career and has led the NBA in steals three times, tying a league record.

Philadelphia drafted him No. 1 overall in 1996 out of Georgetown and he spent 11½ seasons with the franchise, leading it to the NBA finals in 2001. He was traded Dec. 19, 2006, to the Nuggets and helped them reach the playoffs twice.

Detroit, which tried to deal for the 33-year-old Iverson at least once before, added a superstar it lacked with Iverson and salary-cap space for next summer by shedding Billups' contract.

Billups is 32 and has bounced around the league after Boston drafted him No. 3 overall in 1997. He then found an NBA home in Detroit and becoming a three-time All-Star, and two-time All-Defensive player. He was on rosters in Boston, Denver, Orlando and Minnesota in his first four seasons.

Detroit signed him as a free agent in 2002 and he led the franchise to six straight conference finals appearances, the NBA's longest such stretch since the Los Angeles Lakers dominant run in the 1980s. He was at his best in the 2004 NBA finals when he helped the Pistons win their third title.

But Billups struggled in each of the past three conference finals, with the Pistons eliminated in Game 6 each year. He has averaged nearly 15 points and 5.5 assists for his career.

McDyess revived his career with the Pistons, playing 321 games over four seasons after career-threatening knee operations. The 2000 Olympian and 2001 All-Star has averaged 13.4 points and 7.7 rebounds for his career. Like Billups, the 34-year-old McDyess is one of the league's most popular players among peers.

Detroit acquired the 7-foot-1 Samb for Maurice Evans from the Lakers during the 2006 draft. The 24-year-old center played in just four NBA games last season, spending much of his year in the NBA Development League, where he led the league with four blocks a game.

Pistons Get Iverson

The Pistons' bold decision to trade for Allen Iverson is a move that helps Detroit in two eras: Rasheed and post-Rasheed.

The Rasheed Wallace era might be on its last legs in Detroit, and the acquisition of Iverson could put the Pistons over the top. They're gaining a crunch-time star in the final year of his contract who has millions of reasons to try to win a championship immediately. Iverson may yet deliver the focus and energy the Pistons have been lacking in recent postseasons.

More intriguing still is the post-Rasheed era, which will take bloom this summer when Wallace ($13.7 million) and Iverson ($20.8 million) provide Detroit with almost $35 million in cap relief. The Pistons will have myriad options: They could use their newfound cap space to recruit a max free agent -- Carlos Boozer is likely to be the top potential free agent next summer -- or they could re-sign Wallace at a reduced number and still have enough to trade for a max talent from a team looking to shed salary.

Both teams in this deal have renewed their commitment to winning. The easy move for the Nuggets would have been to let Iverson's contract lapse this summer and save money. Instead, they've taken on the additional expense of Billups' contract (three more years and $36.3 million, with a $14 million team option in 2011-12). McDyess must also be paid $6.8 million next season. (Now we see why the Nuggets backed away from awarding Linas Kleiza a new contract before last Friday's deadline.)

Billups fills a hole at point guard while providing Denver with needed backbone and leadership. If the Nuggets decide to keep McDyess rather than try to negotiate a buyout, he would bolster their frontcourt. J.R. Smith becomes the starter at shooting guard, and all of a sudden the Nuggets possess the roster balance of a playoff team again.

But the big news of this deal is centered in Detroit. Would team president Joe Dumars have made this kind of move if not for the emerging talent of Rodney Stuckey (who should be ready to take over at point guard next season)?

The idea that Dumars could instantly create cap room next summer is the revelation here. He can spend the next year seeking to add a fresh headlining star to lead the core of Stuckey, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince.

The bonus of this overhaul is that it doesn't necessarily ruin the Pistons' chances this season. The one weakness for Detroit is frontcourt depth. Kwame Brown's confidence must be rehabbed as he'll need to pick up some of McDyess' minutes at center behind Wallace. But look at the Pistons' starting unit: Iverson, Hamilton, Prince, Amir Johnson and Wallace. That's a strong lineup.

At 33, Iverson is going to view this as perhaps his last opportunity to win a championship. He will bring star power and urgency to a team that has made a bad habit of flatlining during the playoffs. To those who view Iverson as a selfish scorer, he may yet seize this opportunity to reinvent himself -- much as Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and even Kevin Garnett did last season in Boston.

A week into the season, the NBA has become more intriguing. If the Pistons get off to a fast start with Iverson, it will be interesting to see if the other contenders try to make improvements of their own.

Decision '08

Album Reviews: Black Milk Tronic 4/5 From Hiphop Dx

The Motor City is currently experiencing a regional renaissance, perhaps inspired by the tragic losses of Proof and J Dilla in 2006. With Detroit’s golden child Eminem making a brief but memorable return to rap recently, former Slim Shady co-conspirator Royce Da 5’9” wreaking havoc in the mixtape game and the disciples of Jay Dee making waves throughout the underground scene, Detroit is having its own golden era right now.



Another talent to emerge from that pool is producer Black Milk [click to read]. Perhaps the most directly connected of artists to come from the house of Dilla, the talented beatsmith has drawn comparisons to the late great with his sonic compositions found everywhere, either locally with Slum Village and Guilty Simpson [click to read] or across the country with Lloyd Banks and Bishop Lamont [click to read]. After his debut album Popular Demand last year thrust him into a larger spotlight, Black Milk returns to his solo roots with Tronic.



Like most producer-on-the-mic artists Black Milk is not the most lyrically gifted but can capably hold his own, and he makes up for those shortcomings – and in some cases masks – with his wonderfully dense beats. After giving a hookless autobiography on the album’s opener “Long Story Short,” Milk goes in on the stuttering lead single “Give The Drummer Sum,” [click to listen] backed by triumphant horns and a quirky helium-pitched hook, spitting, “Got a hotter flow than most of these monotone emcees/simply kick a better hymn, please/get a breath in, just breathe/spotlights, pop life, I’m the next thing.” Crossing the border into Canada, he then links up with Toronto’s Colin Munroe to reminisce about former flings on “Without U.”



Like his previous outing Black Milk brings along some of rap’s finest along for the ride. He links up with fellow B.R. Gunna member Fat Ray on the sinister “Hell Yeah” and rides shotgun with Pharoahe Monch and Sean Price [click to read] on the head-knocker “The Matrix,” [click to listen] complete with a DJ Premier scratched chorus. But although he tries to match wits with Royce Da 5’9” on the aptly-titled “Losing Out,” [click to listen] he’s simply out of his league against Nickel Nine’s verbal gymnastics: “Let’s talk about makin’ niggas’ hard-earned money yours/puttin’ money on heads like I’m payin’ their barber.”



Tronic is by no means perfect, however. “Bounce” suffers from weak rhymes and an even weaker instrumental, while “Hold It Down” is a sleepy tune loaded with blingy tales, typically conflicted thoughts and lyrical filler. Meanwhile Black Milk’s raps don’t deviate from his flashy raps and insightful rhymes. While they sometimes combine to make a great cut, as evidenced by “Try,” it gets boring and ultimately drags down the album.



With another strong outing in Tronic, Black Milk continues the trend of Detroit’s musical revolution. With its quality beats and above-average raps, Motown has delivered another dope album to go along with their revolution.

2 dead bodies found at Jennifer Hudson’s home

October 25, 2008. CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities investigating the shooting deaths of Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother were searching for the missing 7-year-old nephew of the Oscar-winning actress.

A suspect in the deaths was in custody Friday night, but young Julian King had not been seen since the bodies of Darnell Donerson, 57, and Jason Hudson, 29, were found Friday afternoon.

A family member entering Donerson's South Side home Friday afternoon found the woman shot on the living room floor. Responding officers later found Hanson shot in the bedroom, police said.

At least one of the victims suffered defensive wounds, said authorities who described the shooting as domestic violence.

William Balfour, a man suspected in the deaths, was arrested Friday but had not been charged, law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said investigators were talking to "a number of people in custody" but she declined to elaborate. An Amber Alert issued Friday said Balfour was a suspect in the double homicide.

Records from the Illinois Department of Corrections show Balfour, 27, is on parole and spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle. Public records show one of Balfour's addresses as the home where Donerson and Jason Hudson were shot.

The Cook County medical examiner's office said autopsies for Donerson and Jason Hudson were pending.

Balfour's mother, Michelle, said her son had been married to Hudson's sister, Julia, for several years, but they were separated. She also said Donerson had ordered him to move out of the family's home last winter.

Jennifer Hudson's personal publicist, Lisa Kasteler, said the family wanted privacy.

The tragedy comes as Hudson, who grew up in Chicago, continues to reach new heights in her career. Her song "Spotlight" is No. 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts and her recently released, self-tiled debut album has been a top seller. She was featured in this year's blockbuster "Sex and the City" movie and is also starring in the hit film "The Secret Life of Bees."

She won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in "Dreamgirls." In an interview last year with Vogue, Hudson credited her mother with encouraging her to audition for "American Idol," which launched her career.

The singer, whose father died when she was a teenager, described herself as very close to her family. In a recent AP interview she said her family, which includes older siblings Julia and Jason, helped keep her grounded.

"My faith in God and my family, they're very realistic and very normal, they're not into the whole limelight kind of thing, so when I go home to Chicago that's just another place that's home," she said. "I stand in line with everybody else, or, when I go home to my mom I'm just Jennifer, (so she says), 'You get up and you take care of your own stuff.' And I love that; I don't like when people tell you everything you want to hear, I want to hear the truth, you know what I mean."

Hudson recently announced her engagement to David Otunga, best known for his stint on VH1's reality show "I Love New York."

Hudson's representatives would not disclose her whereabouts Friday. She had been scheduled to appear Monday in Los Angeles to collect an ensemble cast honor at the Hollywood Awards for "The Secret Life of Bees" with co-stars including Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning.

Assassination plot targeting Obama disrupted

WASHINGTON – Law enforcement agents have broken up a plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 88 black people, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives said Monday.

In court records unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn., federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school in a murder spree that was to begin in Tennessee. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of ATF's Nashville field office, said the two men planned to kill 88 people, including 14 African-Americans by beheading. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

The men also sought to go on a national killing spree after the Tennessee murders, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.

"They said that would be their last, final act — that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."

An Obama spokeswoman traveling with the senator in Pennsylvania had no immediate comment.

The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond. Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.

The two men were arrested Oct. 22 by the Crockett County, Tenn., Sheriff's Office. "Once we arrested the defendants and suspected they had violated federal law, we immediately contacted federal authorities," said Crockett County Sheriff Troy Klyce.

Attorney Joe Byrd, who has been hired to represent Cowart, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday. Messages left on two phone numbers listed under Cowart's name were not immediately returned.

No telephone number for Schlesselman in Helena-West Helena could be found immediately.

Cowart and Schlesselman are charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president.

The investigation is continuing, and more charges are possible, Cavanaugh said.

The court records say Cowart and Schlesselman also bought nylon rope and ski masks to use in a robbery or home invasion to fund their spree, during which they allegedly planned to go from state to state and kill people.

For the Obama plot, the legal documents show, Cowart and Schlesselman "planned to drive their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows."

"Both individuals stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt," the court complaint states. "Both individuals further stated they knew they would and were willing to die during this attempt."

Cavanaugh said there's no evidence — so far — that others were willing to assist Cowart and Schlesselman with the plot.

He said authorities took the threats very seriously.

"They seemed determined to do it," Cavanaugh said. "Even if they were just to try it, it would be a trail of tears around the South."

The court documents say the two men met about a month ago on the Internet and found common ground in their shared "white power" and "skinhead" philosophy.

The numbers 14 and 88 are symbols in skinhead culture, referring to a 14-word phrase attributed to an imprisoned white supremacist: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children" and to the eighth letter of the alphabet, H. Two "8"s or "H"s stand for "Heil Hitler."

Helena-West Helena, on the Mississippi River in east Arkansas' Delta, is in one of the nation's poorest regions, trailing even parts of Appalachia in its standard of living. Police Chief Fred Fielder said he had never heard of Schlesselman.

However, the reported threat of attacking a school filled with black students worried Fielder. Helena-West Helena, with a population of 12,200, is 66 percent black. "Predominantly black school, take your pick," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., and Jon Gambrell in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.

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