I’ve been looking for something dramatic to inspire the first post here, and, well, how about this: MLive’s Sherrod Blakely reports that Joe Dumars has finally made his break-up-the-Pistons’-core deal, and is trading Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson.

Some first thoughts while we wait for details:

1. I’m going to miss these guys, especially Chauncey. Mr. Big Shot’s jersey should hang from the Palace rafters someday.
2. Both Billups and Dyess are going home. Chauncey is from Denver, and Dyess was a star for the Nuggets early in his career. (How long ago was that? They used to chant “Dyess, Dyess, baby” when he scored, and it sounded current.)
3. This is not a rebuilding move. Iverson is 33, more than a year older than Billups. But AI is still an elite scorer, and though he hasn’t put up the eye-popping numbers in Denver that he did in Philly, there are signs he’ll be a good Piston. Specifically, playing alongside Carmelo Anthony he put up his two best FG% seasons ever. And for a guy with a reputation for never meeting  a shot he didn’t like, check this out: those two seasons at 45% and 46% would be the best of Billups’ career, too. So maybe he’ll fit in nicely alongside some other scorers.
4. We get quicker and smaller. Defensively, it will be a very different look. I doubt it will be a better one. Good thing Arron Afflalo’s around to play stopper.
5. Even if the deal is a two-for-one, we’re still deep. Even without Dyess, we’ve still got a quality frontcourt rotation in Rasheed Wallace, Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson — never mind Kwame Brown and The Emerging Walter Herrmann. And, eventually, Walter Sharpe, our narcoleptic draft pick.