PHOENIX — Just as Allen Iverson has scouting reports for games, he had one for Friday’s All-Star media session.

The guard was as prepared for questions that would be fired his way as he would be when facing Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

Why has the Nov. 3 trade in which the Nuggets dealt Iverson to Detroit and got point guard Chauncey Billups appeared so lopsided in Denver’s favor?

What the heck is wrong with the Pistons?

How much does Iverson, 33, have left?

“I felt that I would have to come in this weekend and answer these questions,” said Iverson, an East starter Sunday in the NBA All- Star Game at the US Airways Center. “That’s just the way it is. I can’t cry over the first half of the season.”

But while one debates how many tears are being shed in Detroit, there is joy in Denver. The Nuggets are a surprising 36-17, including 35-14 since Billups’ arrival.

As for the Pistons (27-24), they’re 23-24 since Iverson first donned a uniform for them.

Yikes.

“I hate to see it,” Billups said of the downfall of a team he helped lead to six straight East finals, a period that included the 2004 title and a 2005 Finals appearance. “They’re my brothers. I hate to see them struggling the way they’re struggling.”

While Billups, averaging 18 points and 6.2 assists, is a worthy West All-Star, Iverson even being here is a tribute to his longtime popularity with the voting fans. He’s averaging a career- low 18.2 points.

“I’m probably a little bit more surprised with the Detroit falloff than actually Denver coming up, because (Billups) brought something to their team they had been missing: stability at point guard,” San Antonio All- Star Tim Duncan said.

Duncan said it’s a matter of Billups being a better fit for Denver than Iverson has been in Detroit.

“That’s the way it looks,” Iverson said. “That’s the way it is. I’m not the point guard in Detroit just like I wasn’t the point guard in Denver.”

Nothing works in Detroit

Iverson initially started at point guard for the Pistons, with Richard Hamilton at shooting guard, but that didn’t work. Now, Rodney Stuckey is starting at point, with Iverson at shooting guard and Hamilton coming off the bench.

It’s still not working.

“It’s weird,” Billups said. “It’s not like they lost me and didn’t get anybody. They got one of the greatest players of this era. ... But sometimes it’s about the mix. ... A.I. is a great player and he can still average 30 points if he wanted to, but that’s not what that system calls for. So it’s really not fair to him that people look at him and say, ‘They can’t get it done with him.’”

Fair or not, the records don’t lie. The Nuggets have the third- best mark in the West and Detroit is tied for No. 6 in the East.

“(Billups has) been great on and off the floor for that young Nuggets team,” Dallas All-Star Dirk Nowitzki said. “He’s been a great leader for that team.

“(The Pistons) have a tough setup as a team. They don’t know who’s coming off the bench now. Maybe they’re not all that satisfied with their roles.”

Iverson sure doesn’t sound satisfied.

“Even when I was in Denver, with (Carmelo Anthony), at the end of games, the ball was in my hands or Melo’s,” Iverson said. “It’s been times this year when I had no control over having the ball in my hands.

“(Barack) Obama’s the president now. Change. Change. Life changes. It’s different. But, believe me, I think in my heart me being the focal point of an offense gives us the best opportunity to win.”

Iverson is trying to stay optimistic. He said he wants Detroit executive “Joe Dumars to look good for making the trade.”

Search likely to continue

Iverson went so far as to say he wouldn’t mind re-signing with Detroit next summer as a free agent. But it seems unlikely the Pistons will want him back, and Iverson later said he will seek a team that fits the “style of basketball I’m accustomed to playing.”

That sure doesn’t look to be Detroit.

As for Billups, a Denver native, it has been one big love affair since he arrived for his second stint with the Nuggets. Billups, who played in the past three All-Star Games for the Pistons, will become the first player from Colorado to play in one for the Nuggets.

“I had three great ones coming here and representing Detroit,” Billups said. “Now I’m representing my own city that really is not a basketball city and not basketball rich. Me being able to represent them on a professional level is self-gratifying.”

Billups hopes his selection can help “cultivate” the rise of basketball in Colorado.

As for Iverson, he’s trying to stave off a fall of basketball in Detroit.

“(Billups is) doing a wonderful job out there and those guys are doing a great job as a squad, collectively,” Iverson said. “We’re not playing well collectively as a squad. But we will get it together.”

Iverson, who has been selected to 10 straight All-Star teams and will start for the ninth time, insists he hasn’t lost a step. He shrugged off a question about whether this could be his final All-Star Game.

“Last year, they asked that question and the year before they asked that question and the year before,” Iverson said. “I know (reporters are) going to ask. You’re doing your job. That is what you get paid to do: ask dumb questions.”

Evidently, Iverson had that question on his scouting report.

As for all the questions the Pistons are asking themselves about how to get back on track, they’ve been much harder to figure ou

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