Chris Paul to Clippers! (Also, Odom to Mavericks)

[Jackal]

So who can have CP3? Basically any shitty teams? It's not like LA wasn't giving up anything for Paul. Serious WTF moment here.

[Nick]

Yeh it's not like Hornets were getting ripped off... Odom, Kevin Martin, Scola, some other chips... Hornets got deep, they're just a bit old is all... it's better than them getting nothing in return if Paul leaves...

What a mess of a situation.

[Andrew]

The other owners do have a point. Still, considering...

All along, the league office had allowed the Hornets to negotiate the Chris Paul trade without interference, sources said. And then, this.

I understand why the league stepped in but seems to me they should've put their foot down earlier, during the trade negotiations.

[Jackal]

The league caved because some owners pissed themselves. Nick said it best..what a fucking mess.

[Mavs4Life]

Come on Cuban, that would've been the trade ever, like I said in the other thread everyone got what they wanted.

[JoeJames]

Come on Cuban, that would've been the trade ever, like I said in the other thread everyone got what they wanted.

Come on, Cuban had to do something... his team is a lot weaker than last year... and see how Lakers goes stronger...

[Nick]

To be honest i don't think the deal even makes the team stronger. Atleast, not in the present. They lose 2 skilled big guys for a guy that needs the ball in his hands to be effective. As great as paul is, how effective would he be on a team with kobe? And who would they play at PF? Derrick Caracter?

The deal is good for the Lakers in the sense that they get a superstar, ready to enter his prime. But they'd have a lot of work to do before they can make it work.

[NovU]

To be honest i don't think the deal even makes the team stronger. Atleast, not in the present. They lose 2 skilled big guys for a guy that needs the ball in his hands to be effective. As great as paul is, how effective would he be on a team with kobe? And who would they play at PF? Derrick Caracter?

The deal is good for the Lakers in the sense that they get a superstar, ready to enter his prime. But they'd have a lot of work to do before they can make it work.

Agreed. Experimental, no sure deal here. But rest of teams still had power to stop it. What BS.

[bowdown]

As bullshit of a cheap move this is on part of the owners. Personally I must say this is great shit. Awesome shit. A shit I would actually like to sniff for a few seconds.

[Patr1ck]

I'm glad it didn't go through. Chris Paul is a great player, but even he can't make up for what Odom and Gasol bring to the Lakers.

[benji]

To listen to the GM's, coaches, players, agents reaching out to me tonight: I think the NBA has changed forever with Stern's act tonight.

[Nick]

^ Who said that?

[shadowgrin]

Google Nick. It is your friend. Wojnarowski tweet.

League source on killed deal: "...(Stern) wasn't going to let Chris Paul dictate where he wanted to go."

"In the end, David didn’t like that the players were dictating where they wanted to go," source says.

I'm with Stern here. Being a FA choosing a team you want to go is different from a player still under contract dictating your boss/management what should they do (sending player to a particular team of his choosing).
Unless Paul has a no trade clause in his contract like Kobe. If that's the case then Stern is an ass.


http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=y ... ade_120811

Commissioner,

It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed.

This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets.

Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing.

I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. (They would also get a large trade exception that would help them improve their team and/or eventually trade for Howard.) When the Lakers got Pau Gasol (at the time considered an extremely lopsided trade) they took on tens of millions in additional salary and luxury tax and they gave up a number of prospects (one in Marc Gasol who may become a max-salary player).

I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen.

I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.

When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?

Please advise….

Dan G.

[Nick]

This is ridiculous. CHRIS PAUL WILL BE A FREE AGENT AFTER 66 GAMES. That's the whole reason Hornets are trading him. David Stern has really fucked the league's integrity by trying to play god all the time. And furthermore, Dan Gilbert is a moron. Nobody should be listening to him. He's like a kid in school, dibber-dobbing on people because their pokemon card collection is better than his.

This guy has hit the nail on the head, whoever it is...

“We were all told by the league he was a trade-able player, and now they’re saying that Dell doesn’t have the authority to make the trade?” said an NBA executive who had periodic talks with New Orleans throughout the process. “Now, they’re saying that Dell is an idiot, that he can’t do it his job. [Expletive] this whole thing. David’s drunk on power, and he doesn’t give a [expletive] about the players, and he doesn’t give a [expletive] about the hundreds of hours the teams put into make that deal.

“To me, this makes the league feel like it’s rigged, that Stern just does whatever Stern wants to do. He’s messed up the competitive balance of this league a lot worse by killing the deal, because you’ve completely destroyed the planning that New Orleans, Houston did and left them in shambles over this. I’ve never been so discouraged about this league, never so down.

“I mean, come on: Chris Paul is leaving New Orleans in 66 games. He’s gone. And what’s Dell Demps, and that franchise, going to have to show for it?”

Also...

Following their acquisition of Chris Paul, the Lakers had an unknown deal in place to acquire a power forward.

Also, Odom sounds shattered...

“I guess that means I’m a Laker if the trade didn’t go through,” Odom said in a phone interview with The Times. “I don’t know what to do for the Lakers. I’m even weirded out by the league doing what they did. I don’t know what to do.”

Odom said he thought it was “a lie” when he was first told about the trade to New Orleans.

“And then it doesn’t go through,” Odom said. “Oh, lord. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ll pray about it."

Odom isn't sure if he will report on Friday.

“Maybe I’ll see you there tomorrow [at practice],” Odom said. “But I doubt it. You don’t want to go to no place you’re not wanted. I’ll try to give them what they want as much as possible.”

Odom also felt bad for Gasol.

“Imagine how Pau feels,” Odom said. “Pau came to the Lakers and played here for four years, went to the Finals and lost, won two NBA championships and then got swept [by the Dallas Mavericks this year]. Wow! Imagine how he must feel.

“Man, I’m just in total disbelief about all of this,” Odom continued. “They don’t want my services, for whatever reason. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I was proud to be a Laker, so I’ll try to help them in the process as much as possible."

[volsey]

Ah to be honest, I don't know how to feel. I'm not sure if this is so much Lakers (big market) attaining another seat seller, or moreso NO loosing a seat seller.

New Orleans is owned by the league, and they really have had to push to promote basketball in NO. Then the lockout happens, and a small market looses even more interest, and then their superstar is traded? Regardless of whether the team gets better or worse, business would have been awful in NO. The main purpose of the lockout was to increase revenue in small markets (correct me if I'm wrong), then for a league owned team to go around and do this? Doesn't make sense honestly.

I know it seems borderline crooked, but had this been any other owner (i.e not the league), this would not have been such a controversy. The dumb thing is, why did this go so far before being removed off the table? I understand the density of the FA period this year, but still, this was ' a done deal'.

That said, what options do they have? Best case scenario now for NO is to trade Paul for a lesser deal (because honestly they were getting more in return in the HOU LA trade) to another small market? Which small market would trade for him knowing he's a FA in July? After this fiasco I truly can't see Paul resigning in NO, so why not take the deal that is best for NO from a competitive standpoint? I dono, truly a mess of an ordeal. New rules should have been constructed regarding league owned teams, other owners shouldn't have a say in anything, that's retarded.

[Andrew]

This guy has hit the nail on the head, whoever it is...

I'd say he kind of did. It's definitely been handled badly, it's made Dell Demps look like a toothless tiger and has all kinds of unfortunate implications. However, I wouldn't say Stern is drunk on power. Seems more to me that he's been strong-armed by owners like Cuban and Gilbert, which makes him seem more like a puppet than a mad king on a power binge.

I also cringe at the "rigged" comment for a couple of reasons. First, it's become a very cliched statement, the kind of thing boorish fanboys bleat whenever their team loses or a call doesn't go their way. It's become a fashionable thing for people to say so definitively whenever something is amiss and the mating call for so many would-be "basketball geniuses" and conspiracy theorists. Needless to say the league doesn't always do a great job of shooting down those theories with some of their decisions, but some of these claims of the league being fixed and "just like the WWE" are traversing into tinfoil territory.

Second, if we're talking about a rigged situation...shouldn't the trade have gone through? The efforts to keep the Hornets afloat and in New Orleans aside, a superstar landing in a big market seems like the kind of thing the league would want to happen. For all the flak that The Decision received, it got people talking...and watching. Not everyone might have been pleased about Paul going to the Lakers but they would've tuned in, even if it was just in the hopes of seeing the experiment blow up in LA's face. I guarantee that if the deal had gone through, there'd still be cries of "fix" coming from fans who would've suggested that the league's ownership of the Hornets allowed them to get Paul to a bigger market. Whichever the outcome, it could and would be presented as "proof" of the league being rigged.

It is certainly a mess though, a situation that's been completely mishandled by the league. They are acting in the interests of competitive balance and it would've looked pretty bad if after losing five months to a lockout over players dictating where they get traded and big markets being able to pry talent away from smaller markets, a trade like this went through the day the new CBA is ratified. The fact the team is owned by the league to begin with adds a whole other layer of awkwardness because the league is doing that for a good reason - to try and prevent a team from going under while they find a new ownership group and keep a team in a smaller market - but there's a conflict of interest there and an unavoidable element of suspicion with everything involving the Hornets.

Basically, Demps shouldn't have been told he had free reign to make deals like this if that wasn't the case and that for the sake of the franchise's stability, the league or an appointed official would be overseeing trade discussions and have to sign off on moves just as an owner would under normal circumstances. The league would then have had to intervene much earlier in the trade discussion if they were concerned about its impact on the Hornets. There'd still be awkwardness and accusations given the rather unique situation but it'd be more on the level and not leave someone like Demps - or indeed the league itself - looking so bad.

Really, the whole thing should be further evidence against the league being rigged. Looking at the way they've handled this situation and the lockout negotiations, I don't believe the NBA has the competence to completely rig the whole competition year after year without any kind of definitive proof leaking out in the sixty plus years they've been in operation. I'd chalk this up to incompetence, bad decisions and residual displeasure over certain key issues of the lockout than some master plan.

For what it's worth, Sam Smith's take on the matter is far more positive, suggesting it's something the league had to do and mentioning a precedent with Major League Baseball. He may have a point, but it was still handled badly.

[koberulz]

Why exactly was this vetoed? Paul walks in a year, you get nothing. Paul goes now, you get Odom, Gasol, and whatever pieces were coming from the third team (Houston?). The Hornets would have been in decent shape, LA probably doesn't improve all that much (depending on what Brown brings in offensively), where' the problem?

[benji]

The team is owned by the other 29 owners. At least 15 didn't like the deal depending on what account you believe.

Just like any other owner stepping in and killing a deal.

[debiler]

In my opinion, the best way to increase your market value as a team is not necessarily having a superstar, but having success (which, in a way, attracts stars). They could have had instant success with Gasol and Odom. Instead, they get nothing come next season - unless they find a better trade option now.

[Andrew]

Success does come a little easier with a star player to build around though. Also a slight correction, the Hornets weren't getting Gasol and Odom. They were getting Odom, Gasol was going to Houston and the Rockets were sending Scola and Martin to New Orleans.

The latest is that Chris Paul won't report to camp. I've seen a few people celebrating that move on Twitter and even throwing out a couple of Hitler references in regards to David Stern (can't go wrong with Godwinn's Law) but that's not necessarily a great move. It's a little disrespectful to Monty Williams and his Hornets teammates - who for the moment at least, still his coach and teammates - and I don't think Stern would hesitate to hand out fines and suspensions, with a resulting loss of pay. One can understand where Paul is coming from given the whole situation, but I think he's got to play it a bit cooler than that.

[Patr1ck]

Even better than Gasol.

[benji]

In my opinion, the best way to increase your market value as a team is not necessarily having a superstar, but having success (which, in a way, attracts stars).

It's too bad this doesn't really explain any of the teams sold in the last five years. Prokhorov is suspected of dropping a billion on a team coming off a 12-70 season. (And who had won 34 games in the two years prior.)

They could have had instant success with Gasol and Odom.

Except for two things:

1. They were sending Gasol to Houston.
2. Define "instant success" as they won 46 games last year WITH the best point guard in the league.

[Andrew]

As much of a shambles as the situation is right now, this could have a silver lining for the Lakers. Assuming Howard is going to New Jersey as the latest rumours suggest, they'd have been left with Bynum in the middle along with World Peace and let's say Caracter at forward with the backcourt of Kobe and Paul. Far from terrible, but not without its problems either. Rounding out the rotation would be Kapono, Fisher, Blake, Walton, Barnes and Ebanks.

Even if Bynum can make it through the year without clutching his knee, even if Kobe and Paul can work out who's running the club and share the ball effectively, I don't think that's a team (give or take someone brought in with the MLE) that has a better shot at a championship than their current roster. It might've worked a bit better had they subsequently been able to bring in Howard and Turkoglu for Bynum and Walton, but as it stands the cancelled trade might not be such a bad break for the Lakers.

[Martti.]

The Rockets were just getting raped in that deal. Take Martin out, then it's fine.

[Cleveland wins]

I'm furious at Dan Gilbert, as he was one of the owners to reject this trade saying, "That this would be a travesty and that the lakers would save over $40,000, plus they would'nt have to trade any picks, and on top of that Dwight Howard would also be able to go to the lakers, but we all no he isn't going to la.

Gilbert, you're probably just angry because your cavaliers didn't do anything this offseason as they usually never do! You say this was an unfair for the hornets, far from it. Hornets are getting some great talent as well. You don't like Mike Brown, well, too bad, he's coaching a superstar team which will win a championship very soon.

Lakers needed a great point gaurd to run with Kobe, and its just such a shame and a sad day for lakers fans that the trade did not go through. This is a very fair trade and the other owners should not have rejected it, the rejection of the trade is a travesty because the lakers won't win another championship until they get a star point gaurd.