What would you do if you were the New Orleans GM?

Here’s the scenario:

You are the GM of the New Orleans Hornets. You have had your meeting with Chris Paul and have decided it is time for the franchise to move on with out him. He has requested to be traded to Orlando, New York, Portland or Dallas. Your one condition is that Emeka Okafor be moved as part of the trade for Paul or no deal. All four teams have made offers that include trading for Okafor and Paul so your condition has been met. However, a fifth team has also made an offer for both Emeka Okafor and Chris Paul.

Do you honor Chris Paul’s wish and refuse to discuss a trade to Houston or do you evaluate all of the deals and take the best one regardless of Chris Paul’s request? After all once Chris is traded he is someone else’s problem and not yours.

In each proposal New Orleans trades away Chris Paul and Emeka Okafor which account for $26.4 million in salary. Here are the proposed trades:

Orlando trades: Vince Carter age 33, Marcin Gortat age 26, Jameer Nelson age 28 and a 2011 first round pick. Total Salary is $31.6 million.
Positives: New Orleans gets a young center that is much more cost efficient than Okafor, they get a quality point guard that is in the prime of his career at a very reasonable $7.6 million a season in both 2010 and 2011. New Orleans also gets an aging but still good on offense Vince Carter who comes with $17.5 million dollars worth of expiring contract.
Negatives: New Orleans would be taking back almost 5 million in salary. Since there salary is already at $71.8 million, the extra $5 million in salary would put them at almost $76 million. They once penalties are figured into their salary for being over the Luxury Tax Threshold they would have an effective salary of $81 million dollars for a team that very likely will not be a play-off team. The 1st round pick they receive from Orlando may not be a desirable asset either since they would be obligated to pay a first round player for two years that would be selected at the very end of the 1st round and might not be worthy of a spot on the team.

New York trades: Wes Chandler age 23, Eddie Curry age 27, Danilo Gallinari age 21, Anthony Randolph age 21, Ronnie Turiaf age 27 and a 2011 1st round pick. Total Salary is $22.7 million dollars.
Positives: All players in the trade are eligable to come off the books next summer which would give New Orleans $26 million in savings if they want it. They hold team options and Gallinari, Randolph and Chandler which they would likely exercise. Since New Orleans is currently over the Luxury Tax Threshold they could get themselves about $4 million under that this year and avoid paying any penalty by doing this trade. Gallinari, Randolph and Chandler are all nice prospects and could be good building blocks for the future.
Negatives: The 1st round draft pick will likely end up in the second half of the 1st round since Houston has the right to swap picks with New York in 2011.Gallinari, Randolph and Chandler are good prospects but likely not ready make up for the loss of Chris Paul.

Dallas trades: Caron Butler age 30, Rodrigue Beaubois age 22, Tyson Chandler age 27 and a 2011 first round pick. Total Salary is $24.3 million.
Positives: all of the players are eligible to come off of the books next summer however Chandler and possibly Butler could both possibly be resigned at a much more reasonable price. The team would have an option on Beaubois if they wanted to exercise it for another year. The Hornets would get an immediate savings of about $2 million which would put them under the Luxury Tax Threshold for this season.
Negatives: They have already been down the Tyson Chandler road and were un-impressed. Beaubois is a nice asset but plays a position that will likely be occupied by Darren Collison who looks like he could be the real deal. Butler could be a really good piece if he is willing to re-sign a lot cheaper next season but even at that he is on the wrong side of 30. The 1st round pick from Dallas will likely be one of the last in the 1st round. [/b]

Portland trades: Greg Oden age 22, Nicolas Batum age 21, Marcus Camby age 36, Rudy Fernandez age 25, Dante Cunningham age 23 and a 2011 first round pick. Total Salary $21.7 million dollars.
Positives: A savings of almost $5 million this season which would get them well under the Luxury Tax Threshold. They would get a lot of young talent that could be on the team for many years to come. All have could come off of the books next summer except Marcus Camby if the team prefers the savings. If Greg Oden ever gets healthy and lives up to his potential as the top draft pick of his class then this trade evens out for sure.
Negatives: Greg Oden has had so many injuries that he will likely never live up to his potential. Marcus Camby is on the roster for at least two more years at more than Emeka Okafor’s salary. With the starting line-up that Portland would put on the floor the 1st round pick would not be all that valuable.

Houston trades: Aaron Brooks age 25, David Andersen age 30, Jordan Hill age 22, Jarred Jeffries age 28, Shane Battier age 31, one 1st round pick in 2011 and one 1st round pick in 2012. Total Salary $21.4 million dollars.
Positives: New Orleans gets about $5 million in savings this year which would get them well under the Luxury Tax Threshold. They get a boarder line all-star in Aaron Brooks plus a former lottery pick Jordan Hill. All players could come off the books next season if New Orleans wanted the savings. They get two New York 1st round picks in consecutive years at least one of them should be a lottery pick or at least picked in the 1st half of the 1st round.
Negatives: Aaron Brooks plays the same position as Darren Collison the player that looked like an all star during the last month of the season. Battier is 31 and not likely to be on the team if they ever become contenders.

 

Wrong on both accounts. They have already said that they would trade anyone besides Amare. And they do have a 1st round pick next season. We have the option to swap with them but they still have a pick regardless if it's ours or theirs.

 

Is Houston's trade pieces any better than Portland or New York or Orlando?

 

They would trade him for Paul with out thinking twice.

 

Not one of the options.

 

With out question NY would trade Danilo in order to get Chris Paul... no question. But that is not the scenario. If you were the GM of New Orleans which trade would you take.