[ESPN] Hornets may deal Chris Paul before the season, Rockets in the mix

Even for a rental, you make this move if possible.

 

My guess is neither the Hornets or Houston want a CP3-Martin swap.

We'd probably send Morris or Budinger, picks, maybe Patterson. We might also take Okafor.

I also think we send Lowry to a 3rd team, in need of a PG or 6th man who can send prospects to Hornets (Kings, Bucks, Raptors)

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/sam_amick/12/05/lakers.chris.paul/index.html

That article also mentions that the Lakers would be willing to trade Bynum for CP3.

 

Kevin Martin is only 28 and Kyle Lowry is 26. That is two players that are still young and have a lot of years left. Throw in the better of the two 1st rounders next season and that's a decent haul.

 

We cannot get so hung up on our current roster that we are unwilling to improve our talent level. Remember that after the disappointing trade deadline, Morey said it was tough to get a deal done partly because some of our players did not show the level of improvement he expected. I'm sure he was talking about Brooks and Budinger.

I think everyone has Lowry's 20/8 post all-star stats fresh on their minds and are comparing it to Paul's sustained excellence throughout his career. That's just not a fair comparison, nor does it factor in the hype a player of Paul's level would bring to Houston. And players throughout the league certainly take hype into consideration, just look at what Griffin's done for the Clippers. As long as we aren't as gutted and horrible as the Nets post Deron trade, I think we can keep Paul here.

 

Agreed. I don't see Morey pushing to include Martin in a deal for Paul, nor do I the Hornets asking for Martin. It just makes little sense.

I would think the Hornets will ask for Lowry, draft picks and probably some of the young guys (Patterson, T-Will, Budinger, Morris, D-Mo).

Morey, I would guess would offer a package of Lowry, Scola and a draft pick or two.

I also think that the Hornets will try to offload Okafor in a Paul deal, though I'd be surprised if they were successful doing so (at least in the Rockets case), as it would pretty much prevent the Rockets from pairing up Paul with Dwight Howard.

 

You could quite possibly be right. Who knows? I think that Martin/Lowry/the future first that crash mentioned is a solid offer, though, if they're interested. And apparently we'd be willing to take a chance on resigning him. Not every franchise is as crazy as the Rockets in that regard, and we could toss in the Minnie 2nd, which might end up being a high second rounder, and the rights to one of our Euros.

Yeah, I could get excited about the idea. Probably too excited.

 

Lakers get what the Lakers want. Good luck.

 

No way, Bynum's knees are made of glass.

He's more injury prone than Yao.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7320941/chris-paul-new-orleans-hornets-traded-season-sources-say

DeAndre Jordan, Chris Kaman Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Bledsoe, & two future first round draft picks to the New Orleans Hornets for Chris Paul & Trevor Ariza?

1) Chris Paul / Mo Williams
2) Eric Gordon / Randy Foye
3) Trevor Ariza / Ryan Gomes
4) Blake Griffin / Craig Smith
5) FA? / FA?

Besides the hole at center, that's pretty decent.

 

He may be injury prone(and a cheap shot artist) but more injury prone than Yao? I dont know about that.

Pretty good trade Batkins. Not sure about LA throwing in both centers though.

Disagree on Lowry, Dragic, Flynn is all we need.

Agree on the rest.

 

Because we don't need Paul. We have the PG position full. Lowry, Dragic and Flynn are all that we need. We would have to trade away too much of the team for him. He would leave as soon as he can and we would be left with nothing to show for it. You read what he said, NY is his preferred destination.

 

They want Paul to sign an extension. We've said that we don't care. Those two West Coast teams aren't New York, and California's taxes are crazy (but it's a great state to visit!), so Paul just might say no.

 

You know what's funny? The Rockets may be the only team in the NBA who might be better off with CP3 NOT signing an extension. That is, Morey cares less about an extension than likely every other team in the league. This is because the Rockets are in a unique cap position where an extension doesn't really get them a hell of a lot.

And to me, that may end up being the difference when it comes to comparing what each team has to offer. Here's Paul keeping his "no extension" policy and get other teams to back off.

 

Curry picks filler for Paul and Okafor?

CP3
Ellis
Wright
Lee
Okafor

Good team, really good team.

 

And NO gets future star that has a few years left til he can leave them too.

 

That may be helpful in that it gets Paul to the Rockets, but isn't helpful otherwise. Yes, if he walks the Rockets are in a great cap situation. But presumably they've trade decent assets to get him. It's one thing to have their current roster and a crap-ton of cap space (as they could conceivably have next offseason), quite another to trade draft picks, Lowry, other young assets and even possibly Martin/Scola for CP3, then have CP3 walk. Sure, you still have that cap space, but you no longer have anything decent on your squad.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a complete disaster as it otherwise could be, but if you make the trade for CP3, and he walks, things have NOT worked out as planned.

This trade is unlikely to go down because (1) Morey recognizes this, and (2) one of the California teams (or another team) is likely to get desperate and throw in more chips.

But if it were to go down, Morey should try and keep Martin and Scola and hope he can just trade Lowry and some young assets/picks. He'd probably have to take back Ariza. Then throw a lot of money (as much as possible) at Nene or Gasol. My preference is Gasol. Roll with:

CP3, Dragic
Martin, [ ]
Ariza, Morris
Scola, PPat
Nene/Gasol, Hill

^^ if you pull that off, then that is certainly a competitive team in the Western Conference. Pencil in a trip to the Finals? No. But definitely a possibility.

 

The indirect plus of him going to the Clippers or Warriors is that for those of us advocating "tank", in scenarios where we don't trade for a superstar and refuse to pay Nene $15+ million a year (because absent a team on the cusp of being great, that's a stupid number), then one of those teams getting better is a good thing.

 

...Rockets should get more desperate.

 

Don't love him too much just yet, he's done jack **** so far.......