sheridanhoops Chris Sheridan I'm told there is a school of thought in informed circles that Stern vetoed C.Paul trade because a D.Howard-to-LA trade was coming up next.
Yes, but they only 5 people under contract, so, in order to fill out their roster, they are going to have no problem hitting the salary floor. The issue jopatmc was referring to is that, in the proposed trade, the Hornets would be sending out 16 mill and bringing in 22 mill. Plus, they would not be getting younger or have more long term potential. As much as I wanted the trade to happen, it was not the type if move that would be best for the Hornets in the situation they are now. I think the owners will allow Paul to move, but it would have to be to a team like the Clippers who can give NO picks, young cheap talent and cap relief -- just like jopatmc said.
What I want to know is, how is the NBA going to "never be the same" anymore? What could players or owners or fans conceivably do to get David Stern off his high horse? Nothing will change. And I firmly believe that. Savvy fans would have already known that the NBA had the least legitimacy among all the franchises because of David Stern, and stupid fans are still going to tune in regardless of his actions. Savvy fans will probably still tune in too.
Not true. We are currently $7 million under the cap. The trade would have saved us about $3 million, putting us $10 million under the cap. Amnesty of Thabeet is another $5 million. So it is $12 million under the cap now, could have been $15 million. And it is ridiculously easy for us to move farther under the cap.
Yeah, I knew that. But everyone is saying we would have had him, with certainty. That's what I didn't understand.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/s...oin-lakers-as-part-of-3-team-deal.html?src=tp Just makes no sense.
Jonathan_Feigen Jonathan Feigen KMartin on the trade (when it was still alive): “I feel blessed that Daryl and Les gave me the opportunity to get my career back on track." Jonathan_Feigen Jonathan Feigen Unbelievable that Scola/Martin would be so gracious. Still, has to be awkward tomorrow. Until Rockets get a center, they'll be on edge.
Hopefully no hard feelings, then. And I think Scola is cool too. So the fate of this season now hinges on Goran Dragic ...
I agree with Hollinger's take on who would of won and lost in the trade (sry if already posted) Spoiler We've long suspected that many of the NBA's owners are only dimly aware of what makes a basketball team successful. Now we have proof. Set aside the league's laughable news release that Chris Paul's trade to the Los Angeles Lakers was blocked "for basketball reasons." I guess David Stern was concerned about Kevin Martin's defensive plus-minus. No, the widely suspected reason that I'm only writing about an imaginary trade instead of a real one is that the league's owners were so irate over the agreed-to deal to send Paul from the New Orleans Hornets to the Lakers that they implored commissioner David Stern to block it. & Apparently, because they were so focused on the idea of another shiny object going to the Lakers that they didn't really look at what was happening. The Lakers had agreed to trade Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to New Orleans to get Paul, a trade that sent from Los Angeles an All-Star power forward and the league's best sixth man, also a forward. As a result, L.A. was left with just one credible frontcourt player -- Andrew Bynum, who has missed at least 17 games in each of the past four seasons. Bynum will be suspended for the first five games this season after belting J.J. Barea in the playoffs, meaning the Lakers were looking at an opening night frontcourt of Derrick Caracter and Luke Walton. Yes, this was offset with a monumental upgrade at point guard, but look at the big picture. Pau-for-Paul is pretty much an even swap. Last season they had virtually identical marks in player efficiency rating (23.33 for Gasol and 23.76 for Paul) and estimated wins added (17.9 and 18.3). Yes, Gasol is five years older, but he also has a much better injury history. Additionally, big men age much better than small guards, primarily because it doesn't make them any shorter. Plus, I would argue that Gasol is a better fit in L.A. than Paul. For starters, Kobe Bryant and Paul have only one ball to share on the perimeter. But more importantly, Paul is a pick-and-roll maestro who thrives when surrounded by spot-up shooters, pick-and-pop big men and a finisher who can roll to the rim. This isn't Kobe, who struggles as a spot-up shooter, and it isn't Bynum, who likes to catch and hold in the post. In fact, the only four Lakers who really fit that style are Gasol and Odom, who were getting shipped off, and Derek Fisher and Steve Blake, whom Paul would have replaced. All of that makes me queasy from L.A's end about Pau-for-Paul straight up. Throwing in Odom, when the team has no depth and little means to replace him, tilts it heavily in the Hornets' favor. The Lakers would have had an $8.9 million trade exception, but with no meaningful assets (and I mean NONE) to put in a trade, they were going to have a big problem using it to get anybody good. I suspect this is actually a case of misplaced anger. The owners were so upset about the possibility of Dwight Howard forming a "Super Friends" team with Paul and Kobe that they forgot the logistics of doing so. Newsflash to L.A.: Andrew Bynum alone doesn't get you Howard. Not even close. Trade Bynum and Gasol and you might get Howard, but you might not. A lot of teams are fishing in that pond and most of them have better bait. This is where people argue that Howard can "force" his way to Los Angeles, just like Chris Paul forced his way to New York. Er, check that ... that was Carmelo Anthony. But there was one big difference during the Melo chase last season: The Knicks were going to have cap space, so the leverage Anthony held was real. Trade me there now, or I'll go there on my own later. In Howard's case, the Lakers have no plausible means of signing him as a free agent, and they wouldn't have had the trade assets to strike a deal with the Magic had they made the Paul deal. The irony of all this, in other words, is that the owners were so upset about the Lakers potentially getting Howard, that they nixed a trade that would have virtually killed any chance of that happening. In the meantime, the Houston Rockets have to be upset. Houston took a gamble here, but getting Gasol would have opened up a crucial $3 million more in cap space it could have used to offer Nene a max contract. That frontcourt, combined with great depth and several underrated perimeter players, would likely have propelled the Rockets to a top-four seed in the West, if not better. (Scoff if you will, but Houston had the scoring margin of a 48-win team last season. It didn't need to improve that dramatically to join the elite.) And if the Rockets are upset, the Hornets must be apoplectic. New Orleans scored three very solid, not-quite-All-Stars in Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Odom, plus they added a scoring guard in Goran Dragic and a first-round pick, originally the New York Knicks'. The Hornets could have started those four and Emeka Okafor and likely been a one-and-done playoff team just like they were with Paul, except with a brighter future. Instead … now what? What does the league tell them when they have to settle for a lesser deal instead of this one, or lose Paul outright in free agency? Or when the Hornets have trouble even negotiating another Paul deal, for fear the league will swoop in at the last second after everybody on their roster has heard their name in trade talks? Big picture, the league put itself in a tough spot the day it bought the Hornets. But it put itself in a much tougher one today. By setting an ugly, awful precedent, they've shown the entire league the ramp to a long, slippery slope.
They're total class acts, but we already knew that. This just makes me want the Rockets to keep them even more. Go get Nene and let's go.
God man, isn't Scola a cool guy. "I have no complaints with them." Just class. The way the guy seems like he is going through withdraws if he can't play top-level competitive basketball for a couple of months is very refreshing. I love having him on the team and, while I was for the trade, I really would of hated to see him go. I'd love if they were still able to move out some of the clutter of this roster, but, if they can find a way to do that and keep Scola, that would be ideal.
There is no way this trade can not still happen. Everything was done right with the league knowing and approving of Paul being dealt for months. The money was right. This is all Stern's ego getting in the way and it can not be legal. This is going to get alot uglier tomorrow.
Mike_Bresnahan Mike Bresnahan Odom unhappy, tells The Times he might skip first day of camp b/c "You don't want to go no place you're not wanted." KevinDing KEVIN DING Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak described to me by source as "angry and mystified" by NBA. All league told Lakers was no. No explanation. KevinDing KEVIN DING Lakers were not even told by NBA how they could change the trade to make it palatable for the league office.
