CP3 May not resign [Bill Simmons tweet so grain of salt needed]

All well and good Cat, but really this thread is just a bunch of Rockets fans arguing with me, where I can only give you one man's take. Obviously the Rockets are going to pull for the stars coming to their team and I, as a Clipper fan, am going to do the same for my team. I suggest you repost your stuff to a general board and then you can get a real feel for how fans see this situation. I believe most people see it as I do-- in that this is really not something that has a real chance of happening-- but, like I said, that's just my take.

I like what the grammarian above is doing by tweeting some questions to more folks to get a general opinion of the viability of some of the issues raised here. Although what I'd actually like to see is if anyone has even come up with this Harden/Paul/Howard scenario you guys keep talking about because AFAIK this only exists on ClutchFans.

 

Well, that's ok because we Clipper fans have more preparation for irrelevancy than any sports fans in history. On the Clipper board people were making offseason trade threads during the playoffs, it's so ingrained in their DNA.

 

I dunno.

The city of Cleveland comes to mind.

 

At least they had LeBron for a while

 

I don't think anybody really thinks that both of them coming here is the likely scenario. However, lots of people on here think you are wrong to say that it won't happen because we have contracts that are very hard to move. Lin and Asik aren't the toxic contracts that you believe them to be and teams would be willing to deal for them. Two years contracts aren't considered cap killers for teams that are looking to rebuild.

Telling us to go to a general board to discuss this topic is pointless because we will often run into people like yourself that don't know how the Lin and Asik contracts are structured and don't know that the Rockets can easily get max cap space without trading either. If you, who I'd consider to be a knowledgable basketball fan, doesn't know this then I'd guess that 95% of people that aren't Rockets fans won't know either. It would just be a waste of time.

 

I'm an NBA fan before a team fan. I have no need for bias.

And because of who Paul is, how much he values integrity, he probably wont leave the Clippers after a few years. But he's also smart enough to know he can't be the best scoring option on a team that ever contends. Harden is a throwback, do it all 2 guard that gives these guys solace knowing they have a guy who can handle offensive volume. Parsons is also showing himself to be legit. Dwight will never be a scorer. Paul can do it in pockets but you don't want him to. So the sense of power that attracts beta males like bosh and lebron is in place. Houston isn't Miami, but they'll probably still keep homes in LA.

From a purely basketball perspective, it makes a lot of sense.

Any other way you look at it, no.

 

While it's true that people aren't going to be knowledgeable about the contracts of your individual players, they will present something much more useful, which is insight into other teams as well as how they, as outside fans, view your assets (which you, as Rockets fans, will overvalue). For instance, if Paul really is on the market (I don't think he is), then one big issue is what other teams can offer, and how compelling that would be. Ditto with Howard. So even if the Rockets could somehow put together a deal, they'd be competing with a lot of other teams.

Most likely, I think the Clipper and Rocket offseasons will be boring. The Clippers will max Paul, resign Barnes/Green/Billups/Hill, try & fail to move DJ, and trade Bledsoe+Butler prob. near the trade deadline (ideally it'd be the offseason but I dunno). I suspect the Rockets will retain their young core and not move Lin or Asik.

For the rest of the league, Howard will be a big diva but will ultimately end up back in LA. Bynum will resign in Philly. Josh Smith will go to another team. I could see Iggy moving somewhere, and that will be the biggest offseason acquisition.

 

I totally agree with that but I also think that, with a good coach, Griffin will be a much bigger part of the offense in LA (he's already the top scorer but hasn't meshed too well with Paul's ball dominant style). I know the fad is to hate on Blake but the guy is offensively very gifted since he's an excellent ballhandler and passer at his size and, of course, has tremendous athleticism. He just needs some time to develop the moves and an offense that will put him in better positions to score.

 

I scoffed at the Miami idea in June 2010. Most general fans did. Until it happened.

I'm not predicting that it will happen, because obviously the odds are against it, but it's certainly a possibility and the most realistic one since Miami. Whether random NBA message board posters think it is -- I honestly don't care.

 

You seem to think about what I care since we've been debating it all day! But getting opposing fan takes is interesting because you will learn something, since it's impossible to know that much about every team in the league.

 

I tend to compare griffin to amare. Amare had a soft touch, good footwork and high motor from the beginning so you knew he could put up big numbers in his prime... Despite being a black hole. Kemp also had a certain dominant panache that allowed him to thrive despite not being technically gifted.

I don't get that with griffin, even with his athleticism. Of course he's young and big men develop later, but where are the tools and consistency that will let you go to him down the stretch? Can go-to threats be developed?

 

Those are the most likely scenarios and I don't disagree with them. Like you said, players will normally follow the money. However, there is a reason odds makers place us as the second most likely to get Howard and there is a reason that half the posters on Lakersground think that Howard might come here and believe that it is the best choice for him from a basketball perspective. CP3 isn't in the discussion as much as Howard imo but I think he gives Houston a hard look if he decides the Clippers aren't the place to win.

 

He doesn't really have a feel for the game, or maybe it's just not Paul's game, his athleticism is off the charts. I don't know if you remember how well Paul used to run the pick and roll with Tyson Chandler, whilst Chandler is obviously one of the best pnr finishers in the nba, he has literally no range whatsoever, so the problem clearly isn't a need for a pick and pop (the Paul Chandler dynamic would work much the same with a Paul Dwight dynamic).

Blake however seems to work better off a quick pass that let's him explode from about 10 feet out, whereas Paul wants to keep his dribble going and wait for a gap to open up. After so long I'm not even sure I can blame the coaches, there's a fundamental disconnect between how Paul plays the game and how Blake does, they're meant to both have high BBIQ's but something just isn't going there, and if anyone needs to change it's Blake.

 

Well I'll be surprised if DH agrees to it. First of all CP3 already talked to him about hitting FA and joining him in Dalles to play with Dirk, and DH turned that down because he wanted to play in Brooklyn. Maybe they do a BG/DH swap, woudl work for both teams IMHO, wiht his ability to shoot BG fits Gasol more than Howard.

 

The most likely scenario is Paul resigns with the Clippers but it isn't a slam dunk like others thought. The Clippers lost in the first round of the playoffs and IMO are not as talented as some seem to think. I could see Paul making a basketball decision to play in Houston. The Rockets afford him a better chance to win. Still it is a long shot, Howard is far more likely and that is iffy as well.

 

If Paul leaves I think it would be to Dallas, where he has an established big name superstar and what is perceived as the best owner in sports. But I would be utterly shocked if he leaves.

 

You mean a 35 year old broken down Dirk Nowitzki? The cast and situation in Houston and Portland for that matter is FAR better than Dallas.

If playing for the "best owner" matters that much, he will certainly not keep working with Sterling.

 

Utah, Atlanta come to mind, they might want both even, but Atlanta especially fits the profile of a schmuck owner who just wants to be competitive and cares more about money than winning (so does a Chris Paul-less Donald Sterling...plus Lin isn't even black or latino! double win!).

A guy who pouts up 15/6 at 45/37% post all star break in his first full season and is known to not be in a system that doesn't suit him isn't toxic by any stretch.

 

Dirk is certainly not a superstar at this stage in his career.

 

Other than the fact that due to Harden's improvement and Dirk's regression, Harden is already better than Nowitzki?

one thing you might not be grasping is the other benefit of a 23 yo superstar is when these guys become 30-33, he's there to put in the regular season big minutes they no longer should be, call it the San Antonio effect, where Parker logs the big minutes and father time cruises.

Throughout my contract, one guy will be 24-28, the other will be 35-39. Tough choice.