Chris Paul hopes to represent New Orleans "for many years to come"

Brooks and Martin were over 40ppg between the two of them, you add in a healthy Yao and Scola and improvement from Budinger and Trevor...

Dude, this team is stacked with scoring.

DD

 

If Paul ends up on one of his short list teams, I think this "Creative Artist Agency" that's representing Paul, Lebron, Wade, etc is going to be in some hot water. There has been too much behind the scenes manipulation on a grand scale for there not to be some tampering investigations in the near future. I'm not saying they have or haven't, but clearly they are exploiting a loophole in the NBA rules by sharing agents who are in turn working as intermediaries to manipulate the markets - kind of an insider trading type scenario. I'm sure things like this have been done for a while, but the level to which that whole Big 3 charade went on leads me to believe more than a few people are going to discuss this during the next CBA negotiation and the agents advising the players are NOT going to like that.

 

East is going to be a hard competition if Paul goes to Magic or Knicks ...

Heat, Magic, Celtics, Bulls, Bucks, ...

 

..and still doing it inefficiently as a team. It's not about Yao but the whole team improving.

 

Yeah but his value had never been lower in the past four years when we acquired him. His PER was uncharacteristically south of 20 (I fully expect it to return to the 22-24 range this year) due to a variety of reasons including the hand injury, poor chemistry with Ballhog Evans, and just an overall disgruntlement (*new word*?) with management over their inability to build a winner.

All throughout the regular season you didn't hear a peep from Sacramento management about moving him, but outsiders could see through the cracks. It just made too much sense. He was the only skilled guy on a team full of rising youngsters; by the time his teammates got good enough to win he would be too old enough to be worth anything in a trade or worth his spot in the starting lineup. So on the last morning before the deadline, out of nowhere Morey swooped in, and actually helped the Sacramento franchise in the process. Now their whole franchise is on the same page, the Tyreke Evans page that is, and they'll live and die by their star (probably die, unless Cousins is Shaq-esque).

I expect the New Orleans thing to proceed in a similar manner. So far New Orleans has leaked not a word about being inclined to shop Paul. But all the vultures out there can read the fine print. That team is a sinking battleship. If they don't unload some of their albatross contracts their future will mirror the Astros' circa 2006; that is, outlook poor for years to come. Their new GM by way of San Antonio seems to know what he's doing; I think they realize their best chance at being contenders again as soon as possible is to anchor their worst contracts to Paul in a "poison pillS" deal while getting nothing but picks and young talent back in the process. But to maximize Paul's value they'll have to do what Sacramento and many other teams have done--wait until the trade deadline while sending out newsflashes 24/7 that they and Paul are madly in love with each other.

What arises out of the rubble? Who knows, I just like Morey's chances much better when appealing to other rational GM's (note to David Kahn, YOU DON'T COUNT) rather than players who more often than not use vagaries, such as Lamar Odom's proclivity to hard candy and beaches or Ron Artest's rap career and shower fetish, over common sense in order to make their big decisions. If the Hornets are secretly listening to offers, then Morey will be able to put together a package just as attractive as any other in the country.

Just keep on rooting against New York!!! I hear that Amare has an injury history that would take up its own shelf in the library...

 

Really like Spacemoth's post. Clear, concise analysis of how the Rockets were able to pick up Martin, as well as what to expect from New Orleans.

Just wanted to add that a lot depends on Shinn's financial situation---does he desperately need to cut salary in order to keep checks from bouncing?---and whether Stern will let the team be moved by whoever steps up to buy the Hornets. Also have to feel out whether the N.O. GM will take back any multi-years---even good ones like Ariza's---or whether it's just a straight race to the bottom. Finally, the comments mentioning N.O.'s season ticket/luxury box holders need to be addressed. I don't know that much about stadium economics. When do season ticket holders need to pony up by? Do they have any recourse if Shinn guts the team immediately after the check clears?

I've mentioned before at the end of crash5179's poll thread (What would you do as the N.O. GM?) that Charlotte is the team the Hornets will deal with, if they absolutely need to dump the most salary as soon as possible. Before I read that thread, I was sure that the Rockets had everybody else beat as far as the talent/picks/expiring they could offer N.O. Gotta' admit though, if I were N.O., I take crash's hypothetical Portland offer (Odum+Batum+Camby+Fernandez+Cunningham+2011 #1) way before Houston's (AB+Battier+Jeffries+Hill+Andersen+ 2 #1s).

 

is's all about which one you trust more. a baseless rumor (a source close to cp3, did we hear this too many times?) or quotes from cp3's twitters and team's statement? i rather take the later. what i am saying here is cp3 most likely is not going to be traded this coming season. he may request a move but we have to wait to see what hornets will do in the next off season to make cp3 happy. or maybe hornets will make a strike to get team better at the trade deadline.

 

What? Of course it is about Yao, he makes everyone more efficient, and he himself is uber efficient.

Using last year's numbers as any indication of this year is just not really relevent.

DD

 

He's just hoping for a free personalized iPad.

 

Quoting myself after reading this story that David Stern has just sent a memo to teams outlining tampering laws and specifically calling out the Chris Paul situation.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5414701

 

All this except that we're in the same conference as them...no way they trade Paul to us.

 

Two words, Luis Scola.


....traditional wisdom is don't trade to a rival, but I think you'll find that's a line easily blurred when the numbers add up. If Houston has the best offer on the table, I don't see why they would turn us down considering they aren't looking to contend immediately anyway.

 

Yeah its pretty much about time to let Danny Granger go Pacers. Danny Granger is todays version of Mitch Ricmond on the Sacromento Kings from the 90s era NBA.

 

Yeah, that is interesting and good to see ... stops players/agents demanding trades in their own interests to where they want to go (especially when they're not a FA).

So, without NOH authorizing the communication, all other bets are off.

 

Interesting comparison. And pretty accurate. Just hope the Rockets aren't like the team Mitch was traded to.

 

ya until he is up for free agency and that mind set will change very quickly. its all about the moneyyy babay :grin: