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

For real i dont want to facilitate anyone unless we get something real good out of that deal.

 

Pau Gasol and/or Andrew Bynum are just "role players"?

Hmmmmm....

 

Lakers aren't giving up both Bynum and Pau for Chris Paul.

 

I'm pretty sure Morey is making a push. Our assets just aren't that enticing, even though most of us think otherwise.

 

They dont have to. I think the Lakers prob have the best chance of getting a deal done. Either Pau or Bynum would be better than any other player the Hornets could get. I think it will probably be Pau. Plus blake and someone like Odom or Mecca will prob be thrown in.

If Jerry West was still with the Lakers, they would have had Dwight Howard and Chris Paul a year ago.

 

with CP3 not willing to sign an extension to no matter what team trades for him I think that the Rockets have probably moved from 5th places to 1st or 2nd. I believe Boston is willing to take him without an extension and so is the Rockets. The Lakers would probably too as they think they are the greatest so why wouldn't he resign with us(Lakes) ?

Morey might just pull this one off and if CP3 likes Houston and can somehow work with Morey to wrangle Howard, it's our best hope for a championship in the near future. Sometimes you've goto swing for the skies, and if you fall off and get bruised knees then you get back up and swing again!

 

If we get Paul and keep Lee..........that's the double whammy for attracting Dwight.

 

BINGO

 

Lol, that's right ... "Keep hope alive"

 

With this in mind, as long as Paul does not commit to an extension in GS or Clipperworld, it looks to me like the actual front runners to acquire him would probably be Boston, LA, and us. Boston being the leader because they are in the East and they have the best replacement for Paul in Rondo. If we can't get Paul, I'd just as soon see him go there as anywhere and if N.O. really doesn't like Rondo (raised eyebrow), then I would think N.O. would prefer a combo of Lowry/Martin or at least a combo of assets that could be had from Lowry and Martin instead of Gasol. If you are going to rebuild, taking on a long term max contract makes little sense. We can also offer them more payroll relief by taking back Okafor in an unbalanced trade and then they can amnesty Ariza if they need to.

If it comes down to us and the Lakers and New Orleans is really looking at the big picture of their franchise and rebuilding to be competitive, we have the better pieces for them.

And if I understand the CBA correctly, we can do a 140% trade (correct this if I'm wrong, Bima) vs. a 125% trade. This means that basically we can offer N.O. Lowry, Martin and either Patrick Patterson or Jordan Hill or Twill or Morris or whoever they want basically on our roster that makes about $2 million and a pick and we could actually take back both Paul and Okafor in a huge salary dump for them. N.O. could then sort out value for Martin and Lowry, trading them to the highest bidders, even going into the season with them with either our 2012 non-lottery protected pick or NY's 2012 pick or possibly keeping them and adding a free agent or two.

This would also keep us in the running with cap room in 2012 to pick up a premier free agent even a max contract free agent if we held amnesty and used it on Scola next season.

If Paul is not going to sign an extension with GS and the Clippers and if those teams aren't willing to give away Curry and Gordon on a Paul rental (which they would be foolish to do), then the Paul trade is going to come down to the Lakers, Celtics, and Rockets.

I'm pretty sure we are still in the running big time here.

 

I'm fairly sure Morey would not trade Martin AND Lowry for CP3. It's pretty clear getting CP3 is just step 1 towards Dwight Howard. And that's much more enticing when you have someone like KMart around. The Rockets have enough capspace that we don't need to include cap fillers. If NO wants Scola, he can easily make the salary match. Otherwise, I see Scola gone in a separate deal to create max room for next offseason.

CP3/KMart would be the most Howard can hope for as supporting cast. Both are in their primes. Both fit him very well. And the Rockets would be the only team in the NBA who can give him that as well as cap room to sign him outright. Whatever remaining among CBud, Patterson, Morris, Motiejunas, and picks can fill out the rest of the roster.

Trading both KMart and Lowry to NO would be counterproductive. Morey will trade one of them. And NO likely would prefer Lowry and extra picks/young players over Martin.

 

I am positive Morey would trade Lowry and Martin for Paul any day of the week and twice on Sundays. I am positive Morey would trade anybody on the roster for Paul and take back Okafor as well, after analyzing the contracts and the CBA a little bit.

With Paul and Lee in place, there is plenty of cap space to sign Dwight outright in 2012. This makes the other domino tumble and a trade more likely for Dwight right now after Paul is acquired. Not only that but we are then in a much better position to compete through trades with these two guys in place. We will be in a position to round out the team in much better fashion than either the Heat or the Knicks. Somebody will be left, whether it is Scola, or Okafor or some of the young guys. We're going to have pieces left to put around Paul and Dwight that are quality pieces. And we will also have plenty of payroll to trade away as expirings to keep good talent around these two.

That's a lot better than having 3 max guys and picking up pieces parts to play around them. With the new CBA getting more restrictive and with the salaries decreasing, the money is important to these mid-level type players. They're not going to go to Miami and play for half or less of what they can get somewhere else. That means Miami will constantly be shuffling out the lower echelon players. The only way Miami can make it change is to break up the big 3 and move one of them for a couple other quality players that are not quite superstars. Expect them to realize this and trade Bosh.

Even when you look at the Knicks, for them to sign Paul outright, they've got to drop everybody else off the roster besides Melo and Amare and then Paul has to take a significant pay cut. And then they are left filling out the roster with the MLE and minimum salary deals. That's not going to get it done. And then they've got to go through Miami and Chicago.

Morey has put us an incredible position. And this is his moment. I'm not saying he's going to get us Paul and Howard. What I am saying is he has maximized our chances of acquiring both guys and building a championship contender and he has also maximized our talent base and value contracts to compete going forward if we can't get the Paul/Howard combo. He's a great GM. And if he gets Paul here, there's a very good chance Howard will come, once these players figure out the dynamics of the league, the dynamics of the conferences, the dynamics of the new CBA and how Morey is going to build around them.

 

Incarceratedbob just said GSW in lead and rockets, clippers, and lakers lurking...and espn is reporting celtics w/ 3 team trade and rondo is in the lead...

My thoughts are if we really want CP3 we can get him. You guys dont understand how much assets we have...Although NO may not want scola or martin or even lowry (because they would be rebuilding)...they could easily work a 3 team trade with a team that has a good draft pick or more desirable assets.

Say Martin to the bulls for charollets pick and asik, we then our trade would be Our picks, charolettes pick, asik, lowry (then any combo of flynn, moris, patterson, budinger, thabeet, hill, TWILL) Both Flynn and T will are worth more than a late first round this year BTW...even if a team is rebuilding.

Only thing that can trump that is Curry or Gordon...even still not sure we couldnt find a package in a 3 team where martin or scola couldnt trump it.

 

Golden State is in the lead only if they offer up Curry. And it appears they would be stupid to do so for a 1-year rental of Paul. And if Paul agrees to sign there long term it would be stunning.

The Celtics are in the lead. They are in the East and they are offering Rondo and Green. That is the best N.O. can do unless they come into their own division and deal with us. Ideally, N.O. doesn't want Paul in the Western Conference and they don't want him in their own division unless there is significantly more value to them in trade. Rondo and Green or Bynum???? That's a no-brainer for a rebuilding team. They can move Rondo and Green for a whole lot more value than Bynum. And they will for sure get more value out of Rondo and Green than out of Gasol.

New Orleans is deciding whether they are going to go young and rebuild or whether they are going to retool. I'm betting on the rebuild. And that leaves Boston at the forefront of this trade bidding. Unless they will take slightly more value from us and be willing to compete with us every year in the division.

 

I'm changing my signature.

 

I dont think Celts trade rondo and green (which green would have to agree to that) without an extension...maybe I am wrong...but even still I dont think there is any chance paul signs with them long term...half of the team is almost dead...the only future they have is rondo and green.

 

I think Boston does have the best chance of landing CP3. They're working every angle to get another team involved to help push this trade.

In the end, I believe NO will look to land draft picks, expiring contracts, and young talent. Remember folks... NBA is looking to sale the Hornets. No owner is going to want to have a lot of contracts tied to the team.

 

Doesn't matter whether Paul will sign an extension in Boston. Ainge is willing to trade for him without an extension. The only thing that matters is how much value the Celtics can get New Orleans with Rondo/Green. Green is a valued commodity. New Orleans may not want either one of them. But somebody out there does and Boston is already offering multiple team scenarios to New Orleans. New Orleans is trying to maximize value. That's it.

 

Green isn't a big time star IMO. He's solid, but not someone I would want to build my franchise around.

The Celtics WILL trade for him without an extension. If the lose Paul after this season, they'll only have Paul Pierce under contract for their team. What do they have to lose?

 

yah still doesnt think that can trump Martin, lowry, better picks than the celtics, then being able to offer young talent like moris, patterson, D Mo, T will, Flynn...all high upside guys.

We could trade lowry all those assets and flip martin for high drafts picks...i mean martin has more trade value than green...and lowry is a cheaper less of headcase version of rondo.