Hornets Trade CP3 For Odum & Gasol

[AUChizad]

I think we got the better deal. Chris Paul was the real deal, but we couldn't build a team around him.

If we can draft a point guard, not Chris Paul level, but close, we may be relevant pretty soon.

[Snaggletiger]

I think we got the better deal. Chris Paul was the real deal, but we couldn't build a team around him.

If we can draft a point guard, not Chris Paul level, but close, we may be relevant pretty soon.

Cock blocked

[AUChizad]

In case you hadn't heard, David Stern fucked us.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_chris_paul_lakers_hornets_nba_120811&expire=1

NBA commissioner David Stern killed the New Orleans Hornets’ trade of Chris Paul after several owners complained about the league-owned team dealing the All-Star point guard to the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Some owners pushed Stern to nullify the trade and that the Hornets be made to keep Paul on the roster for the foreseeable future, sources said. A chorus of owners were irate with the belief that the five-month lockout had happened largely to stop big-market teams from leveraging small-market teams for star players pending free agency.

The trade between the Lakers, Hornets and Houston Rockets had been consummated late Thursday afternoon, about the same time the league’s owners and players were completing their vote to ratify the new collective bargaining agreement – an agreement that Stern had repeatedly said would help restore the NBA’s competitive balance. League owners had watched last season as some of the game’s biggest stars left for larger markets. LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat, and Carmelo Anthony forced the Denver Nuggets to trade him to the New York Knicks.
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NBA commissioner David Stern vetoed the Hornets' proposed trade of Chris Paul.
(Getty Images)

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert called the proposed trade a “travesty” in an email to Stern and said he didn’t know how the league could allow the deal to happen. The email, which was also sent to deputy commissioner Adam Silver and a handful of team owners and was obtained by Y! Sports, asked Stern to put the trade to a vote of the league’s 29 owners.

“The owners half-pushed this, and Stern took it the rest of the way,” a league source told Yahoo! Sports. “In the end, David didn’t like that the players were dictating where they wanted to go, like Carmelo had, and he wasn’t going to let Chris Paul dictate where he wanted to go.”

Before Stern intervened, the Lakers had reached an agreement to acquire Paul in a deal that would have cost them Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Under terms of the deal, the Lakers would have sent Gasol to the Rockets. The Hornets would have received Odom, Rockets guards Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic and forward Luis Scola, league sources said.

Houston had also agreed to send a 2012 first-round pick – previously obtained from the Knicks – to New Orleans as part of the package, a source said.

Hornets general manager Dell Demps had informed two of the other finalists for Paul on Thursday evening that he had a deal in place for Paul to go the Lakers, front-office sources said. All the players involved in the trade have now been told to report to their teams for the start of training camp on Friday. League sources didn’t think Paul would appear, and Odom told the Los Angeles Times he might not attend the first day of the Lakers’ practice.

Hornets officials are unsure how they should proceed with Paul. Will they have to they keep him? Should they search for other trades?

“Will learn soon,” one source said.

Demps is “disconsolate” over the heavy-handed move from the commissioner’s office, a source told Y! Sports. Demps considered resigning his job on Thursday, league sources said, and had to be talked out of it. The Hornets had scored a terrific deal for Paul, a trade that was lauded by some of Demps’ peers throughout the league. Officials involved in the trade talks said the league office was consulted throughout the negotiations, and there was never an indication Demps didn’t have the power to make a deal. In fact, several teams negotiating with New Orleans to get Paul asked the league office and were told Demps had full authority to execute a trade.

The NBA has owned the Hornets since purchasing them from George Shinn in 2010 and has been searching for a new owner for the franchise.

Stern listened to enraged owners on Thursday who insisted this trade went against the entire reason the owners pushed for the lockout, that nothing had changed, and yet it was Stern who made the extraordinary decision to cancel the deal. Demps tried to talk him out of it, league officials said, but Stern was absolute in his desire to kill the trade.

Paul had listed the Lakers as one of his preferred destinations, and it became a more clear choice for him on Thursday after the New York Knicks moved to the brink of completing a four-year, $58 million contract for free-agent center Tyson Chandler. The Knicks lost the salary-cap space they would’ve needed to sign Paul this summer, and the Lakers had been pushing hard to close a deal for Paul with Houston and New Orleans.

As one rival executive with strong ties to the league office said, “Stern cared about two things: selling that franchise for the best possible price and showing the players that they weren’t going to dictate where teams could trade them. But now, there’s no way that the league can allow Chris Paul to be traded at all; otherwise, Stern is basically deciding where one of the top players in the league is going versus having any fair process.”

Officials from New Orleans, Houston and Los Angeles were stunned Thursday night. The killed trade had ripple effects everywhere in free agency and potential trades, pushing the market into paralysis on the eve of training camps opening Friday.

“We were all told by the league he was a tradeable player, and now they’re saying that Dell doesn’t have the authority to make the trade?” said an NBA executive who had periodic talks with New Orleans throughout the process. “Now they’re saying that Dell is an idiot, that he can’t do his job. [Expletive] this whole thing. David’s drunk on power, and he doesn’t give a [expletive] about the players, and he doesn’t give a [expletive] about the hundreds of hours the teams put in to make that deal.

“How do the Lakers explain this to Odom? How does Houston deal with the guys it just tried to trade? Scola and Martin are going to be pissed at them, and who knows how long that takes to get over? Explain to me how the league kills this Pau Gasol deal, but allows Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol?

“To me, this makes the league feel like it’s rigged, that Stern just does whatever Stern wants to do. He’s messed up the competitive balance of this league a lot worse by killing the deal because you’ve completely destroyed the planning that New Orleans and Houston did and left them in shambles over this. I’ve never been so discouraged about this league, never so down.

“I mean, come on: Chris Paul is leaving New Orleans in 66 games. He’s gone. And what’s Dell Demps, and that franchise, going to have to show for it?”

As the article points out, Paul is gone when this "season" is done anyway. The Lakers were giving up their #2 & #3 scorers. It was actually a 3-way trade that would have left us with Odom, and also Houston's Martin, Dragic, and Scola. It would have built an actual team instead of just Chris Paul and a bunch of no-talent assholes. Now when Paul leaves, we're gonna be left with our dicks in our hands and a completely terrible basketball team. We're gonna be the Washington Wizards/LA Clippers. Maybe worse.

[GH2001]

He kept NO from fucking the rest of the league. Read the fine print of the agreement.

[AUChizad]

He kept NO from fucking the rest of the league. Read the fine print of the agreement.

How? By giving the Lakers Chris Paul for an equitable trade of their next two best players behind Kobe?

NO was about to become competite. Houston would have gotten what they wanted. The Lakers would have gotten what they wanted. Everyone was going to be happy. Now everyone's fucked. Especially NO.

[GH2001]

How? By giving the Lakers Chris Paul for an equitable trade of their next two best players behind Kobe?

NO was about to become competite. Houston would have gotten what they wanted. The Lakers would have gotten what they wanted. Everyone was going to be happy. Now everyone's fucked. Especially NO.

It wasn't about New Orleans. But more L.A. coming off way too pretty in the deal.

Here is what Dan Gilbert said. I dont like him in general but I see his point.

I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn't appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. [...]

I just don't see how we can allow this trade to happen.

I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.

When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?

[War Eagle!!!]

It wasn't about New Orleans. But more L.A. coming off way too pretty in the deal.

Here is what Dan Gilbert said. I dont like him in general but I see his point.

I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn't appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. [...]

I just don't see how we can allow this trade to happen.

I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.

When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?

1. LA was getting off great and they would have also gotten Howard had this been able to be pulled off...
2. It is bullshit that the Sterne stepped in to block something that both teams wanted. It benefits both teams...so why block it?
3. NO is going to lose Paul at the end of the year anyway...why not get something for him. Same with Howard and the Magic. I think that if CP3 and Howard will not agree to an extension with the teams they are currently on...the commissioner should not block a trade where the teams could get long term value for those players.

[Snaggletiger]

Can't really blame the Lakers at all for making sound business moves and going after championships.  I don't like K-K-K-Koooobe and the Lakers (See Dynasty thread) but that's the way of the world.  Hell, Gasol and Odom were integral parts of their recent success and they're willing to ship them off to change it up. As one analyst said last night, this would leave them with their best forward being some guy named Character.

[AUChizad]

It wasn't about New Orleans. But more L.A. coming off way too pretty in the deal.

Here is what Dan Gilbert said. I dont like him in general but I see his point.

I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn't appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. [...]

I just don't see how we can allow this trade to happen.

I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.

When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?

He's wrong. You're wrong if you agree.

In what world was New Orleans going to get a better value than losing one guy who couldn't get the subpar rest of the team over the hump, and in return gets power forward Lamar Odom (right up there in star power), a first round pick, stud shooting guard Kevin Martin, point guard Goran Dragic, and center Louis Scola. None of those guys are chopped liver. What the fuck else would have made the trade better? Get Kobe, LaBron, Wade, and Howard instead?

We're losing Paul anyway. This would have made us a more competitive team than we were with him. Now we're just completely fucked.

Also, "it doesn't appear they would give up any draft picks". In other words, he made an assumption before the deal was finalized, and fired his mouth off.

[AUChizad]

In fact, I think LA got too shorted in this trade, which is why Stern put a stop to it. He can't have America's team be downgraded in any way.

[GH2001]

1. LA was getting off great and they would have also gotten Howard had this been able to be pulled off...
2. It is bullshit that the Sterne stepped in to block something that both teams wanted. It benefits both teams...so why block it?
3. NO is going to lose Paul at the end of the year anyway...why not get something for him. Same with Howard and the Magic. I think that if CP3 and Howard will not agree to an extension with the teams they are currently on...the commissioner should not block a trade where the teams could get long term value for those players.

I agree with you. I def see his point but don't necessarily agree with him 100%. It seems a little "dictator-like" to do what he did. I see why he did it and understand it even if I don't fully agree. I just didn't know if Chizad knew what LA was gaining. The rest of the league would have collectively gasped when they signed Howard.

[AUTiger1]

People still watch the NBA after Jordan retired?  Hmmm.......

[AUChizad]

This sums it up nicely.

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blogofneworleans/archives/2011/12/09/the-nba-apparently-doesnt-want-the-hornets-to-do-well

Apparently the NBA doesn't want the Hornets to do well
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 10:11 AM

So we were all set to talk about the irony of the Los Angeles Lakers seemingly saving the New Orleans Hornets less than a year after ending their season in the playoffs and getting all excited to talk about the addition of Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin and Luis Scola (not to mention a few first-round draft picks) when a few NBA owners complained (as they are wont to do) and David Stern brought down an iron fist (ditto) and nixed the trade.

The story per ESPN is that a group of owners, already grouped together in New York City to sign the new collective bargaining agreement, voiced concern to the commissioner that this kind of trade undermines the spirit of the new agreement. Stern agreed with the owners and, because the NBA currently owns the Hornets, instructed the team's management to squash the deal.

The reasoning behind this decision seems to come from good intentions (one of the big arguments of the labor dispute was that small-market teams can't compete with larger markets to keep star players) but if you look deeper you can see that Stern is basically just sticking it to the players one last time.

According to a league source, Stern and the owners "didn’t like that the players were dictating where they wanted to go. He wasn't going to let Chris Paul dictate where he wanted to go."

This is LUNACY. Or maybe during all the lockout madness David Stern and the owners about that little detail about the league as it pertains to players and their teams. You know, that period when a player runs out the length of his contract and decides he wants to ... oh, what's the phrase I'm looking for? Oh that's right: when they become a free agent and dictate where they want to go.

Chris Paul, either tomorrow or in six months, will one day cease to be a Hornet. He has made his intentions clear on that. New Orleans' only hope was to pull off a trade with a team willing to give the Hornets fair value for Paul, even though the Hornets lost all their leverage when Paul began stating where he would and wouldn't sign an extension. Somehow, the Hornets were able to pull off that deal. By terminating the trade, though, Stern has sacrificed the league-owned team in order to make a hollow statement to one of the league's premiere superstars and all-around good guys.

Way to go, commish. You really showed that greedy Chris Paul what's what. Now he has to wait until early summer to go to the team of his choice instead of being with one now.

When the NBA purchased the Hornets last year, Stern promised that he wouldn't interfere with the team's basketball operations. For a while, Stern seemed true to his word, even allowing the Hornets to pull off a mid-season trade while fighting for playoff positioning last season. This reasoning makes perfect sense considering it behooves the league for the Hornets to remain competitive and, thus, be more able to attract a buyer that will be able to offer a return on the league's investment in the team.

And yet, at what could be a turning point for this franchise and its foreseeable future in New Orelans, Stern's reasoning failed him. The Hornets are radioactive right now and the chances that they will receive fair value for their superstar point guard seem tiny. After all, if the Lakers can't trade for Paul, why would the Celtics, Clippers or Knicks be able to? Do the Hornets have to deal exclusively with the Oklahomas and Charlottes of the NBA to trade Paul? And why would those teams want to trade for a player who they know will immediately bolt for his desired market after the end of the season?

Obviously everyone in New Orleans wants to keep Paul for the duration of his career. But Paul has made his intentions not to stay clear to general manager Dell Demps. The Hornets, wisely, have been doing everything in their power to make sure that they get a good return on a once-in-a-generation player as opposed to losing him for nothing in free agency. Demps all but assured that the Hornets would be able to thrive in a post-CP3 environment by acquiring an all-star caliber forward in Lamar Odom, a reliable veteran in Luis Scola and a budding star in Kevin Martin. Oh, and the Hornets got multiple draft picks down the line so that they can continue to build their franchise, all while staying competitive and keeping their season ticket holders happy. What's not to love about this deal?

Everything, if you're David Stern. Because this deal, no matter how good it is for New Orleans, is a signal to him that all the problems that were fought over during the lockout weren't really resolved and that, as far as the public is concerned, the big-market teams still get their pick of the superstars. More ominously, in Stern's eyes, is that the superstars still their pick of big-market teams to go to. Stern saw that, for once, he had the power to stop this kind of trade and he took it, consequences for the Hornets (and the fact that Paul will be a free agent and get to do whatever he wants anyways) be damned.

Demps, coach Monty Williams and President Hugh Weber, saw a potential catastrophe unfolding with Paul and, rather than see it blow up in their faces, were able to pull off a deal keeping the team on a competitive level that's attractive for fans and potential buyers. Unfortunately for the Hornets brass, they're still owned by the NBA and that means they were caught up in the remaining labor crossfire between the players and the league.

New Orleans' only hope now is that an owner swoops in and buys the team ... and then trades Paul to the Lakers as they had planned all along.

[AU_Tiger_2000]

If they don't allow this trade to go through they may as well contract the Hornets now.  The Hornets could have had two good players (Odom and Scola) along with a 1st round pick, but instead will have nothing.  They won't even have Paul after this season.  And by most reports Howard is would not be going to the Laker's, it is pretty much a done deal that he is going to the Nets (Magic get Lopez and some other stuff, Nets get Howard and have to take Turkoglu's (sp?) god awful contract) so he can be the face of the franchise when they move to Brooklyn.

The worst part of this is the league saying that it is for "basketball reasons" (meaning it is not a fair trade for one team or the other) which is ludicrous.  There have been much more lopsided trades (see Gasol to the Laker's for Kwame Brown and Crittendon, plus picks).

[AU_Tiger_2000]

[AUTiger1]

People still watch the NBA after Jordan retired?  Hmmm.......

[ssgaufan]

I was really hoping that the entire season would be cancelled.  I hate overpaid crybaby bitches.

[AUChizad]

So apparently they're trying to rework the deal to present to Stern.

May end up even better for us. Hearing the new deal is back to Gasol & Odom directly, leaving Houston out, still the first round picks, and possibly giving us more cash. In the end, it may end up working out better for us.

I'm not so sure though. I would rather have three starters (Odom, Martin, & Scola) plus Dragic for good measure, plus the pick, than just Odom and Gasol and the pick. I'm not sure Kobe + Paul is going to net them much gain, so I can't see how it was so unfair to LA. Paul would have to take over as the point guard, and Kobe's not used to not setting the pace and being relegated as a shooting guard.

Guess we'll see when the new terms come out.

[djsimp]

I was really hoping that the entire season would be cancelled.  I hate overpaid crybaby bitches.

You ever seen a NBA run to the bench desperate for trainers assistance because of a hangnail? I have....no seriously I have. I believe his name was Kobe.

[War Eagle!!!]

So apparently they're trying to rework the deal to present to Stern.

May end up even better for us. Hearing the new deal is back to Gasol & Odom directly, leaving Houston out, still the first round picks, and possibly giving us more cash. In the end, it may end up working out better for us.

I'm not so sure though. I would rather have three starters (Odom, Martin, & Scola) plus Dragic for good measure, plus the pick, than just Odom and Gasol and the pick. I'm not sure Kobe + Paul is going to net them much gain, so I can't see how it was so unfair to LA. Paul would have to take over as the point guard, and Kobe's not used to not setting the pace and being relegated as a shooting guard.

Guess we'll see when the new terms come out.

You will be dissappointed with Odom. He can score 35 for you...but then the next 7 games he scores 5...