CP3 to the Lakers...

[Hornsby]

Whiny ass Dan Gilbert is apparently the catalyst for this mess, with, wait for it, another stupid email! Someone take the computer away from this idiot.

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?

The time to take care of your complaints has passed Dan...your ownership just passed the CBA, which COULD have prevented teams from doing this kind of thing is you'd have stuck to your guns.

[B-Fly]

LOL @ Danny Granger

Danny Granger tweeted Thursday night, "Due to the sabotaging of the LA/NO trade by David Stern, and following in the footsteps of my athlete brethren Metta World Peace and Chad Ochocinco, I'm changing my last name to 'Stern's Bi#&h'"
While it's easy to make jokes about this, there are rumblings that some players may sit out of training camps in protest of this most recent move. Those impulses may subside when players look at the ramifications of sitting out, but there are also legally compliant ways to exercise their distaste. Until Stern gets out in front of this issue, if he can, things continue to spiral out of control for a leaderless NBA.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1137/danny-granger

[SeaDogStat]

LOL @ Danny Granger



http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1137/danny-granger

OccupyNBA!

[onejayhawk]

OccupyNBA!

That is a movement we can agree on.

J

[JudeBaldo]

It's astounding to see how stupid ownership is in the NBA. This is a GREAT deal in terms of marketing, and it's not even a bad deal given that Paul was going to dump the Hornets by next year anyway.

My thoughts exactly. You can't necessarily create a parity system in the NBA like you can with the NFL. It is and has always been a star driven system.

[Judge Jude]

re Twitter, looks like Paul to Lakers is OFF - and they chase after Dwight Howard now.
Will Howard play ball?

[Stephen]

As a Lakers fan, I think this is potentially a better deal anyway. If they can get Howard/Turkoglu for some combination of Bynum/Gasol and picks I think they'll be a better team in 2011/2012 and in the future.

[B-Fly]

re Twitter, looks like Paul to Lakers is OFF - and they chase after Dwight Howard now.
Will Howard play ball?

Will Orlando play ball is the bigger question. It seems they'd want Bynum and Gasol and picks, plus LA would have to take back Turkoglu's contract. I don't think LA wants to give up that much. NJ on the other hand, has far more to gain as a franchise if they can team Howard and Williams for the team's move to Brooklyn. Lopez is less risky than Bynum for Orlando. Although the Nets don't have remotely a guy like Gasol to throw in, they don't need to shed additional salary to be able to fit both Howard and Turkoglu the way LA would. As for Howard's wishes, the Lakers are of course a more glamorous franchise, but Deron Williams has been a lot more openly enthusiastic about Howard than Kobe and would likely be around with him for a lot longer, and the Nets franchise is far more likely to promise Howard what he says he wants, which is a lot of say about who else the team surrounds him with. Plus, the Nets have made Howard their #1 choice from Day 1, whereas the Lakers fell back to Howard after their CP3 deal fell through.

[Riff Raff]

trade to Clippers submitted to league.
"The trade as submitted would cost the Clippers guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman and forward Al-Farouq Aminu. It would also include Minnesota's first-round draft pick in 2012."

Hefty price. Too bad they couldn't hang onto Gordon and substitute with Bledsoe.

Paul would exercise his 12/13 option then look for the best deal he could get as a FA (new rules heavily favour home team being able to offer by far the most money to their own FAs)

[Pauly]

wow how good would this make Blake Griffin? I think extremely good

[Piney Boy]

trade to Clippers submitted to league.
"The trade as submitted would cost the Clippers guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman and forward Al-Farouq Aminu. It would also include Minnesota's first-round draft pick in 2012."

Hefty price. Too bad they couldn't hang onto Gordon and substitute with Bledsoe.

Paul would exercise his 12/13 option then look for the best deal he could get as a FA (new rules heavily favour home team being able to offer by far the most money to their own FAs)

What I saw on ESPN's Mike and Mike ticker (ESPN2) and just read on Rotoworld was that it was Eric Bledsoe and not Eric Gordon.

[Riff Raff]

What I saw on ESPN's Mike and Mike ticker (ESPN2) and just read on Rotoworld was that it was Eric Bledsoe and not Eric Gordon.

Updated 9:30am EST:

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/7342778/los-angeles-clippers-deal-new-orleans-hornets-chris-paul-submitted-nba-source-says

Still says Gordon. I think last night it was Bledsoe but this appears to have changed?

[Riff Raff]

Adrian Wojnarowski just tweeted that Gordon isn't included according this source.

Either way, this is a good deal for NO. The Minnesota pick could be a great one in a very loaded 2012 draft. Kaman comes off the books after the year and 2 good young players.

If Stern vetoes this one he should be axed.

[Pauly]

now twitter is saying the Clippers have backed off the deal because of the very steep asking price

[onejayhawk]

Well, it was LA.

It will be interesting how this plays out. This has been a Lakers town for so long, but suddenly the star power is across town. This happened briefly before Kobe, so there is some history.

The Clippers will have an interesting lineup. I expect Mo Williams to get franchised, and sign elsewhere. Billups and CP3 are both natural SG, who have had to play the point. Now either can handle the ball based on match ups.

J