Quote :

"Paul's numbers have been trending south the past few years. His bad knee is gonna get worse, not better."

I'm not the biggest Paul fan, but his knee looked GREAT in the playoffs.

12/12/2011 8:45:35 AM

drama llama

12/12/2011 10:24:51 AM

Kaman sucked last year and only has one year on his deal. Bledsoe is ok but has a torn meniscus. Aminu is ok.

How is that deal more fair than scola, odom, Martin, and a first rounder?!

12/12/2011 1:08:42 PM

Mainly because its likely to be a top 5 pick in a loaded class, not a couple in that late 20's

12/12/2011 1:23:39 PM

the Clippers trade is way better for New Orleans' future.

Martin is turning 29, Scola is turning 32, and Odom already is 32 and the first round pick they would have received would be something in late 20s. all that trade does is clog up the Hornets' cap space with a set of players that guarantee them 30-35 wins a year.

Kaman is a former all-star, but yeah he did suck last year, and he does only have one year on his deal, but that's a good thing. if he plays well this year, they can flip in a sign and trade, or if continues his decline, they can get him on a cheap deal or just let him walk and move forward with the $10 million+ of cap space. Bledsoe and Aminu are young potentially legit NBA starters. the Hornets get them on the cheap and can see if they're possibly building block guys. if either are, then great. if both aren't, then so be it. regardless, the team's record will suffer greatly as a result and ensure them a high lottery pick in next years draft. finally, throw in Minnesota's first round draft pick (which is most likely a lottery pick). so then, the Hornets clear cap space, get young players with legit potential and go into a loaded draft (i've heard people say it possibly compares to the 2003 draft) with two lottery picks. maybe next year they're starting Bledsoe, Aminu, Kaman, Anthony Davis and Harrison Barnes.

apparently, the Clippers are also including Gordon in the deal and maybe another first round pick, but that just hasn't been widely reported yet, but none of that may matter. word is, Stern may still turn down the trade.

12/12/2011 1:38:03 PM

trade is off

12/12/2011 1:50:00 PM

awesome, paul to the knicks in 7 months

12/12/2011 2:32:28 PM

what the fuck David Stern

12/12/2011 4:33:28 PM

lol Mikhail Prokhorov is running for Russian president

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/12/world/europe/russia-protests/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

12/12/2011 4:35:15 PM

Without a superstar, New Orleans will be just as irrelevant as Charlotte. Doesn't bode well when you are trying to sell the franchise. That's why the NBA should have never taken on the massive conflict of interest in the first place. You can't really blame David Stern for looking out for the other owner's interest anymore.

12/12/2011 5:32:47 PM

they should have folded the franchise and given the Hornets name back to Charlotte

12/12/2011 5:44:13 PM

Putting in a max salary for individual players has made it impossible for the small market teams to compete

12/13/2011 12:22:08 PM

Holy hell kwame got 1 yr, $7 million from golden state. He was productive last year and in limited minutes in Detroit but that's def a lot more than I expected he'd get.

Now the bobcats have a huge hole in the frontcourt


Pretty sick the clips just picked up chauncey for $2 million, he's still really good when healthy.

[Edited on December 13, 2011 at 1:10 PM. Reason : a]

12/13/2011 1:07:06 PM

How stacked is Dallas geez they are adding odom, wright, vince carter, and fernandez??

12/13/2011 4:47:13 PM

the Mavs got Delonte West, too, who i think has value

supposedly they're dealing Fernandez to Denver for draft considerations

12/13/2011 4:48:50 PM

damn Kendrick Perkins lost some weight

12/13/2011 5:01:12 PM

damn Al Harrington probably didn't



http://bloguin.com/crossoverchronicles/2011-articles/october/al-harrington-likely-to-be-the-shawn-kemp-of-lockout.html

12/13/2011 5:05:36 PM

guy looks like the Big Show

12/13/2011 5:07:45 PM

Rod Higgins says he thinks Diaw can play center and hold his own against guys like Dwight Howard

12/13/2011 5:08:09 PM

Fuck you

12/13/2011 5:09:41 PM

Rich Cho needs to do somethin, what's his job in Charlotte again?

12/13/2011 5:10:29 PM

I bet he spends hours putting together these really detailed presentations of who we should sign and why, then Jordan spends two seconds looking at them like

[Edited on December 13, 2011 at 5:22 PM. Reason : x]

12/13/2011 5:22:25 PM

Lakers sign Josh McRoberts. Didn't realize he is still in the NBA.

12/13/2011 9:55:49 PM

That's a good signing for them. He's a younger and cheaper replacement for odom with a similar offensive game (but not nearly as good defensively). Still not a title team without PG help

12/13/2011 11:57:17 PM

Nuggets stopped the bleeding a little with the Nene signing 5 yrs, $67 million.

Remains to be seen if they'll keep afflalo. Perhaps not and that's why they grabbed rudy fernandez.

12/14/2011 2:12:23 AM

ESPN reporting the Nets are in "serious talks" to get Howard in a trade involving the Blazers, with Gerald Wallace going to the Magic along with Lopez. But CBS Sports reporting that the Magic aren't interested in a package centered around Lopez and Wallace.

It sounds like the Paul and Howard stuff is likely to continue into the season, so we'll have our second straight NBA season in which potential player movement almost overshadows the actual games being played.

12/14/2011 12:49:31 PM

lopez was fucking terrible last season i just cant imagine any scenario where the magic would be okay with receiving him back for arguably the best player in the NBA who is entering his prime and just happens to play the most coveted position in the sport.

Wake me up when we hear real trade rumors, this is getting annoying.

12/14/2011 3:08:00 PM

Evidently the Magic have stopped listening to trade offers which seems stupid since the Nets offered this:


chadfordinsider Chad Ford
Nets offered everything they could for Howard: Brook Lopez + FIVE 1st Rd picks. Theirs in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 + Rockets 2012 pick.
5 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

12/14/2011 3:20:45 PM

My guess is that they are tired of the shitty offers and they are trying to gain leverage by saying they are pulling out.

That trade isn't very good either because if they get Howard the Nets will have low first round picks for all of those seasons. And Lopez is close to working his way out of rotations if he plays like he did last year.

They should try a sign & trade for Humphries, Morrow, 5 first round picks, and Gerald Wallace. And someone has to take Turkoglu's contract. Even that is a ripoff but at least you get two stars, a marginal SG, 5 first round picks, and shed a bad contract.

12/14/2011 3:44:10 PM

^2 stars? Wallace is .75 a star. you can't be saying Humphries is a star, right?

Quote :

"My guess is that they are tired of the shitty offers and they are trying to gain leverage by saying they are pulling out."

the thing is they're super limited in the offers they can receive. Howard has supposedly made it known that he'll only resign with Lakers, Dallas, and Brooklyn. unless the Lakers offer Gasol and Bynum and agree to take back Turkoglu, then the Brooklyn offer (with Wallace included) is the best they're gonna get.

i agree with Bill Simmons that Howard should open himself up to Chicago. the Bulls offering Noah, Deng, Asik, maybe Gibson and some draft picks is a decent haul for a guy you're just going to lose in free agency anyway.

12/14/2011 5:32:59 PM

I think that the Lakers will eventually offer Gasol and Bynum for Howard. It'd suck losing Odom, Bynum, AND Gasol, but as long as you have Howard, you're gonna kind of be set in the frontcourt. You know who started at the 4 for the Lakers in the championship years with Shaq? AC Green, Samaki Walker and Horace Grant. If you have a dominant center like Dwight, you can just surround him with hustle guys and role players in the frontcourt and be a championship-caliber team. You don't necessarily need a great player like Pau (as much as I love Pau) to pair with Dwight in the frontcourt.

And as far as taking on Turkoglu, wasn't the point of trading Lamar Odom so that they could free up money and have that trade exception to take on Turkoglu's contract? I know I read somewhere that the trade exception can't completely take on Hedo's contract, but can it take on part of it? How's that work?

ALSO: CP3 to Clips is just about official. They gave up a king's ransom for him, giving up all the players the NBA wanted except for Bledsoe: Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, and the Timberwolves' first round pick (probably a top 5 pick). Still, they should be set for a while with CP3, Griffin, and a bunch of solid young role players. They now have a shit-ton of point guards, though: Paul, Eric Bledsoe, Chauncey Billups, and Mo Williams.

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 7:36 PM. Reason : /]

12/14/2011 7:31:16 PM

That's one hell of a trade. I cold see that working out better for NOLA in the long run.

12/14/2011 7:51:50 PM

Clips gave up a hell of a lot. Gordon's got a legit chance to be borderline great and Minny's pick could be top 5. Here's hoping it works out. Paul to Griffin alley oops will never get old.

12/14/2011 8:01:12 PM

Quote :

"You know who started at the 4 for the Lakers in the championship years with Shaq? AC Green, Samaki Walker and Horace Grant. If you have a dominant center like Dwight, you can just surround him with hustle guys and role players in the frontcourt and be a championship-caliber team."

don't forget Slava Medvedenko logged heavy minutes at power forward for those Lakers teams, too. thing is, Dwight isn't in peak-Shaq's class (dude was the most impossibly dominant offensive force this side of Wilt). Dwight is leaps and bounds beyond any center in the league, though, and he single handedly controls the paint on the defensive end. any team with him is guaranteed 50 wins. and paired with Kobe, that's a definite title contender. if they go that route, they've gotta find some three point shooters.

Quote :

"They now have a shit-ton of point guards, though: Paul, Eric Bledsoe, Chauncey Billups, and Mo Williams."

Bledsoe, Billiups and Mo Williams can all play off the ball well. they'll be able to pair up any of them with Paul and be solid on the offensive end.

12/14/2011 8:04:50 PM

^Agreed, I wouldn't be surprised to see Chauncey or Bledsoe start at the 2 with the other two guys rotating in. It'd be a small ball team in the backcourt, but that'd be mostly offset by Griffin and DeAndre Jordan (a hell of a good shot-blocker).

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 8:11 PM. Reason : .]

12/14/2011 8:11:30 PM

yeah, Jordon is elite when it comes to protecting the rim

at one point, i heard Ariza might be included in any Paul deal. if the Clippers could have got him, that might have made them the favorites to come out of the West. lock down defender on the perimeter and can knock down the open three. he'd compliment their talent much better than Caron Butler.

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 8:27 PM. Reason : ...]

12/14/2011 8:27:18 PM

It's still a great trade for the Clippers though.

With the way the NBA is set up you want as many GREAT players as you can get. On an open market Paul would get more like ~$30 million a season but with the max salary in place they get him for half of that. Therefore they're net positive $15 million by having him on the roster.

Eric Gordon will soon be overpaid (perhaps dramatically). He's an above average SG that might become good, but he's a high volume scorer and unlikely to become a great player. Dime a dozen. Aminu is still an unknown quantity, he was good for his age last year and has potential. Kaman was a net negative last year and might never regain form (and is unnecessary since they have a stud in Jordan). The draft pick could be good/great but so is Paul.

And they get Paul now instead of some 19 year old kid that's 5-6 years away from reaching their prime. They are going to sell a crapload of tickets and merchandise and win a lot of games NOW with Paul.

This trade just makes the Butler signing look worse though. They could have used that $8mil/season to get a guy that helps them win games instead of just a clubhouse veteran that may have nothing left in the tank.

12/14/2011 8:57:00 PM

What a fucking mistake the Bulls just made. Rip Hamilton is finished being even a marginal rotation player. They had a stud SG in Brewer and two decent options in Bogans and Korver. Rip is the 4th best option among those guys by a long shot.

On top of that they offered him $5mil a season?!!? He's worth the veterans minimum and not a penny more.

What the hell is going on, the lockout has made these GM's looney.

12/14/2011 9:10:39 PM

Quote :

"Eric Gordon will soon be overpaid (perhaps dramatically). He's an above average SG that might become good, but he's a high volume scorer and unlikely to become a great player. Dime a dozen. Aminu is still an unknown quantity, he was good for his age last year and has potential. Kaman was a net negative last year and might never regain form (and is unnecessary since they have a stud in Jordan). The draft pick could be good/great but so is Paul."

12/14/2011 9:15:19 PM

trolling?

It's pretty much undisputed that Paul, Lebron, and Howard are the three best players in the game right now. If you can land one of them for a good SG and some role players and a draft pick you fucking do it without even thinking about it.

The Clippers were a bad team last year. Now they aren't.

12/14/2011 10:16:06 PM

i'm officially boarding that clippers bandwagon

12/14/2011 10:25:39 PM

so the Grizzlies considered sending Mayo to the Pacers in a sign and trade for McRoberts (before he signed with the Lakers) and Brandon Rush...what am i missing? that trade sounds horrible for the Grizzlies

12/14/2011 11:01:49 PM

Quote :

"trolling?"

your assertion that Eric Gordon is a "dime a dozen" talent is laughable, but yeah, the Clippers would have been retarded to pass up Paul for him.

Quote :

"It's pretty much undisputed that Paul, Lebron, and Howard are the three best players in the game right now. "

i think Chris Paul is one of the best 5 PGs ever, but his place as a top3 player in the league right now definitely isn't undisputed. most people would take Wade (at this moment) over him. and a lot of people would give votes to Derrick Rose (doesn't have the injury history like Paul), Kevin Durant (people go ape shit over that skinny fuck), and even Dirk (championship fever).

Quote :

"What a fucking mistake the Bulls just made. Rip Hamilton is finished being even a marginal rotation player. They had a stud SG in Brewer and two decent options in Bogans and Korver. Rip is the 4th best option among those guys by a long shot."

Brewer isn't a stud. he's excellent defensively, but he's a totally one dimensional player. Bogans can provide decent defense off the bench, but nothing more (and i'm huge Kentucky/Bogans fan saying that). and Korver is good for a quick scoring punch off the bench, but you aren't winning a championship with him at crunch time. Hamilton isn't a bad signing, at all. for one, i'm unconvinced he's totally done. he checked out the past couple years in Detroit because he hated the coaching staff/management so much, so its difficult to make a concrete assessment off those seasons. also, its only a 2 year deal, so it won't fuck with the cap long term or anything. and it clearly appeases Derrick Rose. satisfying the wishes of your star player is a must for any NBA team.

12/14/2011 11:26:33 PM

1) Brewer is one of the best SG's in the league period. He's insane at creating possessions and scoring efficiently.

2) CPIII is one of the elite (top 3 overall) players in the league easily.

a) Dirk is winding down and truthfully doesn't play at even close to an all star level in the regular season anymore. He's just on a stacked team so it covers up his deficiencies. He had some crazy playoff performances, but he also sucked in the Finals... No one noticed because his stacked team carried him.

b) Derrick Rose is easily the worst MVP of our lifetimes. He's a great young point guard, but he rode a stacked team to an undeserved MVP award. He sucked large ones in the playoffs if you've forgotten.

c) Durant regressed a lot last year. He wasn't anywhere near MVP level last season if you've forgotten.

d) A dime a dozen is a bit harsh, again.. he's an above average player for sure. He can help you win a few extra games... but Paul takes a non playoff team and pushes them to borderline contender status. That's a large improvement. And Gordon will be paid like a superstar one day, even though he's unlikely to ever become one.



There is no major pro sport (other than baseball) that is more than just pure rote statistics than NBA basketball. I want to encourage you guys to embrace that and stop pretending all these "unquantifiable" abilities exist.



Josh McRoberts was really good last year. He'll be a household name now that he's in LAL and not in Indy.

12/15/2011 2:58:48 AM

Quote :

"Josh McRoberts was really good last year. He'll be a household name now that he's in LAL"

12/15/2011 3:35:25 AM

^ I dont get the Lakers reference in that song?

12/15/2011 3:39:58 AM

yeah

12/15/2011 3:41:15 AM

I read the lyrics on azlyrics.com just to make sure because obviously that song isn't on Tupac's greatest hits so most of the white people on this board have never heard of it... nothing in that song sounds relevant to Josh McRoberts, household names, or the Lakers.

12/15/2011 3:44:23 AM

All Eyez on Me double album

shocked you dont own it

12/15/2011 3:55:16 AM

haha ok i get it now. i know the song just was trying to figure out why it was that one specifically. didnt think about the album name.


Honestly, it's always weird to me when people are like "did they give up too much".

Now Gasol + Odom for Paul? That's too much. Those guys are legit.

But it's easy to sign bench players for any team. Studs on the other hand are near impossible to get through the draft/trades/free agency.

12/15/2011 4:16:01 AM