Stern block Chris Paul trade to Lakers

I love NBA basketball, but the way Stern fucking makes up the rules as he goes is fucking absurd.

 

Bynum for Howard.

 

Ridiculous. Come on you "small" town teams, do some work for once instead of complaining. I'm a Warrior fan, not a Laker fan.

Bynum is a centerpiece for Howard. 9 teams passed on Bynum, including my beloved W's (Diogu, WOOOHOOO!!)

Gasol? That's not such a windfall now. Look at Marc Gasol, one of the hottest FAs out there now. If the Lakers had him now, they'd not be so quick to look elsewhere.

Scola, Martin, Odom and a 1st for 1 yr of Paul. Seems reasonable.

LA is a destination point, that's 100 yrs of history that the NBA cannot overcompensate for.

Worst move of Stern's career.

 

Mitch Kupchak: I'll give you Andrew Bynum straight up for Dwight Howard.

Otis Smith: HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! (click)

If Orlando would make that trade, Orlando should be contracted. Immediately.

 

How do you justify this move next summer when Paul leaves for FA and the Hornets get zip? He's going to get to dictate where he wants to go because he gave you 6 years of playing without any opportunity to choose where he wanted to play.

 

The growing reality of the NBA is that a lot of small markets don't deserve NBA teams. If you're losing money, if players don't want to play there, if everyone else has to support your shitty product, then maybe it's time to admit you can't support NBA basketball in your city.

Stern didn't screw Paul or the Lakers nearly as bad as he screwed whatever zombie corpse is left of the Hornets. Essentially, he has to play there the rest of the year now, because you can't allow him to be traded some place else. That would lead to a revolt. And so the Hornets will get NOTHING when Paul leaves in 66 games. He fucked the Hornets just for appearances, to prove he can do whatever he wants. Saying players can't be dictating "where they want to go" is essentially categorizing them as property. As obnoxious as the "plantation owners" stuff was, this is exactly why it was said.

 

If it's such a fair trade, then Lakers fans should be just as happy about getting to keep Gasol and Odom.

 

I'm trying, but I don't understand the idea that a player who has a year left on his contract can decide where he wants to go. He can -- if he waits. As LeBron did. As baseball and football players do.

 

I don't think that's the elephant in the room. I think that's the whole issue and has been from the get-go.

 

Did he say "I won't play for New Orleans this season"? Not that I'm aware of. He said he'd like to be traded. He said he'd like to be traded one of an number of teams. So his GM worked out a trade with one of those teams. Had his GM not worked out a trade, his ass would have been playing out his contract, just like Carmelo would have had to do.

 

He can't dictate where he goes, but he can dictate where he will sign next year.

Milwaukee is free to trade half their team to the Hornets for Chris Paul, but he's never going to re-sign there. He will sign with the Lakers. That's why the Lakers are willing to make the deal.

I can't imagine Stern thought this through before he made this decision.