Real Deal

Haha, shut it. You know Morey wants this trade bad.

LOL if you actually believe you know more about a team's direction than NBA execs. Not to mention MANY members of the media, including reporters, who have repeated over and over again that it was a fair deal and a great trade by the Hornets. Better than letting him walk. Barry also repeated what I said just now, on ESPN. Just another one in the long list of players, NBA executives, reporters, and analysts that don't see it the way you do.

Bad idea. Never again.

With the Lakers.

Well, word is that NOW, Stern is going to allow the trade if the Hornets can get back younger talent. So, basically, this is all ignorant, and a way to cover his ass. Ugh. I wonder why Houston would want Gasol now, since he stated he didn't want to play there.

The Nets screwed themselves over. They screwed themselves. Screwed it. Screwed. They did.

You're a Monta fan, so I have to watch what I say, lol. Ellis negates having Klay on that team, IMO (on any team, for that matter). Word was that the Hornets wanted proven players, which is why they were so high on Kevin Martin and Luis Scola. I couldn't tell you how Klay will do in the league, and the same goes for Udoh.

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/7335163/mario-chalmers-miami-heat-agree-slated-practice

Hold the phones. The Nets are one of the teams that, apparently, made contact with Howard illegally...which means they could lose those picks they are wanting to send to Orlando. http://www.otrbasketball.com/forums/topic/25559-magic-contemplating-filing-tampering-charges

I think they did, actually, and New Orleans declined. Another idea was that the Lakers get Scola, Odom goes to the Hornets...but I believe NOH didn't want any part of that, either, since Scola is one guy they've been wanting.

THIS LEAGUE SUCKS.

Yep, most definitely...a fire that's burning a log enclosed in an igloo, in Antarctica. Drew knows he was getting traded, also. Might as well lie to the rest of the team and say they were being dealt to the Magic for Gilbert Arenas.

Bynum, Blake and our TPE would go for Howard and Hedo's ugly contract.

Lucky.

Don't forget, you guys not only put Martin, Scola and Dragic on the block...you basically traded them. It was a done deal. It's going to suck when they walk into practice this afternoon...if they do.

LA included Odom in the trade because we were going to get back a sign-and-traded David West. Plus, the initial trade for CP3 was Drew being sent to the Hornets, and we declined it for an obvious reason: we had Dwight Howard locked up, as long as we worked out a deal getting CP3. So, with both trades set, we'd end up with Howard, West, Artest, Kobe and CP3.

Doesn't matter to me. Seems like the NBA is now covering their asses, and why would they choose not to? The Gilbert email would ruin them. I had a blast listening to Bayless and Steven A. tear him apart this morning. I've lost all respect for Gilbert...thought it was cool that he acted like a fan of his own team when he wrote that letter to LeBron, but now, I can see that he's probably nothing more than that, mentally. I actually feel bad for all of the players under him, Byron, and even the fans.

While Duncan was the cornerstone, he doesn't touch four rings without Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Bruce Bowen...two being the Spurs' prize possessions sought after by arguably the best international scout in years, one being Miami's "trash" that they just threw to the side...and Stephen Jackson, who first showed glimpses of how much of a defensive bad ass he could be when the Spurs picked him up in free agency, 2001. Give him one ring, since Robinson and Duncan were the true twin towers during the shortened season, but I doubt the Spurs take out Los Angeles in 2003 if they don't have Parker/Jax/Manu, they definitely don't beat the 2005 Pistons in the Finals, and they more than likely lose to that Suns team in 2007. Small-market teams win by not paying big superstars to come play for them, but by paying for excellent head coaches, assistants, and scouts. They hire a genius General Manager, and bring in the best trainers. The only disadvantage a small-market team should have is that they aren't an attractive city for superstar free agents, but I can give numerous results of teams that don't need to sign free agents to win. Miami Heat, who drafted Wade and traded for Shaq, would be one team in 2006. The Dallas Mavericks traded for Dirk on draft day, and traded pieces to acquire Chandler, Kidd, Marion AND Terry. Because of this, they weren't stacked with superstars...they were the most complete team in the league. The 2008 Boston Celtics won it all, and they traded their young guys to get it done (before the guys could bolt). Pierce was drafted by Boston. Garnett, Allen traded. Rondo traded to Boston. Surprisingly, a lot of those players were traded for much lesser talent, expiring contracts, draft picks, or a combination of all three. Why? It wasn't because of their cities, it was because of smart management, advanced planning, and basically, GM's taking advantage of teams that were dumb with their money. In the same light, the NY Knicks haven't been relevant since the Ewing days...because of poor money management and not having the scouts to select the best players available in the draft. New York, of all places. Now, finally, they are back in the discussion, and while they did get Amare through free agency, they traded almost everything they had to accomplish that, plus traded those pieces to Denver for Melo. Same with the Clippers, who are in Los Angeles and, unfortunately, seem to fail to contend every year of their existence. Big market, bad management. Winning is dependent on team and money management, before anything else. If a team is poorly ran, no important free agents will sign. You'll get your high draft pick, and because you don't spend your money on people that know the difference between a college player and a streetballer, you'll more than likely pick a bust. To make the fans happy, you'll spend a bit too much signing guys like Corey Maggette, then you'll slip into irrelevancy and will wait far too long trying to trade your potential bust, until it's too late. What happens to a team that can fix what's wrong? They don't wait 10 years to rebuild, and they start from the ground up. That's exactly what's wrong with the NBA. That's why we were in a lockout, and that's why we'll be in another one in six years, when the players and owners opt out of the new CBA. There are far too many small-market owners bitching because, quite frankly, they don't know how to manage their money. They wish they did. Guess what? They just axed a trade that would've made a small market team better...and would ANYONE like to tell me how this made those small-market teams better today? Can someone tell me which of those teams will burst out of their 20 and 30-win seasons to be in the NBA Finals within the next five years? Ten years? I didn't think so. I'm done rooting for the little guys, those underdogs to jump into the playoff scene and knock out the Heat, the Bulls, Celtics, Knicks, Mavs, and all of these teams I wish weren't winning. They will just get their asses kicked eventually, anyway, and fall back into their slumps. In fact, I'm thinking I'm in support of wiping some of these teams out of the league. Contraction really does sound like a good idea now.

Another problem for Stern... http://www.sbnation.com/2011-nba-free-agency/2011/12/9/2622974/chris-paul-trade-veto-la-lakers-david-stern-owners-hook/in/2386043 With what happened, he's making it more of a case of collusion, and that's going to hurt him, badly. CP3 could have something to hang him with.