From teh twitterz: [video=youtube;KX5jNnDMfxA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5jNnDMfxA&feature=related[/video]
He's absolutely correct. From a contract standpoint, this next season started July 1st, 2010. Chris Paul is a Hornet.
Hornets management trying to cool the fires a bit. Of course they always say, "we aren't trading X". That is par for the course. The interesting thing to me is that he did very little to address Chris Paul's public declaration to "improve the team or trade me". The President says "we are consulting Paul about our player moves and we are active in free agency." Notably missing from the President's comment: a strong promise that the team finances are stable and they have a strategy to wisely spend more money than they have been recently in order to build a better team. Nope: he basically just said, I paraphrase, "Pleaaaaaaasse, Chris don't go. We have two good players, and if you and David are healthy all season, we won't suck. That is good enough. Right? Right?" Wow. If management just told me that two good players is enough in the Western Conference, I would not be too happy about that. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/basketball/nba/07/03/paul.hornets.ap/index.html?eref=sircrc
Let's put it this way. If the Hornets are faltering in the first half of the season and CP3 gets really vocal about his displeasure and a lockout appears imminent the in 2011-2012 (meaning Paul could be an unrestricted free agent when the league resumes play the following year), then I think the odds of him being moved by the trading deadline go way up, but I have to believe that the Hornets are going to try and make this thing work before they completely give in and ship out the absolute face of the franchise for pennies on the dollar. If the Hornets are sub .500 in February then I can see this thing being revisited. In the meantime? Fuggedaboutit.
I still think CP3 is gone no later then the deadline. Nothing will change in NOH other then CP3's satisfaction going straight down. Shinn isn't going to suddenly start flaunting the Lux Tax and still not getting far in the West just to keep CP3. He has lost enough money with that franchise. It will be a business decision and that means Portland has a real shot as ESPN talking heads are missing the crux of the issue $$$$.
