Shot across the Blazers bow? (tampering)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5414701

 

I wonder if this is the "drama" that Quick is going to report about.

 

What that the Blazers are tampering with Paul? If so, I sincerely doubt it since the NBA would have taken action immediately and would not have waited for the great Quick to first report it.

 

This is something I've thought about during this Chris Paul saga, say we do get him. What if one of the teams that loses out wants a tampering investigation to go on between us and CP3? Obviously we have heard rumors in the past about it, and isn't that what caused Minny to lose their draft picks a while back because they already had a deal with Joe Smith before FA or something?

Just a thought I've had. Losing picks or something along those lines could still hamper us, even if we had CP3.

 

The article says that Leon Rose specifically said he himself was in contact with teams about CP3 which I think is the no no in this situation. I think it's just Stern taking back some control and putting the kabosh on that.

 

NOW Stern wants to crack down on tampering. Month late don't you think?

 

Actually, I would have Brandon just give him a call and talked him into coming here!

 

That would be great. Assuming Brandon actually wants Paul coming here. If he does, he should have already done so.

 

Players can't tamper? That seems like a massive loophole. What prevents GMs from just talking to a player on another team, or his agent, through one of their own players?

 

Yeah, Smith had an under the table agreement to play for less money then receive an enormous raise in future seasons when he attained full bird rights. It was blatant circumvention of the salary cap by McHale and ownership which is far worse than a tampering charge.

 

Yeah, would be cool to see Brandon recruit CP3 but then would be subsequently traded to get CP3 here.

Actually that's not cool at all.

 

I think it's more than just a shot across the bow for Portland. The Knicks have been pretty blatant and public in their pursuit of Pual, as have the Magic and the Mavs (and god only knows who else).

I think what it means is that if Leon Rose or Maverick Carter are calling you to talk about Paul via back channels and the Hornets or the league office catch wind of it, the hammer is going to fall, this feels like Stern having had enough of players and their agents resetting the balance of power around the league.

 

Yours truly,

Dwayne Wade

 

From the CBA FAQ page:

Dwayne Wade talking to his cronies about signing with the Heat wasn't tampering because LeBron and Bosh were free agents, not under contract like Chris Paul is.

 

But do we know that they DIDN'T talk about it while under contract?

I mean, it has certainly been speculated....

 

Yes, players can be fined for tampering too.

.

 

Could be that they did. In fact, I'd say it's pretty likely. That may be why Mark Cuban asked the league to look into the whole deal. I'd think that somebody would have to provide proof and that might be hard to come by.

 

I'm sure they didn't speak about it until the second the free agent window opened.


Edit: So it's been discussed. And you agreed that it probably DID happen.

You're like this one friend of mine. Someone in the group will ask the rest of the group "What time is it?". Someone will answer "It's 4:45." BUT this one friend of mine will always correct them "Actually it's 4:43."


It kind of pisses everyone off. Even though he's correct.

 

No right on time! A small market team might become a powerhouse. We wouldn't want that. Seriously, if Stern nixes a CP3 trade agreed to by NOH and Portland over tampering I will fucking flip out. I mean like big time. I certainly will stop watching this god forsaken league that at that point will be nothing more then a farm league with a few anointed big market teams. Fuck Stern.