Here's what's going to happen to Chris Paul. New Jersey offers Jeff Bowers their GM job, and on his way out the door, he trades Chris Paul to the Nets. Just to prove that I'm not a complete realist: I'm holding out hope that Deron Williams is going to demand a trade out of Utah.
It was a joke ... I was more or less playing on the assumption that all trades and acquisitions are designed to benefit the Lakers and the Celtics
I had been very hopeful that we could get Paul, up until today when I read that Cleveland (and Toronto also I think) have received trade exceptions big enough to exchange for Paul. so apparently they could trade draft picks ( and they now have their own plus 2 each from Miami) plus the trade exception for Paul. This would be a tremendous savings for NO. They don't have to pay salary on expiring contract for even one day. They could make a separate trade to take Okafor if that is what NO wanted to do, including any young guys that NO wanted. Of course New Jersey and New York can make an unbalanced trade now without New Orleans taking money back. And apparently Dallas has Dampier on a contract with a team option so he could be traded and then NO decline the option. Since NO would only be trading Paul for financial reasons, it seems they would have better options than Portland.
Ugh, awful awful thought. Desire to shoot myself in the head rising. You seem to really enjoy this Rasta why? Do you like the Blazers being a mediocore team or what? I just don't understand people who are so wanting to prove their idea that they boost scenarios that harm that which they love (Blazers). It's similar in my mind to the Oden haters. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Don't we want to be positive on Oden and our chances of getting Paul etc.?
I would say Portland has something neither of those teams have. Young talent on rookie contracts AND cap relief. If all Shinn wants is a Salary dump then yes Tornoto/NY/NJN are better options. If he wants cheap talent AND relief Portland is best positioned IMO.
No, it's just that I am Hannibal Lecter, and I can get you to kill yourself just by the power of my words. You always hurt the one you love. Similar but not the same. We have Oden (and he's AWESOME). We're not getting Paul.
Please. That New York story is nothing but wishful thinking. At least ours is based in reality. We had substantive discussion with NO about Paul, and although they haven't come to fruition, it doesn't meant they're dead.
"Based in reality" is clearly not the same as "reality-based". "Chris Paul is an NBA player. The Blazers are an NBA team. The vast majority of NBA players play for NBA teams. Ergo, it is not impossible that Chris Paul could play for the Portland Trailblazers!" Our unsubstantiated rumors are better than THEIR unsubstantiated rumors!!!
Clearly we're not approaching this rationally. The correct approach would be to ask Paul the Octopus. Except - oh shit - I guess he's retired.
During Carmelo Anthony's wedding Saturday night at Cipriani's on 42nd Street, Chris Paul, the superstar New Orleans point guard, predicted a future Knicks Dream Team. [...] According to a person who spoke with wedding attendee Amar'e Stoudemire(notes), Paul made the reference during a speech of a potential union of himself, Stoudemire and Anthony, saying, "We'll form our own Big 3," Paul allegedly said. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/LeBron-James-booed-at-Carmelo-Anthony-s-wedding?urn=nba,255384
I guess this brings up an interesting point: when ballplayers are making the obscene amounts of money that they are, at what point does money become less of a motivation than enjoying who you play with? I mean really... players are all about "branding" right now, which sets them apart from the team they play with. They develop friendships with other like-minded "branded" players... and when money becomes a moot point, why wouldn't they manipulate the system to play with each other? Look at the big three in Miami.. they give up money to play with each other. Yes... can the average layperson tell the difference between 20 mil and 15 mil? Of course not. It's still a ridiculous amount of cash. More than a normal human being would need to live for a lifetime, let alone a year. I guess my point is, Chris Paul could very easily just wait out his contract with the Hornets, not caring if he really wins or loses, because he's getting paid, and he knows in two years he gets to sign for whatever he wants and play with his friends. He knows that every dollar he gives up in contract money will be made back and then some through endorsements, promotions, publicity, etc. So where's the sacrifice? Players like them are already rich beyond 99% of anyone's wildest dreams, so they arent concerned anymore with team paychecks. They want to win, and cash the BIG shoe company deal and Wheaties Box checks, which the league has no control over. We live in different times now. Better get used to it.
Isn't there some precedent where a superstar was supposed to be traded to a team, and the superstar nixed the deal by openly stated he hated the idea of playing there? I can't remember who it was, but I seem to remember it killing the deal. Anyway, I can't imagine Chris Paul keeping his mouth shut and happily going to Toronto or Cleveland. At least the Hornets are the team that drafted him--it's a sad franchise, but it lives in a charity-case city. If I were Paul, I'd have a hard time publicly forcing my way out of New Orleans, but I'd raise a shit storm if they tried to fob me off on the Raptors or Cavs. The Blazers, OTOH, would be a godsend for Paul.
Kobe Bryant nixed a trade to Chicago because they would have to give up too much in return. But on the flipside, Chris Webber made it abundantly clear that he hated the idea of being traded from Washington to Sacramento. To their credit, both GMs ignored him and traded his ass anyway. And he ended up liking it. I think that would have to be the process with Paul, because very few NBA players feel as Channing Frye does about Portland. I'm not sure he'd see it that way. In terms of winning, maybe. But in terms of lifestyle...not so much. Apart from anything, it's kind of isolated. Even living in Cleveland, you're much closer to places like Chicago and Atlanta. That's why we're lucky to have homebodies like Brandon Roy, and OKC is lucky to have Durant.
Portland is much closer to Seattle than Cleveland is to Chicago and San Francisco is about as close to Portland as Atlanta is to Cleveland. I think Paul would have similar big city options if he ended up in Portland.
