Yeah, but I was assuming that keeping Bynum was the minimum had the Paul deal went through. I would be happy with Kobe, Bynum, and Paul, and even happier with Kobe, Howard, and Paul. Now it looks like I have to get used to a Kobe, Howard minus Bynum + someone, or have the core of the team remain the same.
Kobe, Bynum, and Paul was my default for a few hours and David Stern shit over that. Over the last few days I’m slowly coming around to the realization that the Lakers ownership probably knew what they were doing, and despite my initial objections on losing both Gasol and Odom, they probably wouldn’t have let those two go if they didn’t already have a good plan to get Howard. I’m a Lakers fan, I’ve been spoiled by megadeals that work out for us. Now if Howard is balking at coming to LA without Paul, it throws things out of whack again.
I am sorry you’ll have to make do with only getting the best defensive player in the league in return for an immature headcase. That still leaves you well ahead of the game. Paul is also great when he’s healthy, but it’s true that he’s not always healthy. I do like Odom and I’ve been surprised the Lakers were so willing to trade him, but if you have to give up Odom and Bynum to get Dwight Howard, it’s not that tough a choice. Meanwhile if it does happen, thank you for getting Dwight Howard out of the East.
The Lakers gave up Odom, but for a trade exemption and a first round pick from the Mavs that may be a 2012 pick…or a 2017 pick. Looks like the Buss kids may be cashing in.
Odom to Mavs for 2012 draft pick and $8.9 million in exception money. Meanwhile Heat are adding pieces that address their frontcourt weakness. Shane Battier and Eddie Curry who was out of basketball last year. I think losing Chandler lessens Mavs repeat chances and Miami’s moves solidifies them as odds on favorites for the title. LA is in the mix, especially if they do Bynum for Howard.
It’s getting kinda hectic. They should do a lockout every year:D
ETA: I wasn’t aware of the 2017 thing. That’s kinda far off , it’s usually the next year if the pick is too high to give up in the original year.
But shit, it looks like even Lamar to Dallas is canceled now. WTF NBA?!?! Its like we won a couple of championships and suddenly nobody wants to play with us! God damn it, this pisses me off so much. We could have had Paul AND Howard and now we may not get them both. Or just Howard. Fuck, that’s good too but pales in comparison to what could have been. Its like the whole Larry Bird and Magic on the Lakers thing that we missed out on in the 80’s
I’m not seeing anything about the Odom deal being called off, but we’ll see. It’s been a confusing few days and I think these guys are going to get traded one way or another, but who knows where they’ll go!
The idea of Paul to Griffin for 5 years or so has me very excited. If the Clips can hold on to Gordon and use the Wolves unprotected first rounder to get Paul, they have a very good team all of a sudden. It’d be great if they could keep Jordan, as well (they resigned him, no?)
I hate the Lakers, the idea of a different LA team being the good one is very exciting.
It would appear that the answer to that last question is: David Stern.
You know, I lost interest in basketball for a long, long time, after the absurd Lakers-Kings series of some years ago when it became obvious that the league engineers outcomes to at least some extent. My interest had returned lately, because there are just so many players in the league who are fun to watch and easy to root for. But now, this offseason, the sense that the league engineers outcomes is becoming overwhelming again - now, they’re even engineering player movement! - and I just don’t know if I’m going to keep watching. Disappointing.
I’m not an NBA fan, and I’ve never been able to get into it because it seems, in many ways, like professional wrestling. The idea that certain teams are favored over others always rubbed me the wrong way, and this year’s player exchange hasn’t helped my feelings at all. Even if there is no conspiracy to favor the Lakers and Celtics whenever possible, it feels like it. For me, it’s felt that way ever since Johnson and Bird entered the NBA together. Amazing how the Lakers got the first pick in 1979 (what luck! They made a trade with the New Orleans Jazz and got their first round pick.) The Jazz were lucky enough to finish last that year, and in a coin flip with the Bulls for the first pick, the Lakers got the pick, and with it Magic Johnson.
The Lakers got Kobe Bryant with a trade with the Charlotte Hornets, who drafted him but traded him before he ever played. Amazing how these things always work out for certain teams.
There are a bunch of these things through the years that have made me go :dubious: but I have no proof… just my personal feelings.
I’m sure it does! The Clippers say they won’t trade Gordon. If they won’t deal him and the Warriors won’t trade Curry, I’m not sure what the Hornets are going to get back.
He’s a restricted free agent. The Warriors signed him to an offer sheet ($43 million over 4 years), so the Clippers have to decide if they want to match it.
Marley, do you not understand at least the reason folks feel this way? It’s probably all horseshit, but things in the NBA have a way of working out for the same franchises over time.
As I mentioned, I’m not into the NBA at all, because the city I grew up in didn’t have a team. So I have no feelings toward this from a sour grapes POV.
Sometimes, things that happen in the league just don’t smell right.
I can understand why people believe all kinds of nonsense. But it’s still nonsense. It doesn’t become true just because it feels right or psychologically satisfying.
Wouldn’t the Lakers be one of those teams? Because the NBA just stopped them from getting Chris Paul for no particular reason. The Celtics also wanted him and they won’t get him either. (They also didn’t get West - they couldn’t complete the trade, so he signed with Indiana.) And in any case, this is only true if you make a lot of convenient omissions - which is usually what people do when they’re talking about stuff like this. The Lakers have had some fallow periods in recent years (after Magic and before Shaq, and again for several years after Shaq), and so have the Celtics (for about five years before Garnett and Allen). The Knicks were lost in the wildnerness for a long time. Nobody’s accused the NBA of rigging things for the Spurs when they won four titles in a decade, or for the Pistons, or the Mavs (who just won the championship). I’m not going to deny there’s been bad refereeing and lots of other things, but the “it’s rigged” stuff never makes any logical sense. It’s just something people say when something doesn’t feel right to them.
Looks like the NBA has killed the second possible Chris Paul trade, with the Clippers, by demanding such a ridiculously high return that even the Clippers had to bow out. I must admit defeat to Marley23; the NBA clearly doesn’t engineer artificial outcomes to suit its institutional desires.
Unless its institutional desire is for teams to stop giving in to player demands by trading free-agents-to-be to the destination of their choice for pennies on the dollar.
If teams want a player, they can sign him as a FA–unless they are capped out already. That seems to be the point Stern is making here. “If you want a player, you can’t rely on him blackmailing his way out of town. Either pay up, or have the cap room.”
Proof of what? Kobe said he would not play for Charlotte, he would only play for LA. Charlotte only drafted him in the first place because the trade had already been made. Their pick (13th, not a bad pick but not great either) for Vlade Divac. It looks loopsided because Kobe is ten times the player Vlade Divac ever was, but the trade was for the 13th pick which is a fair deal for a decent center, Charlotte didn’t even know who they were drafting until minutes before they were scheduled to pick.
