DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum NBA teams and the lockout

Dan Gilbert was the one leading the charge against the trade.

You are right though, New Orleans is screwed. They were getting Scola, a pretty good power forward. Odom, a versatile player who can play multiple positions that scores and rebounds. Martin, a guy who averages 20 points a game.

A starting five of Dragic, Martin, Odom, Scola, and Okafor is not too bad at all.

Also, what about the players that were traded that now have to go back to their teams? Odom and Gasol don't seem like they are very pleased from what I'm hearing here in L.A.

This entire situation is hilarious.

The Rockets fans are the biggest winners. There GM should be shot for the proposal e made.

Cavaliers’ owner emails David Stern to block Chris Paul trade to Lakers

Brett Pollakoff

Dec 9, 2011, 12:58 AM EST
25 Comments
Cleveland Cavaliers v New Orleans Hornets Getty Images

The three-team deal that was in place to send Chris Paul to the Lakers was killed by the league late Thursday, presumably at the behest of a group of small-market owners who loudly protested. One such owner was Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who emailed the commissioner directly to express his feelings on the matter.

Thankfully, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports obtained Gilbert’s email in its entirety, which reads as follows:

Commissioner,

It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed.

This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets.

Over the next three seasons this deal would save the Lakers approximately $20 million in salaries and approximately $21 million in luxury taxes. That $21 million goes to non-taxpaying teams and to fund revenue sharing.

I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn’t appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. (They would also get a large trade exception that would help them improve their team and/or eventually trade for Howard.) When the Lakers got Pau Gasol (at the time considered an extremely lopsided trade) they took on tens of millions in additional salary and luxury tax and they gave up a number of prospects (one in Marc Gasol who may become a max-salary player).

I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen.

I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do.

When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals?

Please advise….

Dan G.

It’s interesting that we never heard any similar protests to trades from “Dan G.” when he had LeBron James leading his team to the league’s best regular season record in 2009 and 2010, isn’t it?

The bottom line is this for small-market owners lacking the superstars necessary to make their teams currently relevant: You chose money during the lockout over competitive balance. Had you gone for both, you wouldn’t have a season right now. Since you chose money, the players got to keep control over where they could play once they became free agents, thanks to the system rules (like luxury taxes and mid-level exceptions) which would allow the larger-market teams to spend what they wanted to get those star players.

The deal for Chris Paul that was in place was not unfair to the Hornets. It may have been unfair to the rest of the league, especially if it was a building block for the Lakers to trade for Dwight Howard next. But the small-market owners signed up for this when they went for the cash grab in the lockout instead of choosing to fix the league’s competitive balance issues.

The protest may have worked this time, because the league has ownership control of the Hornets. But the Lakers still have all of their assets in place to now go and trade for Dwight Howard. Only this time, there won’t be anything that the league or its small-market owners will be able to do to stop it.

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I know people get on Dan Gilbert, and he sounds jaded with another email that goes public, but he's 100% right.

The Lakers get a superstar point guard, maybe the best point guard in the game, and they save all kinds of money?

here’s how I feel.

1. I agree with Gilbert on this one.

It was a terrible move for the Hornets. They giveup a top10 NBA player and get back mediocre talents that ‘at best’ will earn them the 8seed in the West currently and give them nothing with which to move forward. There is no upside in this deal for them because the players they are getting are what they are (and Odom was likely to be ‘not happy’ moving from his ‘reality world’ in LA).

The Lakers get to cut salary, get the best player, and set themselves up for Dwight.

The Rockets deal wasn’t great for them, but I understand the idea of building around Gasol and Nene in the short term. At least there is some merit to their thinking (unlike the Hornets).

2. Nixing trades is a bad precedent. It feels like the guys in your fantasy league who nix a trade that helps the top team. Yeah, the trade is not a good idea for the Hornets, sets up the Lakers, and long-term I would argue is bad for the NBA. But, all parties agreed to the trade. They should be able to make trades as long as it is legal within the system in which everyone agreed to.

3. What happens now with all this backlash? Will LA find a way to get CP3 anyway with a re-worked deal? Will this just setup LA to get Dwight (which would have been tougher even after they kept Bynum) and potentially a couple other moves that may help them more anyway?

All that said, if CP3 and Dwight ended up both on the Lakers, I may have stepped away from the NBA playoffs this year. I mean, what would the point of watching them have been?

J/C...

I don't know what this accomplishes in the long run - even the short run (if the Lakers or any other big market want Paul or Howard they're going to get them eventually), I'm just looking forward to an afternoon full of Gilbert-bashing by ESPN.

I can almost hear Wilbon's racial blast now.

j/c

one of my favorite non-Cavs to watch is retiring today with degenerative knee issues. Brandon Roy.

man, the blazers have got to be the most jinxed NBA team (bowie, roy, oden, etc)


http://tracking.si.com/2011/12/09/report...3&eref=sihp

The NBA did this. Three teams made a perfectly legal trade that they all obviously wanted, that's why they're appealing now. How can you let a trade get setup and actually happen, then veto it and then give no reason why it was vetoed.

You know why? Because the rest of the league doesn't want the Lakers to dominate again. Well you know what? That's not a good enough reason to overturn a trade that's legal.

Chris Paul should not report to camp and should sit out. It's nonsense they're not letting the trade go though.

I know people don't want the Lakers to get better, but look at this objectively. The NBA vetoed a trade for that reason. It's beyond anything I can say.

what i don't understand is we now have all these pundits saying what a great trade for NO it was.

LA it was a great trade (get Paul, give up no draft picks, shore up cap space, and keep Bynum for a Dwight trade)

HOU it was an okay trade (get Pau and the cap space to sign Nene - build from there)

NO it was a terrible trade (get the 3rd and 4th best players in the trade who have no upside. get 1 1st round draft pick - Knicks from HOU - which is likely to be outside the lottery with how the East is this year)

NO gets worse, worse cap, no young upside guys, and only a probably late teens to early 20s 1st rounder?

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as I said above, I'm still torn on whether they should have done it, but it was a terrible trade for NO and I wish these journalists would at least admit that and not come off as if this was some great trade for NO as Woj and other are saying.

I'm trying to understand why New Orleans wanted Odom and not Gasol?

It didn't make any sense to me that New Orleans would be trading the best player in the deal (Paul) but not getting back the second best (Gasol).

Gasol was instead going to Houston who was essentially trading 3 borderline role players for one of the best centers in the league. Something just didn't add up for me.

What better offer did they have? Isn't what they got better than nothing? Why wouldn't they flip Odom, Scola, and/or Martin for younger cheaper parts and picks?

I think the trade makes everyone better.

The Lakers don't need Gasol AND Bynum...they just don't work well together and the desperately need a PG.

Houston gets Gasol to take the place of Ming...and he is an All-Star type player.

NO actually gets something for Paul...something the Cavs wish they could say for the Traitor.

They get a good starting PG for the PG they lost...they get a starter with some toughness at PF with Scola...they get a starter at the 3 with Odom...not to mention the tradeability of both Scola and Odom.

The NBA is almost as dead to me as it was in the years before Magic & Bird saved the day.

I think the NBA screwed the Hornets, Lakers, AND Rockets by nixing that trade.

You are correct in that that seems odd on the surface...but they got 3 pretty-darned-good starters out of the deal.

Paul cannot be traded in any other scenario now and will leave next summer netting the Hornets zero.

So the fact that Stern said that the Hornets would be able to operate with "no interference" means nothing?

This is just turning it to a circus.....

Nets, Howard Met In Miami - Orlando considers tampering charge.

"The meeting violates the NBA's tampering rules because Howard's current team, the Orlando Magic, did not know about the meeting or give the Nets permission to meet with him, according to the sources."

This has certainly been an entertaining 48 hours.

Wow! That was a stretch.

If the league wants LAL to be successful why block the Paul trade? Also, even after the trade the Lakers won't have enough cap space to sign Dwight Howard as they still have Luke Walton, Steve Blake, Derek Fisher, Metta World Peace, and Kobe Bryant under contract. And that's not including what they would have to pay Paul if they eventually get him.

I think the NBA likes the Lakers as a top level team, but I think they don't want Dwight, CP3 and Kobe together. It'll be like 10 years ago when the Lakers were too much for the rest of the league, and nobody outside of LA cared. It was a dark period for the NBA.

I'm trying to spin off of Nas's question as to why Houston was to get Gasol without giving up anything. I've been hearing all day that after the Lakers get CP3 (which they will) they are going to unload Bynum and try to sign Howard. I guess I was wrong.

Report: Greg Oden may miss season

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ESPN.com news services

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden has suffered another setback and may miss the entire 2011-12 season, according to a report on Portland-based KGW.com.

Oden
Oden

"Following Greg's most recent physical examination and evaluation, we've determined that he has suffered a setback," Trail Blazers President Larry Miller told KGW.com. "We're hopeful, but less confident that he will return to the court this season. We've stood by Greg from the day he was drafted and we continue to do so now."

The Blazers and Oden agreed to a one-year contract Friday, but not the $8.9 million qualifying offer that he had agreed upon earlier. Miller told KGW both sides agreed to negotiate a new deal, independent of the qualifying offer.

"I'm obviously disappointed with the setback, but I'm as determined as ever to return to the court," Oden said in a statement. "I appreciate the support of the Trail Blazers and our fans and that they continue to stand behind me."

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I feel bad for the guy. I know some will bring up that you shouldn't feel sorry for a guy who has made millions, but not being able to do what you have dreamed of your whole life has to be crushing. He's one of the good guys in the league too. I hope it's at least a Z type situation where eventually he gets fixed up and can salvage his career (everyone felt that way about Z when he was exactly where Oden is right now)

Just doesn't seem like it was meant to be though. Guy is just not built to take on the grueling everyday of an NBA big man.

I wouldn't have signed the guy to a $8.90 per year contract three days ago....let alone a $8.9 million deal (or whatever is was). I'm surprised anyone would pick up the phone if his agent was calling.

Too bad for him that he can't play....but the dude is set for life without lifting a finger. He'll be ok.

And what about the Blazers? B.Roy retires and then they lose Oden and whatever they spent on him within 24 hours. Ugh. I always liked them (Drex, Duckworth, Porter years and then the year they were a fixed 4th quarter away from the Finals in 2003?).

i feel worse for blazer fans

the nba is such a crooked league. The owners could've made a more level playing field if they held out all year. This is such a sham, even I'm speechless. And they call this professional basketball?? Sure thing

Chauncey Billups was released by the knicks and is now saying that he won't comply with the waiver process. He wants to choose where he gets to go and won't play otherwise. - Speculation is that he wants to play with the Heat.

Dwight Howard is openly stating that he wants to get traded (to a big market team) despite the fact that he has a year left on his deal.


These players have no respect for their fans, or for the structure of the NBA itself.

Sorry guys, but I'm officially done with the NBA for now. Maybe in a couple years I'll come back.

If I'm a team not expected to do well, that has cap room, I claim Billups, and let him sit out the year.

I think that would be an easy way to satisfy the cap requirements, and then also save some money.

I care, and even the word care might be a bit strong, about two things with the NBA.

1. Seeing the Cavs get better.
2. Seeing the LeBron James not win a Championship.

Other than those two things the league could vanish in the night and I'd survive. I watched about 20 minutes of non-Cavs games last year, it'll be much less this year. As others have said before it's the most rigged, crooked league of all of them and now that the players are running the asylum though they're under contract to a various team it's over. What a complete garbage fire.

Two months till Spring Training.

With the new Bird rights, the small marlet teams have a bigger edge to retain their stars to bigger deals.......BUT the stars have figured a way around forcing a sing and trade, they are forcing a trade before they start the final season. That way, the big market team they got traded to can offer them the big contract.

So essentially, the small market teams are now even less relevant. They can't even hold on to their stars for the length of the contract and then lose them for nothing (or a sign and trade). Sure, they get the tradeable assets, but it's a star-driven league and the players they get back, don't want to be there anyway.

I suppose it's like the EPL in many ways. The product can still be good, but unless you're one of the big dogs, you have nothing to look forward to, nothing. You almost have to hope the rookie you draft doesn't get too good for you.

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These players have no respect for their fans, or for the structure of the NBA itself.

Sorry guys, but I'm officially done with the NBA for now.

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I'm right there with you. They had a chance to fix this crap and they blew it.

I don't see how the NBA can stop any of this. If lebron, Wade and Bosh want to play together, they should be allowed. If Howard, Chris Paul and Kobe are the next threesome to dominate....so be it. The rules make it harder for the guys to get their max deals by creating these super teams (unless they for the early trade).

But really, if you earn your free agency, you should be able to go where you want.

As much as the lebron fiasco sucked, I supported his decision to leave....just not the way he did it.

It just sucks, Carmelo forced a trade in his last year to get what he wanted. Every superstar will do the same thing. It's a too bad really. Small market teams are dead.

Dwight has now formally requested to be traded, apparently.

As much as it sucks that these guys are requesting trades because they're unwilling to bear the burden of being a superstar and put their teams on their backs, at least they're being upfront about their desire to leave. The biggest thing that I hated about LeBron leaving (aside from the television spectacle) was that his unwillingness to commit one way or the other left the Cavs in shambles when he left.

The one thing I'm just absolutely tired of hearing about is these apparent superstars crying about "my supporting cast isn't good enough for me."

It kind of makes you wonder just how big a superstar someone is when they say that they can't lead their team to a championship without help from another superstar or 2.

I cannot imagine Jordan going into the team office and saying "I want traded to the Lakers because I'm not good enough to win a championship without other superstars."