(who could offer better advice on how to handle a superstar in his walk year than the gentleman above?)
Along with hailing the Knicks’ coup in signing a big man who can actually play defense in the form of 10-year vet Tyson Chandler (“Chandler is exactly what several legitimate title contenders don’t even have — a legitimate center,”), the New York Post’s Peter Vecsey take a more articulate expansive to Dan Gilbert’s protest over the mooted Chris Paul-to-the-Lakers swap, claiming “The Commissioner looks like a hero in New Orleans” for doing what’s told blocking the deal.
Bringing in Odom, Martin and Scola would have made the Hornets no better than a 50 percent outfit. Additionally, they had contract anvils around their necks. Houston nearly dumped some horrible contracts on New Orleans and, in so doing, would have created cap space to sign someone they coveted, such as Nene.
If the goal is to win a championship, not win trades, New Orleans almost did everything possible to make sure it never does either.
Had the deal gone down, the Hornets/Stern would have told every fan in New Orleans they lied when they asked them to buy tickets. The prolonged lockout purportedly resulted in a CBA under which teams have a shot to keep their stars and small markets can compete.
How would it have looked for the NBA if half of those 10,000 season ticket holders demanded refunds?
What about other small markets? Wasn’t the new CBA supposed to stop this and give small markets a chance?
If a league-owned team didn’t believe in the new CBA why should anyone else?
What Vecsey doesn’t address is what would actually represent fair/realistic value for a superstar Paul’s caliber who is a) in the final year of his contract, b) is clearly disgruntled. For all the talk today that the Hornets are a more valuable franchise with Paul an active member of their roster, how might the franchise’s value be measured if CP3 phones it in for the final 66 games of his NOLA career?