Paul to Clippers, Hornets get TWolves' 2012 #1, Is the fix in?

[BD80]

If this is the deal Stern wanted for New Orleans, can we assume that the lottery will be rigged to ensure the Hornets pick first?

Nah, Stern wouldn't stoop, would he?

Who are the top picks in 2012 that make this trade (Gordon,Kaman, Aminu & #1) better than what the Lakers offered?

[SilkyJ]

What I don't understand about this is why the Clips would give all that up for 1 year of CP3. What, you really think you're going to convince him to sign there once he's a FA in 7 months?! With the freaking clippers?! The only teams that should trade for a guy like that should be big market teams, or teams that are going to spend on addt'l pieces to try and create a mega-team or some team with a legit title shot (like the nets are at least trying to do).

The real loser in this is the clips b/c CP3 is gone after this year...well then again, the clips are always losers.

[JasonEvans]

Paul agreed to pick up his 2012-13 option, so it is at least 2 years of him. He says he is willing to talk about an extension too. My bet is that he is a Clipper for a while.

Nawlins gets Eric Gordon (good, young player), Chris Kaman (with a big expiring contract that will give them some nice cap room next year), Al-Farouq Aminu, and Minnesota's #1 pick in the 2012 draft. The move gives them cap room and a good player to build around. I'd say this is better than the offer they got from LA because it leaves them with cap room.

The Clips get Paul and a pair of 2nd round draft picks (which might turn into a decent player as the Hornets should be picking early in the 2nd round). Paul and Griffin are a nice base to build from. If they can just fill with decent role players around those two guys, you'd think the Clips have a shot at being fairly decent.

-Jason "if the Lakers don't get Howard, the Clips may be the better team in a year or two" Evans

[Troublemaker]

Hornets got a great deal. Gordon by himself (a young stud 2-guard who was probably USA's 2nd-best player behind Durant in the World Championships) made it a better deal than the rejected Scola+Odom+Martin package, at least for a rebuilding franchise. Throw in a shot at Anthony Davis / Andre Drummond (or at worst a lottery pick in what is considered a strong draft), Kaman, and Aminu... to me, David Stern and the NBA were vindicated. They held out for a better package and got it.

[SilkyJ]

Paul agreed to pick up his 2012-13 option, so it is at least 2 years of him. He says he is willing to talk about an extension too. My bet is that he is a Clipper for a while.


Link? I'm sure you're not making this up Jason but I've read three different articles (ESPN, SI, HuffPost) and none of them mention him picking up his option. Where'd you hear that?

And why would he do that at this point? Why not wait and see how the season goes, how he likes his teammates, management, what moves they make, etc etc. Doesn't make sense, does it?

Edit: on 2nd thought, it could make sense from a pure dolla bill$ perspective given the new CBA. Don't know about the CBA and what its going to do to contract sizes, but presumably picking up a $17m option is never a bad idea financially...bird in the hand and all that.

That said, he easily gets a max contract next year, and that can't be that much of a knock off $17m can it? NBA gurus??

[BobbyFan]

Hornets got a great deal. Gordon by himself (a young stud 2-guard who was probably USA's 2nd-best player behind Durant in the World Championships) made it a better deal than the rejected Scola+Odom+Martin package, at least for a rebuilding franchise. Throw in a shot at Anthony Davis / Andre Drummond (or at worst a lottery pick in what is considered a strong draft), Kaman, and Aminu... to me, David Stern and the NBA were vindicated. They held out for a better package and got it.

Completely agree. And one has to question what exactly Demps was doing.

[Starter]

Link? I'm sure you're not making this up Jason but I've read three different articles (ESPN, SI, HuffPost) and none of them mention him picking up his option. Where'd you hear that?

And why would he do that at this point? Why not wait and see how the season goes, how he likes his teammates, management, what moves they make, etc etc. Doesn't make sense, does it?

Edit: on 2nd thought, it could make sense from a pure dolla bill$ perspective given the new CBA. Don't know about the CBA and what its going to do to contract sizes, but presumably picking up a $17m option is never a bad idea financially...bird in the hand and all that.

That said, he easily gets a max contract next year, and that can't be that much of a knock off $17m can it? NBA gurus??

This (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_chris_paul_clippers_121411) has your info. I'm sure he did it to facilitate the trade; the Clips would be much more likely to add that first-rounder to go along with Gordon if they knew they were guaranteed to have a year and a half to evaluate him and convince him to stay if that's what they want to do.

[superdave]

They re-signed Deandre Jordan - 4 years, $43 million. He's apparently Blake's guy. They are also picking up Chauncy Billups after the Knickerbockers amnestied him.

So that gives them a core of Blake, Paul, Jordan, Bledsoe, Caron Butler, Mo Williams and Billups. That's guard-heavy and they'll need another big. But it's formidable.

They seem to need to make one more move - perhaps picking up another amnestied big man or trading some combo of guys like Bledsoe and Mo for a big man.

[tommy]

They re-signed Deandre Jordan - 4 years, $43 million. He's apparently Blake's guy. They are also picking up Chauncy Billups after the Knickerbockers amnestied him.

So that gives them a core of Blake, Paul, Jordan, Bledsoe, Caron Butler, Mo Williams and Billups. That's guard-heavy and they'll need another big. But it's formidable.

They seem to need to make one more move - perhaps picking up another amnestied big man or trading some combo of guys like Bledsoe and Mo for a big man.

Bledsoe is going to be out for the first month or so of the year, but still, you're right. They've got 4 point guards who are going to want to play: Paul, Billups, Mo, and Bledsoe. They're going to have to trade one for a frontcourt guy.

[ncexnyc]

Hornets got a great deal. Gordon by himself (a young stud 2-guard who was probably USA's 2nd-best player behind Durant in the World Championships) made it a better deal than the rejected Scola+Odom+Martin package, at least for a rebuilding franchise. Throw in a shot at Anthony Davis / Andre Drummond (or at worst a lottery pick in what is considered a strong draft), Kaman, and Aminu... to me, David Stern and the NBA were vindicated. They held out for a better package and got it.
Stern and the NBA vindicated? That's an interesting choice of words. That's like saying Don Corleone was vindicated by how he got Johnnie Fontaine the role he wanted. I guess when the 1st rounder somehow manages to turn into the #1 overall pick, Stern will really be vindicated. The Laker/Rockets/Hornets trade was made in good faith by all parites involved. This trade reeks of strongarming and manipulation on the part of Stern and the NBA owners, especially the small market owners.

[BD80]

... I guess when the 1st rounder somehow manages to turn into the #1 overall pick, Stern will really be vindicated. ...

Like when the Knicks somehow "won" the lottery for the right to pick Patrick Ewing?

[superdave]

Mo Williams and Eric Bledsoe for Josh Smith.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7qvtegl

Smith can play the 4 and 5, can run the floor, protect the rim and would make the Clippers the greatest alley oop team ever. The Hawks need cap space (http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/12/09/atlanta-hawks-capped-out-left-out/) so they could amnesty Mo. The Clips need to win now (Paul for two years, Paul's knee, need to keep Blake interested in LA) and Josh Smith is a veteran and averaged 16.5 and 8.5 last season.

Here's a good chart (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/transactions-11-12/2011-12-nba-player-movement-tracker)of what each team has done the last few weeks.

[SilkyJ]

This (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_chris_paul_clippers_121411) has your info. I'm sure he did it to facilitate the trade; the Clips would be much more likely to add that first-rounder to go along with Gordon if they knew they were guaranteed to have a year and a half to evaluate him and convince him to stay if that's what they want to do.

Thanks. Makes sense that he would pick up the option to help catalyze the trade, but I don't understand why he'd go from one non-playoff team to another non-playoff team and sign up for an extra year on the 2nd one. Why not just get to free agency as quickly as possible and then have your pick of the litter, try and recruit another stud to join you, etc. No one has answered or even responded to this question. I'm not asking it rhetorically or sarcastically, I'm genuinely asking. Why should he pick up the option here if all he's doing is spending another year with a non-playoff team.


Mo Williams and Eric Bledsoe for Josh Smith.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7qvtegl

Smith can play the 4 and 5, can run the floor, protect the rim and would make the Clippers the greatest alley oop team ever. The Hawks need cap space (http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/12/09/atlanta-hawks-capped-out-left-out/) so they could amnesty Mo. The Clips need to win now (Paul for two years, Paul's knee, need to keep Blake interested in LA) and Josh Smith is a veteran and averaged 16.5 and 8.5 last season.

Here's a good chart (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/transactions-11-12/2011-12-nba-player-movement-tracker)of what each team has done the last few weeks.

This is huge, and kinda makes me eat my words above as the Clippers suddenly look like a playoff team. Paul feeding JSmoove and BG?? Yikes! Caron on the wing and Billups backing up CP3? they've got some seriously good pieces now...they didn't look nearly as good about 24 hrs ago when Paul picked up his option, but sounds like mgmt may have been telling him they were going to make moves and they have.

[superdave]

Thanks. Makes sense that he would pick up the option to help catalyze the trade, but I don't understand why he'd go from one non-playoff team to another non-playoff team and sign up for an extra year on the 2nd one. Why not just get to free agency as quickly as possible and then have your pick of the litter, try and recruit another stud to join you, etc. No one has answered or even responded to this question. I'm not asking it rhetorically or sarcastically, I'm genuinely asking. Why should he pick up the option here if all he's doing is spending another year with a non-playoff team.

This is huge, and kinda makes me eat my words above as the Clippers suddenly look like a playoff team. Paul feeding JSmoove and BG?? Yikes! Caron on the wing and Billups backing up CP3? they've got some seriously good pieces now...they didn't look nearly as good about 24 hrs ago when Paul picked up his option, but sounds like mgmt may have been telling him they were going to make moves and they have.


This is not an actual trade, just the best idea my buddy and I came up with at lunch today while discussing the fact that the Clips need one more big guy. But it makes good sense for both.

[delfrio]

This is not an actual trade, just the best idea my buddy and I came up with at lunch today while discussing the fact that the Clips need one more big guy. But it makes good sense for both.

Interesting, but is Billups is on a 1-year deal? The Clips might want to keep one of those PGs around for next year in case Chauncey is gone. And I doubt Atlanta would do it anyway.

[SilkyJ]

This is not an actual trade, just the best idea my buddy and I came up with at lunch today while discussing the fact that the Clips need one more big guy. But it makes good sense for both.

HAHAHA. I'm on Amtrak and the internet is slow. I clicked on the link but it wouldn't load, so I just assumed you were talking about a real trade. Should have seen "trademachine" in the link.

K, back to my original point. why go from one non playoff team to another and sign on for an extra year?? thought the clips do like they could finish .500ish this year...

[dcdevil2009]

Thanks. Makes sense that he would pick up the option to help catalyze the trade, but I don't understand why he'd go from one non-playoff team to another non-playoff team and sign up for an extra year on the 2nd one. Why not just get to free agency as quickly as possible and then have your pick of the litter, try and recruit another stud to join you, etc. No one has answered or even responded to this question. I'm not asking it rhetorically or sarcastically, I'm genuinely asking. Why should he pick up the option here if all he's doing is spending another year with a non-playoff team.

The Clippers weren't a playoff team last year by any means, but I'm pretty confident they'll be in the playoff picture this year with a nucleus of Paul, Griffin, and Jordan and surrounding pieces. Paul's health is going to be a big concern this year because of the condensed 66-game schedule, but when he's on he makes everyone on the floor significantly better. Adding him to a young team like the Clippers might not put them in the title conversation this year, but they should be a playoff team this year and are only going to get better next year. Looking at the Western Conference, I think the Clippers are better right now than Minnesota, Sacramento, Golden State, New Orleans, Utah, Denver, and Portland. In my opinion, they'll be in the second tier of playoff teams in the Western Conference, behind Dallas, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and LA.

Wow, I just realized while typing this how wide open the Western Conference looks right now. The Spurs aren't getting any younger; the Lakers have Kobe/Gasol and Bynum if healthy, but not much else; OKC is close, but we'll see how the Westbrook/Durant dynamic plays out; Memphis looked good in the playoffs and that was without Rudy Gay (has a team ever had a better record the year after losing Battier); Dallas lost Tyson Chandler, but picked up Lamar Odom, we'll see how that affects their defense. Actually, in a shortened season, anything can happen. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Clippers in the thick of things in April. They won't win a title, but I can see them making some noise.

[Starter]

I agree, they're a playoff team. Check out this Hornets roster (http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NOH/2011.html) from last year that Paul got into the playoffs as the 7 seed. Brutal, right? And West missed the playoffs, when Paul almost beat the Lakers singlehandedly. Can the Clippers possibly be worse? I doubt it, just by virtue of having Blake. They also have a wide assortment of relatively talented guards and wings, including Mo Williams, Billups, Caron Butler, Bledsoe, Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes, to go along with a very promising center in Jordan. It's hard to imagine they don't make the playoffs as currently constituted, and they're almost definitely going to have some more backcourt help via free agency.

Plus, the market is just so much better. And if Paul didn't think the Lakers could make an acceptable offer -- to Stern -- it makes some sense for him to want to go to the Clips, even with the horrible, racist owner.

[BD80]

Interesting, but is Billups is on a 1-year deal? The Clips might want to keep one of those PGs around for next year in case Chauncey is gone. And I doubt Atlanta would do it anyway.

I believe Billups was waived under the amnesty clause, which means he plays for his existing deal, the Knicks paying the contract without salary cap ramification less the amount the Clips bid. I think Chauncey is in his last year of the contract.

[superdave]

I believe Billups was waived under the amnesty clause, which means he plays for his existing deal, the Knicks paying the contract without salary cap ramification less the amount the Clips bid. I think Chauncey is in his last year of the contract.

Yeah, NYK picked up Billups' option for this season last year....$14 million...then decided to amnesty him. They must have pretty good cash flow to eat $14 million without canning the GM for such a bad mistake.

[Starter]

Yeah, NYK picked up Billups' option for this season last year....$14 million...then decided to amnesty him. They must have pretty good cash flow to eat $14 million without canning the GM for such a bad mistake.

Nah, they just have no idea what they're doing. They'll be terrible before too long, if they're not already. (Reminder: I'm a Knicks fan)

[Matches]

The beauty of this is that, while CP3 picked up his extension, there's nothing to stop him from informing the Clips a year from now that he will not sign an extension, thus causing this whole saga to play out again. As a practical matter the Clips may only end up with one year of CP3, because they might be the ones trying to trade him a year from now.

[toooskies]

The beauty of this is that, while CP3 picked up his extension, there's nothing to stop him from informing the Clips a year from now that he will not sign an extension, thus causing this whole saga to play out again. As a practical matter the Clips may only end up with one year of CP3, because they might be the ones trying to trade him a year from now.

On the other hand, if they're in the situation that they're in now, then hopefully they get similar value to what they gave up for him. Thus giving them a free year of Chris Paul.

[Matches]

On the other hand, if they're in the situation that they're in now, then hopefully they get similar value to what they gave up for him. Thus giving them a free year of Chris Paul.

Maybe - but they won't have the advantage of the Commissioner of the NBA using his position to leverage them a better deal.

[superdave]

Clippers just added Reggie Evans to back up Blake. Reggie averaged 11.5 boards in 26 minutes of action. Not bad. They probably still need to add a backup center to really contend.

[tommy]

Clippers just added Reggie Evans to back up Blake. Reggie averaged 11.5 boards in 26 minutes of action. Not bad. They probably still need to add a backup center to really contend.

Especially given the state of the West right now, I'd say they're a contender right now.