Ken Berger lit the NBA on fire last night. Just after the dust had started to settle from the fallout following The Decision, another MVP-caliber player in his prime appears to be on the move. Somehow, with The King picking his next destination, people have forgotten that Chris Paul is still under contract for two seasons. He'll be able to tell teams he's not interested in re-signing to possibly discourage them from entering the sweepstakes, but it will be up to the Hornets where Chris Paul plays his next game. One team that no one is talking about (seriously, no one) will make a very hard run at the Hornets to get CP3's services and have as good a chance as any at landing him for a variety of reasons.
Leading up to the LeBron sweepstakes three teams "led" at various points. New York, Chicago and Cleveland all spent time atop the leaderboard and all went home empty handed. Meanwhile, quietly down in Miami Pat Riley was gutting his roster, not exactly a great move if you hope to keep your superstar. Unless he knew. If he didn't it was one of the riskiest gambles of all time that just happened to pan out. I don't buy it either, he knew. So how does this pertain to Chris Paul? Let's connect some dots.
This is Michael Jordan's first off-season as an owner. Yes, that's right folks, the Charlotte Bobcats are the Omitted Option. Chris Paul was sitting courtside with MJ during the team's first ever playoff series. He's a member of Nike's Team Jordan. He's a young man that grew up in North Carolina idolizing the man that all North Carolina basketball players of his generation idolized. Are those reasons enough to come to Charlotte? No. Not by themselves, so let's take a look at the Bobcats off-season moves.
1. Fail to even offer their starting point guard (who helped lead them their first playoff berth) and let him walk out the door.
2. Pull out of a trade with Toronto for Jose Calderon at the last possible second. Reports initially said Jordan nixed this trade, but it was later laid at head coach Larry Brown's feet.
3. Re-sign an athletic, high-flying PF that would do very well in a more uptempo style of play.
4. Traded the expiring contract of Tyson Chandler for the voidable contract of Erick Dampier, and adding 2 years of Eduardo Najera and 3 years of Matt Carroll.
Raymond Felton is a mediocre starting point guard in the league (probably ranks around 16-20) so not wanting to overpay him in and of itself is not eyebrow raising, other than there were no better options in free agency. Same goes for the re-signing of Tyrus Thomas who they had acquired for a first round pick. They like the young man, nothing earth shattering about the move. The trade for Jose Calderon is where things get interesting. The trade was essentially done. Players were called, they were informed they'd been traded, but at the last moment the Bobcats pull the plug. "Larry doesn't like the trade" was the line written by many the next day. The team is about to acquire a starting point guard and they only ask their Hall of Fame Head Coach for his opinion hours after it's being reported as completed? Maybe. Maybe not. The team followed that up by almost immediately trading Tyson Chandler to Dallas for spare parts. In 24 hours they went from acquiring a starting point guard, which they needed, to opening a 2nd hole in their starting lineup for a piece of trade bait that would only be truly valuable to a team that is looking to shed salary, perhaps a team that's for sale say in Louisiana?
Every move the Bobcats have made seems to point to the acquisition of Chris Paul. Plenty of teams made moves to acquire LeBron and most went home without the prize, but CP3 doesn't get to handpick his destination at this point. The Hornets will be looking to make the best deal possible for them. The Cats can now offer $13 million in immediate cap relief. The only other two teams that could offer that would be Cleveland and Toronto. Two places Chris Paul would not be re-signing. The Bobcats can also offer an All-Star in Gerald Wallace whose $9 million is arguably the best piece for the best price that the Hornets would be able to add.
Reports came out quickly about Chris Paul's preferred destinations. Orlando, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and Portland have all been mentioned. Let's take a quick look at the various situations.
Los Angeles Lakers - This option has largely been dispelled, but they re-signed Derek Fisher and signed Steve Blake, two point guards this off-season. That hardly seems like a team preparing to bring in a stud PG.
New York - Signed Raymond Felton at about $8 million per to play point guard. Again, doesn't seem like they were preparing to add a point guard. They also lack the pieces and salaries (unless NO wants to be the Warriors south), other than Eddy Curry, needed to send back.
Dallas - Understand the interest, but would the Hornets truly be willing to trade him within their division? They do have some expiring contracts to offer (Caron Butler, Tyson Chandler, DeShawn Stevenson, and even JJ Barea) but no immediate cap relief and while Mavs are convinced that Rodrique Beaubois would be inticing some of his luster has come off and PG doesn't appear to be a need for New Orleans with Darren Collison playing well.
Portland - One of the best options because they have several talented youngsters and some expiring contracts. If, however, the Hornets are looking to get out from under more than just Okafor's contract (some people suggesting Posey will be required too) it's hard for the Blazers to assemble enough salaries without gutting the entire team.
Orlando - The doomsday scenario for the Bobcats. Paul and Howard would be deadly. It would be Phoenix's offensive attack, but with a top 5 defense on the other end. The best thief and shot blocker in the entire league on the same team, running the most dangerous pick and roll on the offensive end with 3-point shooters spotted up all over the place. Between Miami and Orlando the Bobcats would be destined for no better than 3rd in the division for the foreseeable future. Orlando has already made a push for a trade in the past and there's little doubt they will do the same again, but outside of Vince Carter's expiring contract there's very little short term relief they can offer the Hornets, with Gortat and Nelson the two most likely candidates to be offered.
To this point, the Bobcats are being completely ignored by the national media in the quest to land Chris Paul, but this team has quietly put themselves in position to make an attractive offer to the Hornets. For Bobcat fans they have to hope that the silence and decision to gamble on letting Felton walk and acquiring Dampier were moves made because Michael Jordan and the front office knew something everyone else didn't. We saw this very scenario play out in Miami, but for the first time in 30 years people in North Carolina are being forced to ask, 'Can MJ deliver in the clutch?' I wouldn't bet against him.
Thursday, July 22
Chris Paul: The Omitted Option
Tuesday, July 28
Bobcats Trade Their First Ever Draft Pick
In a move that is drawing strong debate by both sides here in Charlotte, the Bobcats have traded Emeka Okafor to the New Orleans Hornets for Tyson Chandler. The argument on the forums over at our friends, Bobcats Planet, has been intense. Sentimentally, I am a UConn fan and a fan of Emeka as a person so this is a hard move to swallow. Catfish has told me the business and economical side of the decision which makes it clearer in the big picture. This move may hurt Charlotte in the short-term depending on Chandler's health but with Okafor's huge contract and Chandler's coming off the books in a couple years, it may be beneficial down the road.
Either way it is hard seeing the face of the young franchise get dealt for an injury-plagued semi-star. While Okafor was never an all-star or a primetime performer, he did win rookie of the year in 2005 and only Tim Duncan and Dwight Howard have averaged a double-double over the last five seasons along with Emeka.
The debate will continue well into next season while the staunch Emeka defenders point to his solid play and the pro-Chandler look to his athleticism, height, and expiring contract.
Okafor for Chandler good deal for Bobcats [Charlotte Observer]
Emeka Okafor for Tyson Chandler? [Ball Don't Lie]
Friday, April 10
When Small Markets Get Superstars
Yesterday, the Dallas Morning News noted that the Mavericks are extremely interested in acquiring the Hornets' Chris Paul. Coincidentally, so are most other teams in the league, but the fact that the Hornets didn't hang up at the mention of Chris Paul indicates bigger problems for their franchise. If Peja's $13 million against the cap is the albatross around their neck, Tyson Chandler's $11 million contract is the pair of cement shoes dragging the team to the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain. Peja already proved immovable this season and will likely remain so while Tyson was nearly shipped out for pennies on the dollar. Next season when CP3's new contract kicks in, the Hornets will be staring luxury tax square in the eye and with little reason to think this team will improve to become one of the elite teams in the west.
If the Hornets want to get under the tax they're faced with either giving up David West's very favorable contract or Paul's. Even if the team figures out a way to keep Paul, as his contract balloons to nearly a quarter of the salary cap, it will be increasingly difficult to field a quality team around him. If David West opts out after 2011, they'll be forced to decide whether to let him go or pay two players half of the team's cap. Without the financial flexibility of large market teams, having a superstar and re-signing them can be both a blessing and a curse. If they keep Paul and West, they risk sliding into irrelevance, but if they move one or both they are trading the first two stars in the franchise's history (during time in NO) and risk alienating their fans base. As a Charlottean, I've seen this movie before and it's tough to watch your superstars leave, even if sometimes it's for the best.
Tuesday, February 17
Hornets Still Owned by the Same Man
Forgive me, if I'm a little bit giddy today. I don't like to bask in other people's misfortunes, but when it's the team that ripped my heart out, I may have to do a little jig. The Hornets have abandoned all hope of relevance this season, by trading Tyson Chandler for Joe Smith, Chris Wilcox, and DeVon Hardin. When George Shinn's Hornets were here in Charlotte it became an all too common theme of watching one of the team's best players leaving town for monetary reasons (then GM Bob Bass was routinely overlooked as a top executive for his ability to bring quality players back, despite being in the position of being forced to make a move). The only justification for this most recent trade is those same monetary reasons. The Hornets tried to shed the albatross that is Peja's contract first, but with no takers, GM Jeff Bower had no choice other than trading the untouchables (Paul and West) than to move Tyson Chandler. On the flip side, the Thunder are looking like the new Blazers, with a solid young core and FIVE first round picks in the next two years. New Orleans fans, take solace in the fact that at least Mr. Shinn didn't order CP3 moved, like he did with Grandmama, Zo, and G-Money like he did here in Charlotte, just don't be fooled into believing that this move is solely because of the economy. This is who George is, and this is what he does.
Tuesday, January 27
Chris Paul Narrowly Misses Crappy Quadruple-Double
We here at ASD like to bust our friend Xtra Medium's chops. Pull his string, or leg as it were. Give him the business if you will time to time. The truth is that XM knows his sports and knows as much about the NBA as just about anyone. His most famous case of verbal misstep was while we were sitting at Catfish's kitchen table circa late 1990s, when he bodly declared that "Allen Iverson is good." His most recent incident took place earlier this NBA season when LeBron had secured a triple-double. I forget the line but the rebounds and assists were 11 and 10, leading XM to state that it was a "shitty" triple-double because he barely eclipsed the double-digit mark in two of the categories. You see, getting a triple-double is getting a triple-double, no matter what the total is and we have been harassing XM ever since. So when Chris Paul missed a quadruple-double by 3 steals, he should know he will hear about this one. CP3 had 27 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds and 7 steals in the Hornets 101-86 win last night agaisnt Philadelphia. Only four players have ever gotten the elusive quad-dub, and they are:
Nate Thurmond, October 18, 1974, Chicago vs. Atlanta; 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, 12 blocks.
Alvin Robertson, February 18, 1986, San Antonio vs. Phoenix; 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, 10 steals.
Hakeem Olajuwon, March 29, 1990, Houston vs. Milwaukee; 18 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 11 blocks AND March 3, 1990 (3 weeks earlier than his other one) Houston vs GoldenState; 29 points 18 rebounds 10 assists 11 blocks
David Robinson, February 17, 1994, San Antonio vs. Detroit; 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 10 blocks.
This is keeping in mind that blocks and steals did not become an official stat until the 1970s.
Paul falls three steals shy of quadruple-double. [CBSSports]
