With the news that Chris Paul had been traded (no, for real this time) Luka and I had to have an emergency e-mail exchange about the deal and what it means for both the teams and players involved. Below is how the exchange transpired.
Daki:
I have to admit, it's a little funny that this trade was finalized moments after a buddy of mine sent me this link. My initial reaction to the trade was: WOW the Clippers could not have played this any worse. First of all, the NBA and New Orleans had zero leverage in any trades because there were only 3 teams Paul would play for (Knicks, Lakers, Clips). This meant that other franchises were not even calling, and once the Clippers pulled out it looked like New Orleans would get no compensation next summer when Paul decided to leave. Of course, this is the Clippers, and in a situation where they had all the power they decided to fuck it up. Look, the Minnesota pick is probably vastly overvalued, but the loss of Eric Gordon hurts. As Bill Simmons pointed out, Gordon is the best under-30 SG in the NBA right now. Is he really worth trading for a fragile point guard with knee issues? This is beyond ridiculous right now, I have to get my thoughts in order, hopefully I will once I read your response.
Luka:
First of all I don't think that the Clippers fucked things up too badly. Yes they did give up Gordon who is probably going to become an all-star and have a great career but they had to in order to get the best point guard in the league when healthy. By doing this move they arguably become the bigger story in L.A. for the first time ever which is something that they've always wanted to do. I think the real story here is the NBA and the complete circus it has become with David Stern as its confused and out of place ringleader. How is Kaman (He sucks. I know he's an expiring contract but who cares? No free agent will sign in New Orleans. They never have in the past and I don't see that changing in the future.), Gordon (Future All-Star), Aminu (serviceable player who has potential but not an impact player at this stage in his career) and Minnesota's first round pick (It might not even be that high! The Wolves have Love, Rubio, Beasley, Johnson, Barea and lots of depth with a coach in Rick Adelman who knows how to win in the regular season) better than Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, and Lamar Odom? The answer is that it's not and the NBA will have some explaining to do since the reason why the Lakers deal fell through in the first place was for "basketball reasons". And one more thing, if I'm the Lakers, I'm pulling a Dan Gilbert right now and sending David Stern a bitchy email since he is the reason they had to trade Lamar Odom for nothing. This whole process makes no sense. I'm excited to watch Paul and Griffin play though. What do you think happens to Chauncey "I get paid 14 million a year but still feel the need to excessively bitch about everything" Billups?
