C.Paul and D.Howard first round exits

[Edgar]

Howard should be the 1st target.  If you can convince him that Rondo is the PG of his dreams.

Well 15 apg during playoffs and 2 rings can make that job easier this summer
not to mention  being backed up by JO anmd shaq
I am not signing off the book neither of those two yet.

[wdleehi]

I think New Orleans would do a deal based around Rondo + the Clippers pick.

The question for us is, would we make that deal with the risk of CP3 walking?  I think Paul is worth that price tag, but only if a new deal was worked out (or if the new CBA had a franchise tag).

I am on board with that type of trade. 

[MBunge]

I would hope that Danny would work a trade for Paul involving Rondo and the Clippers 2012 pick.

I'd want to seriously think about Paul's physical condition before that deal.  When we saw Paul at his best against the Lakers, he was clearly a better player than Rondo.  But we also saw that Paul could not come close to sustaining that production over 6 games.  If the Paul we saw this year in the regular season and the playoff is the Paul we're going to see from now on, there's no way he's worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

Mike

Come on - that's not fair at all. The reason he couldn't sustain that play over 6 games is because he has no supporting cast. It had nothing to do with his conditioning or injury history. The fact that the Hornets even took two games was impressive in itself.

It's entirely fair.  Paul's stats this regular season are - 80 games, 36 mpg, 15.8 pts, 9.8 assists, 4.1 rebs, 2.4 steals.  If that's roughly the player Paul is going to be from now on, he's still one of the better PGs in the league but no where near worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

If Paul can get back to what he was two seasons ago, 23 pts, 11 assists, 5.5 rebs, 2.8 steals, 50% from the floor and 36% from 3, THAT guy would be worth the trade.

Mike

[droopdog7]

Our best hope for landing Howard is for him to get to free agency.  But as mentioned by the OP, the magic would likely trade him before he gets there.  In that scenrio, the lakers would indeed be the most likley destination as they could simply send bynum to the magic.

The only thing of value that comes remotely close for howard is Rondo.  And even that probably wouln't work for them.  Those suggesting that we could send the magic cap space and fillers for howard are dreaming and/or smoking something.

[droopdog7]

I have trouble imagining Howard wanting to play with Kobe.

in all honesty, kobe doesn't have too many years left in him, Pau and Bynum do however.Pairing Dwight with Pau could be a long term force.

Dwight on the same team as kobe (even 2 years older than now) and pau would be basically unstoppable.

I would hate everything. Literally everything would make me angry while that team existed.

Bynum and picks could get it done

I wonder what picks would get it done considering that they'd face the same situation they're currently on with Dwight with Bynum. I figure some sign and trade scenario would need to happen.

Especially when you consider that the Lakers are going to be picking between 28-30 for the following 5 years.

lakers wouldn't need to include much more than bynum.  Obviously howard is better than bynum but the value is close enough for it to work as is. 

[RebusRankin]

If you're Orlando, why do you want Bynum? Injury prone, bad knees, good but not an all-star. The picks are useless. Now I'd rather take Lopez et all for NJ or package from the clippers centered around Kaman, Bledsoe and picks.

[soap07]

I would hope that Danny would work a trade for Paul involving Rondo and the Clippers 2012 pick.

I'd want to seriously think about Paul's physical condition before that deal.  When we saw Paul at his best against the Lakers, he was clearly a better player than Rondo.  But we also saw that Paul could not come close to sustaining that production over 6 games.  If the Paul we saw this year in the regular season and the playoff is the Paul we're going to see from now on, there's no way he's worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

Mike

Come on - that's not fair at all. The reason he couldn't sustain that play over 6 games is because he has no supporting cast. It had nothing to do with his conditioning or injury history. The fact that the Hornets even took two games was impressive in itself.

It's entirely fair.  Paul's stats this regular season are - 80 games, 36 mpg, 15.8 pts, 9.8 assists, 4.1 rebs, 2.4 steals.  If that's roughly the player Paul is going to be from now on, he's still one of the better PGs in the league but no where near worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

If Paul can get back to what he was two seasons ago, 23 pts, 11 assists, 5.5 rebs, 2.8 steals, 50% from the floor and 36% from 3, THAT guy would be worth the trade.

Mike

Sorry - how do you expect him to have more than 9.8 assists with that lineup? West got injured. His second best offensive option was...Emeka Okafor?(sp?) He had an exceptional year...being top 5 in the league in both PER and WS/48 is incredible considering that terrible team he's surrounded with.

[action781]

I would hope that Danny would work a trade for Paul involving Rondo and the Clippers 2012 pick.

Totally not worth it. Rondo is as good or better imo. We should build around him with a great scorer, maybe with the clippers pick, and a defensive center like Howard. Paul also has a lot of injury history for a guy his age.

Chris Paul career PPG - 18.7
Rondo career 10.7

Paul career assists: 9.7
Rondo: 7.6

Paul Career TS%: .571
Rondo career TS%: .518

Paul Career PER: 25.2
Rondo career PER: 17.1

Paul career WS/48: .233
Rondo career WS/48: .140

Both are about equal defensively.  Both are gamblers on the defensive end and both have been selected to the All-NBA defensive team.

The only thing Rondo does definitively better than Paul is rebound - and even that, Paul is a decent rebounder for a point guard.

Career Rebounding Rate:
Paul: 7.4
Rondo: 8.3

-----------------

In the playoffs, Paul is even better.

Career Playoff PER: 27.2 (!)
Rondo: 17.8

Paul's playoff career points/assists: 21.9/11.1
Rondo: 14.1/8.5

Paul's career playoff WS/48: .208
Rondo: .132

Paul's career playoff TS%: .577
Rondo: .481


Chris Paul is the best point guard in the league by a wide margin. He is 25-years-old, only a year older than Rondo. His injury problems didn't slow him down at all this year, considering he still had one of his best years and certainly the best year of any point guard. I love Rondo too, but let's be realistic - he's not in Paul's league.

TP. I don't know why this is so hard for other posters to see.  Rondo really isn't in Paul's league.  You make this trade in a heartbeat if possible.  Paul is one of the 4 players in the league who can dominate any playoff series, no matter who he is matched up against.  The others are Lebron, Kobe, and Dwight.  I think those are the 4 most valuable players in the league today and if you don't have one of them, you trade everything to get one of them.

[action781]

I think New Orleans would do a deal based around Rondo + the Clippers pick.

The question for us is, would we make that deal with the risk of CP3 walking?  I think Paul is worth that price tag, but only if a new deal was worked out (or if the new CBA had a franchise tag).

I am on board with that type of trade. 

I've been posting the importance of making this trade for weeks now.  The new contract is a must of course, but they won't match up.  So celtics throw in Baby to replace the departing David West and I don't see many better deals out there NO will get.

I think Paul does sign the extension to get a chance to extend the Big 3 window.  I think Jeff Green could mesh nicely with CP too.

[MrMorrill]

Think about a Rondo/Howard duo in the last 2 minutes of a close game. They would just get hacked for the rest of the game since between the two there is a chance they won't close the game out on the line...

[MBunge]

I would hope that Danny would work a trade for Paul involving Rondo and the Clippers 2012 pick.

I'd want to seriously think about Paul's physical condition before that deal.  When we saw Paul at his best against the Lakers, he was clearly a better player than Rondo.  But we also saw that Paul could not come close to sustaining that production over 6 games.  If the Paul we saw this year in the regular season and the playoff is the Paul we're going to see from now on, there's no way he's worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

Mike

Come on - that's not fair at all. The reason he couldn't sustain that play over 6 games is because he has no supporting cast. It had nothing to do with his conditioning or injury history. The fact that the Hornets even took two games was impressive in itself.

It's entirely fair.  Paul's stats this regular season are - 80 games, 36 mpg, 15.8 pts, 9.8 assists, 4.1 rebs, 2.4 steals.  If that's roughly the player Paul is going to be from now on, he's still one of the better PGs in the league but no where near worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

If Paul can get back to what he was two seasons ago, 23 pts, 11 assists, 5.5 rebs, 2.8 steals, 50% from the floor and 36% from 3, THAT guy would be worth the trade.

Mike

Sorry - how do you expect him to have more than 9.8 assists with that lineup? West got injured. His second best offensive option was...Emeka Okafor?(sp?) He had an exceptional year...being top 5 in the league in both PER and WS/48 is incredible considering that terrible team he's surrounded with.

Oh, for pete's sake.  Every single person who actually watched Chris Paul play this season said that he didn't look like the player he was before his injury and that's exactly what we saw during the Lakers series.  I mean, why don't we just trade Rondo and the Clippers pick for Brandon Roy if we're not going to pay attention to how players are performing this year?

Mike

[MBunge]

I don't know why this is so hard for other posters to see.  Rondo really isn't in Paul's league. 

Pre-injury, Paul was clearly better than Rondo.  If you can guarantee that Paul gets back to that level, you absolutely make the deal.  The Chris Paul who played this year, both regular season and in the playoffs, was nowhere close to being worth both Rondo and the Clippers pick.

Mike

[soap07]

I would hope that Danny would work a trade for Paul involving Rondo and the Clippers 2012 pick.

I'd want to seriously think about Paul's physical condition before that deal.  When we saw Paul at his best against the Lakers, he was clearly a better player than Rondo.  But we also saw that Paul could not come close to sustaining that production over 6 games.  If the Paul we saw this year in the regular season and the playoff is the Paul we're going to see from now on, there's no way he's worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

Mike

Come on - that's not fair at all. The reason he couldn't sustain that play over 6 games is because he has no supporting cast. It had nothing to do with his conditioning or injury history. The fact that the Hornets even took two games was impressive in itself.

It's entirely fair.  Paul's stats this regular season are - 80 games, 36 mpg, 15.8 pts, 9.8 assists, 4.1 rebs, 2.4 steals.  If that's roughly the player Paul is going to be from now on, he's still one of the better PGs in the league but no where near worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

If Paul can get back to what he was two seasons ago, 23 pts, 11 assists, 5.5 rebs, 2.8 steals, 50% from the floor and 36% from 3, THAT guy would be worth the trade.

Mike

Sorry - how do you expect him to have more than 9.8 assists with that lineup? West got injured. His second best offensive option was...Emeka Okafor?(sp?) He had an exceptional year...being top 5 in the league in both PER and WS/48 is incredible considering that terrible team he's surrounded with.

Oh, for pete's sake.  Every single person who actually watched Chris Paul play this season said that he didn't look like the player he was before his injury and that's exactly what we saw during the Lakers series.  I mean, why don't we just trade Rondo and the Clippers pick for Brandon Roy if we're not going to pay attention to how players are performing this year?

Mike

I agree. Let's pay attention to this year's numbers...where Paul had the best year of any point guard in the league and dominated in a playoff series with dwarves around him.

[MBunge]

I would hope that Danny would work a trade for Paul involving Rondo and the Clippers 2012 pick.

I'd want to seriously think about Paul's physical condition before that deal.  When we saw Paul at his best against the Lakers, he was clearly a better player than Rondo.  But we also saw that Paul could not come close to sustaining that production over 6 games.  If the Paul we saw this year in the regular season and the playoff is the Paul we're going to see from now on, there's no way he's worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

Mike

Come on - that's not fair at all. The reason he couldn't sustain that play over 6 games is because he has no supporting cast. It had nothing to do with his conditioning or injury history. The fact that the Hornets even took two games was impressive in itself.

It's entirely fair.  Paul's stats this regular season are - 80 games, 36 mpg, 15.8 pts, 9.8 assists, 4.1 rebs, 2.4 steals.  If that's roughly the player Paul is going to be from now on, he's still one of the better PGs in the league but no where near worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.

If Paul can get back to what he was two seasons ago, 23 pts, 11 assists, 5.5 rebs, 2.8 steals, 50% from the floor and 36% from 3, THAT guy would be worth the trade.

Mike

Sorry - how do you expect him to have more than 9.8 assists with that lineup? West got injured. His second best offensive option was...Emeka Okafor?(sp?) He had an exceptional year...being top 5 in the league in both PER and WS/48 is incredible considering that terrible team he's surrounded with.

Oh, for pete's sake.  Every single person who actually watched Chris Paul play this season said that he didn't look like the player he was before his injury and that's exactly what we saw during the Lakers series.  I mean, why don't we just trade Rondo and the Clippers pick for Brandon Roy if we're not going to pay attention to how players are performing this year?

Mike

I agree. Let's pay attention to this year's numbers...where Paul had the best year of any point guard in the league and dominated in a playoff series with dwarves around him.

1.  Paul's regular season WAS NOT the best year of any PG in the league.  Not even close.

2.  Playoff stats
Paul - 22 pts, 11.5 assists, 6.7 rebs
Rondo - 19 pts, 12 assists, 7.3 rebs

Paul did not "dominate" the playoff series with the Lakers.  He dominated 2 games.  The 4 games they lost, Paul absolutely DID NOT have monster performances where the rest of his teammates just let him down.  He played good but not great.

Again, and I don't know why this is hard for anyone to appreciate, Chris Paul back to pre-knee level would be worth Rondo and the Clippers pick.  The Chris Paul who played this year, both regular season and the playoffs, is absolutely not worth it.

Mike

[greenpride32]

CP3 will wind up with the NYK.  Just we all knew Melo would.  Even if Melo got traded elsewhere, he would have not signed an extension and land in NYK the next year.  As a big name unrestricted FA you pretty much have control of your destiny.  We just Witnessed what LBJ and Melo did.

There were some rumors circulating recently that ORL would trade Howard over the summer to avoid the Melodrama.  They know their window is closed and that D12 wants to play for LAL or NJN.  If they wait until the deadline like DEN, they lose all their leverage.  If they trade before the season starts, some team might be willing to give something of value since they get D12 for an entire year. D12 would have resigned by now if he wanted to stay in ORL.