No Question. Stern Did What Was Best For Hornet's Future

[Lucky17]

Will the critics be OK with the deal if Okafor is sent to LA (cap relief) and another 1st rounder (from Houston or LA) is included? Because I have a feeling that's what we're going to see.

BTW, look at the Hornets roster going into this season, and tell me they aren't mediocre already, especially if David West signs elsewhere.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/hornets.jsp

The trade would have made them better at several positions, and gave them some assets to continue to improve the long-term future of the roster.

No... Let the team suck in the shortened season and get a top 5 pick. That team without CP3 and West might be the worst team in the NBA. Get that top pick!

If NO wanted to tank this season, they could spin Scola to a team with cap space needing a PF (Indiana) for picks and prospects, and ship Odom out as well.

[jdpapa3]

To those who thought this was a good trade. Follow me here. We are on the verge of one of the greatest drafts ever. Right? A draft loaded with talent!!! Now why the heck would the NBA want to won a franchise that is losing their top player and on top of that receives enough talent to basically eliminate them from having the chance to draft any of the potential great players in this draft?

That's insanity!

Scola, Martin, and Dragic aren't worth a guy like Barnes, Sullinger, etc. It's not even close from a selling standpoint for the NBA.

Absolutely. You've nailed it. Demps made the trade for himself, and not the Hornets. The Jazz got Favors and a top pick just months ago for a player of this stature and then the best young player or pick you can get are Dragic and a 20+ pick from the Knicks? Awful

[Kane3387]

Will the critics be OK with the deal if Okafor is sent to LA (cap relief) and another 1st rounder (from Houston or LA) is included? Because I have a feeling that's what we're going to see.

BTW, look at the Hornets roster going into this season, and tell me they aren't mediocre already, especially if David West signs elsewhere.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/hornets.jsp

The trade would have made them better at several positions, and gave them some assets to continue to improve the long-term future of the roster.

No... Let the team suck in the shortened season and get a top 5 pick. That team without CP3 and West might be the worst team in the NBA. Get that top pick!

If NO wanted to tank this season, they could spin Scola to a team with cap space needing a PF (Indiana) for picks and prospects, and ship Odom out as well.

Maybe... Why take the risk though? What if Indiana would rather sign West or Nene or just let Hansbrough get the minutes? Scola's contract under this new cba is bad.

[Kane3387]

Will the critics be OK with the deal if Okafor is sent to LA (cap relief) and another 1st rounder (from Houston or LA) is included? Because I have a feeling that's what we're going to see.

BTW, look at the Hornets roster going into this season, and tell me they aren't mediocre already, especially if David West signs elsewhere.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/hornets.jsp

The trade would have made them better at several positions, and gave them some assets to continue to improve the long-term future of the roster.

No... Let the team suck in the shortened season and get a top 5 pick. That team without CP3 and West might be the worst team in the NBA. Get that top pick!

If NO wanted to tank this season, they could spin Scola to a team with cap space needing a PF (Indiana) for picks and prospects, and ship Odom out as well.

Also NO likely doesn't want to tank the season. First off losing sucks. Also a new owner means change, turnover, and uncertainty for all those currently employed by the Hornets. I don't think NO wants to tank the season but I think the NBA knows they will benefit greatly if they do.

[CelticG1]

He saved NO from NBA no mans land.  
Y rrgreeeeee3eee

Too good for a good draft pick.


Not good enough to be a contend

Sort of like where Houston is right now.  

Agreed.  And where Charlotte has been for the last few years.  I'm with you and the OP here.

Yeah just look at houston last year and add lamer Odom......does that really improve there team that dramatically? And again that's just for the near future not even mentioning that they pretty much get nothing for the future and are spending a ton of money.

You can obviously spin it to sound like a decent trade but bottom line is that it could not have been a worse deal

[Lucky17]

Will the critics be OK with the deal if Okafor is sent to LA (cap relief) and another 1st rounder (from Houston or LA) is included? Because I have a feeling that's what we're going to see.

BTW, look at the Hornets roster going into this season, and tell me they aren't mediocre already, especially if David West signs elsewhere.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/hornets.jsp

The trade would have made them better at several positions, and gave them some assets to continue to improve the long-term future of the roster.

No... Let the team suck in the shortened season and get a top 5 pick. That team without CP3 and West might be the worst team in the NBA. Get that top pick!

If NO wanted to tank this season, they could spin Scola to a team with cap space needing a PF (Indiana) for picks and prospects, and ship Odom out as well.

Maybe... Why take the risk though? What if Indiana would rather sign West or Nene or just let Hansbrough get the minutes? Scola's contract under this new cba is bad.

Scola's contract after this season is for only two more fully guaranteed years. The last year (2014-15, for $11 million) is unguaranteed.

3 years, $28 million remaining. That's not bad for a player of Scola's production.

[indeedproceed]

You're painting these players with an awfully bright brush, IP.  Top 10 players at their positions?  I'd put each of them somewhere in the 9-17 range at their positions which makes them both fairly mediocre starters.

SG:  Kobe, Wade, Iggy, Ray, JJ, Monta, Manu, Gordon, your boy Wes Matthews, S-Jax, Jason Terry, Curry, Evans.

I don't want to debate this stuff too intently, just because I just really, really don't have it today, but everyone on your list after Eric Gordon being ranked as a PG (in Curry's case) or above Kevin Martin (in S-Jax, Terry's, or Matthew's case) is a bigger reach than Yao Ming dunking without jumping.

PF:  Dirk, Aldridge, Z-Bo, Blake, Amare, Pau, KG, Duncan, Bosh, Love, Josh Smith, David Lee, Millsap, Big Al, Boozer, David West.

You can argue technicalities over who plays what position, but for every player you want to argue to take out, I could argue to throw another player in (like Horford as a PF).  I'd say in both of those lists, the 2 players acquired by NO are irrefutably worse than 70% of those lists and better than 0-30% of those lists depending on who is doing the rankings.

Luis Scola is somewhere between 9-17, I don't contest that.

[Fafnir]

To those who thought this was a good trade. Follow me here. We are on the verge of one of the greatest drafts ever. Right? A draft loaded with talent!!! Now why the heck would the NBA want to won a franchise that is losing their top player and on top of that receives enough talent to basically eliminate them from having the chance to draft any of the potential great players in this draft?

That's insanity!

Scola, Martin, and Dragic aren't worth a guy like Barnes, Sullinger, etc. It's not even close from a selling standpoint for the NBA.

Absolutely. You've nailed it. Demps made the trade for himself, and not the Hornets. The Jazz got Favors and a top pick just months ago for a player of this stature and then the best young player or pick you can get are Dragic and a 20+ pick from the Knicks? Awful

Yup, this trade is better for this year and the next, but far worse if the franchise actually wants to rebuild.

[The Walker Wiggle]

is a bigger reach than Yao Ming dunking without jumping.

You've still got it today. TP.

[action781]

You're painting these players with an awfully bright brush, IP.  Top 10 players at their positions?  I'd put each of them somewhere in the 9-17 range at their positions which makes them both fairly mediocre starters.

SG:  Kobe, Wade, Iggy, Ray, JJ, Monta, Manu, Gordon, your boy Wes Matthews, S-Jax, Jason Terry, Curry, Evans.

I don't want to debate this stuff too intently, just because I just really, really don't have it today, but everyone on your list after Eric Gordon being ranked as a PG (in Curry's case) or above Kevin Martin (in S-Jax, Terry's, or Matthew's case) is a bigger reach than Yao Ming dunking without jumping.

PF:  Dirk, Aldridge, Z-Bo, Blake, Amare, Pau, KG, Duncan, Bosh, Love, Josh Smith, David Lee, Millsap, Big Al, Boozer, David West.

You can argue technicalities over who plays what position, but for every player you want to argue to take out, I could argue to throw another player in (like Horford as a PF).  I'd say in both of those lists, the 2 players acquired by NO are irrefutably worse than 70% of those lists and better than 0-30% of those lists depending on who is doing the rankings.

Luis Scola is somewhere between 9-17, I don't contest that.

Mark this one for the record books.  IP doesn't attempt to out-stamina me in this debate citing stats like how Luis Scola's points allowed per post up ranks 7th out of all the players on that list, eFG% from 8-15 feet is 4th on that list, etc.

I'd love to hear you concede in a cbdraft that kevin martin is better than wes matthews.

[Ersatz]

Completely disagree with the OP. Hornets turned Paul into two-thirds of a playoff-quality lineup: a great scorer and rebounder in Scola, one of the league's most efficient scorers in Martin, and maybe the league's most versatile player in Odom. As far as immediate basketball impact, that's a way better haul than Gasol, Garnett, or Anthony netted.

[Kane3387]

Completely disagree with the OP. Hornets turned Paul into two-thirds of a playoff-quality lineup: a great scorer and rebounder in Scola, one of the league's most efficient scorers in Martin, and maybe the league's most versatile player in Odom. As far as immediate basketball impact, that's a way better haul than Gasol, Garnett, or Anthony netted.

Again the NBA is trying to sell this team. No luck in doing so yet. So throw immediate basketball impact out the window. It's about making this team more attractive for a buyer and that will likely take time.

[indeedproceed]

You're painting these players with an awfully bright brush, IP.  Top 10 players at their positions?  I'd put each of them somewhere in the 9-17 range at their positions which makes them both fairly mediocre starters.

SG:  Kobe, Wade, Iggy, Ray, JJ, Monta, Manu, Gordon, your boy Wes Matthews, S-Jax, Jason Terry, Curry, Evans.

I don't want to debate this stuff too intently, just because I just really, really don't have it today, but everyone on your list after Eric Gordon being ranked as a PG (in Curry's case) or above Kevin Martin (in S-Jax, Terry's, or Matthew's case) is a bigger reach than Yao Ming dunking without jumping.

PF:  Dirk, Aldridge, Z-Bo, Blake, Amare, Pau, KG, Duncan, Bosh, Love, Josh Smith, David Lee, Millsap, Big Al, Boozer, David West.

You can argue technicalities over who plays what position, but for every player you want to argue to take out, I could argue to throw another player in (like Horford as a PF).  I'd say in both of those lists, the 2 players acquired by NO are irrefutably worse than 70% of those lists and better than 0-30% of those lists depending on who is doing the rankings.

Luis Scola is somewhere between 9-17, I don't contest that.

Mark this one for the record books.  IP doesn't attempt to out-stamina me in this debate citing stats like how Luis Scola's points allowed per post up ranks 7th out of all the players on that list, eFG% from 8-15 feet is 4th on that list, etc.

I'd love to hear you concede in a cbdraft that kevin martin is better than wes matthews.

He is better than Wes Matthews, that's not the point of Wes Matthews. The point of Wes Matthews is that you take him in the 7th or 8th round in 2010, then tell everyone about how you knew how good Wes Matthews was going to be.

Now that everyone knows about Wes Matthews, he's just another slightly above average starter at the SG position. He's like Arron Afflalo without the vowels.

[LB3533]

Some of you guys are funny.

Who says the right way to trade your franchise player is to get a stud young guy and a boatload of draft picks?

Is that written in some manual somewhere?

1.) You ain't ever going to trade away your franchise player and get anything back in return that will make you a contender...that just doesn't happen, you never get more return on your dollar when you deal away a player who doesn't want to play on your team.

2.) Trading away your franchise player for young, unproven stud player or draft picks are always a huge risk.....this risk will also not draw buyers. It might draw fans who think the future is how you make money, but it isn't. How you make money is how your present state of business is currently situated.

3.) I could have sworn the reasoning Stern opposed the trade was because he did not like players dictating where they wanted to go. That is not preserving any benefit for NO Hornets. That is preserving Stern and some of the other owners' personal ego.

[Kuberski33]

Wouldn't shock me if the trade is eventually allowed to go through and Stern resigns as commissioner.  Stay tuned....