The CP3 Debacle

When I heard that the Lakers had acquired Chris Paul, the point guard from the Hornets, my first thought was "Well, they did it again."  The Lakers made out like bandits on a trade.  They always make out like bandits.  I swear, 90% of the history of the NBA is the story of smart franchises (usually either the Lakers or Celtics) swindling the dumb teams.

It wasn't so much the talent exchange- New Orleans came out pretty well with the proposed trade.  Lamar Odom only had a year to go, but Houston was giving up some nice players for Pau Gasol.

What bothered me was that the Gasol had three years at $19 million on his contract.  He's a good player, but he's past his prime, and the last year of the contract he will probably be overpaid.  Which hurts the franchise that has him.  And the Lakers got out of paying the bad year- in exchange, they get a younger, better player who has publicly stated that he didn't want to play for New Orleans, but did want to play for the Lakers.

It's an ugly trend- the best ballplayers only want to play for select markets- usually major media markets and/or cities with great weather.  The same day the trade was announce, Albert Pujols signed a contract and left the St. Louis Cardinals for the Anaheim Angels.  Again, a great player going from a medium market that loved him to a major market.

Which sucks if you root for the small market teams.   I can accept that the larger markets have advantages.  But at some point, the advantages become so overwhelming that rooting for the other teams seem like a lost cause.

So... yeah.  I wasn't happy with the trade.  Then David Stern cancelled the trade.  And, to be honest, it's not fair.  But having gone through the Decision, having seen two Cy Young Award winners traded because the Indians couldn't afford them while the major markets could... it was good to see the unfairness go against a team that traditionally was on the favored side.

Besides, if New Orleans was really losing Paul, they needed to rebuild.  The trade with the Lakers were a nice way to get them on a treadmill- a perpetual contender for the #8 seed but no chance to really improve. 

So Stern voided the trade, and the Lakers stopped trying to get Chris Paul.  Instead, a deal materialized between the Clippers and the Hornets.  The Clippers are also in LA, but they've never been considered an 'elite' team.  And they were offering some great, talented and young players for Paul- especially a top draft pick in next year's draft. 

But now the story is that Stern demanded too much for Paul.  They wanted Bledsoe & Gordon & the #1 pick- really, 2 out of 3 was enough for Chris Paul.  If I was a Hornet's fan, I would have loved that deal. 

So now I don't know.  I don't get what the plan is.  But I don't see any way the players won't stop demanding to go to the major markets.  And I'm not sure what can be done to save the small amrkets from continuing to be the Washington Generals to the superteams.