Chris Paul is Getting His Own Roundup Because Nobody Can Stop Talking About Chris Paul
By Jason McIntyre
* Chris Paul’s dad: Not happy! “This was something the owners should have discussed during the CBA negotiations. They shouldn’t have thought Chris was going to re-sign with New Orleans. He wants to go somewhere he can win. That’s it … The Hornets got about five or six guys on their roster. This whole thing is a joke. I told Chris to just be patient. Things happen for reason and he’ll eventually end up in a good situation.”
* Mark Cuban admits he was one of the owners who blocked the Chris Paul deal. “There’s a reason that we went through this lockout, and one of the reasons is to give small-market teams the ability to keep their stars and the ability to compete.” Hey Mark, they had CP3 for six years. He’s leaving after this year to play where he wants. You’re smart. What is so difficult to understand about this?
* Phil Jackson predicted this Chris Paul mess last year: “Who’s going to trade who to whom? Who’s going to pull the button on trading player or when Chris [Paul] says he has to be traded? How’s that going to go? I don’t know. Somebody’s going to have to make a very nonjudgmental decision on that part that’s not going to irritate anybody else in this league … I don’t know how they’re going to do that.”
* Ken Berg of CBS blasted David Stern: “Make no mistake, this is pure ugliness — warped, second-rate foolishness you’d expect to find in some half-baked, fringe semi-pro league office in Topeka or Toledo. This is the NBA becoming the Bad News Bears right before our horrified eyes.”
* I couldn’t disagree more with Darren Rovell’s take on Chris Paul: “The league is better off selling the team while Paul is there (assuming it is committed to the city) than to sell it when he’s gone and the team is in financial straits. Sure, you won’t get anything for Chris Paul after this year, but the NBA doesn’t need him past this year. Trade Paul and the books look deflated. The value drops. Use Paul until you can get a new owner committed and the league is golden.” CHRIS PAUL IS LEAVING IN JULY. HE’S GONE, GOODBYE, ADIOS. Anyone who wants to buy the team knows this, or will quickly find that out.
* The Knicks allegedly offered Amare straight-up for Chris Paul, but it was rejected.
* Bill Simmons with a length take on CP3: “In professional basketball, history trumps everything else. It’s not just about playing in Los Angeles. It’s about playing for the fucking Lakers. It’s about following the footsteps of Magic, Kareem, Wilt, West, Baylor and Shaq. It’s about Showtime, Nicholson, the yellow jerseys, the Laker Girls, even that awful Randy Newman song. It’s about that buzz before a big Laker home game, when the place is packed with celebs and eye candy, when you’re the best guy on the team, when you might as well be the king of the world. When these idiots complain about a “big market/small market” disparity, it’s almost like they never followed the league before they bought their teams. Of course there’s a disparity! What kid doesn’t grow up wanting to play for the Celtics, Lakers or Knicks?”