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ps99472 said:
Paul should fit in nicely for Kobe and replace dinosaur fisher.  Now to get rid of mr. Elbows for Howard.  CP3-Howard-Kobe.  Make it happen kuptchak.
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Looks like they gave up Gasol and Odom for CP3....now they really need to get Howard.
 
Kobe+Bynum for Howard.

Won't happen but when has Kobe been able to play with a point guard like CP3? Only one ball at a time.
 
The Hornets giveth, the NBA taketh away.

Not sure what the owners are whining about... Lakes are giving up TWO quality forwards (which they need) for a PG that they don't really need (since Kobe likes to have the ball).
 
it just got weird for pau and lamar... imagine walking into the laker's locker room on day 1 and everyone turns and looks at you... how awkward...
 
irvinehomeowner said:
The Hornets giveth, the NBA taketh away.

Not sure what the owners are whining about... Lakes are giving up TWO quality forwards (which they need) for a PG that they don't really need (since Kobe likes to have the ball).
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I completely agree.  How can they say this deal favors the big market team?  They were trading away two all-stars for one.  In a way, the NBA may have done the Lakers a favor by killing this deal.  Rumor has it that Jim Buss was the one really pushing for it.  Of course, Lamar and Pau are the two most mentally unstable players (ok ignoring Meta World Peace) and now Coach Brown has to figure out how to get their heads back in the game.
 
This is an article from ESPN subscriber content that makes the same argument:

Updated: December 8, 2011, 11:02 PM ET
Stern saves Lakers from themselves
Questionable decision to nix CP3 trade only helps pave way for Dwight Howard to L.A.

We've long suspected that many of the league's owners are only dimly aware of what makes a basketball team successful.

Now we have proof.

Set aside the league's laughable press release that the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers was blocked "for basketball reasons." I guess David Stern was concerned about Kevin Martin's defensive plus-minus.

No, the widely suspected reason that I'm only writing about an imaginary trade instead of a real one is that the league's owners were so irate over the agreed-to deal to send Paul to the Lakers that they implored commissioner David Stern to block it & apparently, because they were so focused on the idea of another shiny object going to the Lakers that they didn't really look at what was happening.

The Lakers had agreed to trade Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to New Orleans to get Paul, a trade that sent from Los Angeles an All-Star power forward and the league's best sixth man, also a forward. As a result, L.A. was left with just one credible frontcourt player -- Andrew Bynum, who has missed at least 17 games in each of the past four seasons. Bynum will be suspended for the first five games this season after belting J.J. Barea in the playoffs, meaning the Lakers were looking at an opening night frontcourt of Derrick Caracter and Luke Walton.

Yes, this was offset with a monumental upgrade at point guard, but look at the big picture. Pau-for-Paul is pretty much an even swap. Last season they had virtually identical marks in PER (23.33 for Gasol and 23.76 for Paul) and Estimated Wins Added (17.9 and 18.3). Yes, Gasol is five years older, but he also has a much better injury history. Additionally, bigs age much better than small guards, primarily because it doesn't make them any shorter.

Plus, I would argue that Gasol is a better fit in L.A. than Paul. For starters, Kobe Bryant and Paul have only one ball to share on the perimeter. But more importantly, Paul is a pick-and-roll maestro who thrives when surrounded by spot-up shooters, pick-and-pop big men and a finisher who can roll to the rim. This isn't Kobe, who struggles as a spot-up shooter, and it isn't Bynum, who likes to catch and hold in the post. In fact, the only four Lakers who really fit that style are Gasol and Odom, who were getting shipped off, and Derek Fisher and Steve Blake, whom Paul would have replaced.

All of that makes me queasy from L.A's end about Pau-for-Paul straight up. Throwing in Odom, when the team has no depth and little means to replace him, tilts it heavily in the Hornets' favor. The Lakers would have had an $8.9 million trade exception, but with no meaningful assets (and I mean NONE) to put in a trade, they were going to have a big problem using it to get anybody good.

I suspect this is actually a case of misplaced anger. The owners were so upset about the possibility of Dwight Howard forming a "Superfriends" team with Paul and Kobe that they forgot the logistics of doing so.

Newsflash to L.A.: Andrew Bynum alone doesn't get you Howard. Not even close. Trade Bynum and Gasol and you might get Howard, but you might not. A lot of teams are fishing in that pond and most of them have better bait.

This is where people argue that Howard can "force" his way to Los Angeles, just like Chris Paul forced his way to New York. Er, check that ... Carmelo Anthony.

But there was one big difference during the Melo chase last year: The Knicks were going to have cap space, so the leverage Anthony held was real. Trade me there now, or I'll go there on my own later. In Howard's case, the Lakers have no plausible means of signing him as a free agent, and they wouldn't have had the trade assets to strike a deal with the Magic had they made the Paul deal.

The irony of all this, in other words, is that the owners were so upset about the Lakers potentially getting Howard, that they nixed a trade that would have virtually killed any chance of that happening.

In the meantime, the Rockets have to be upset. Houston took a gamble here, but it getting Gasol would have opened up a crucial $3 million more in cap space they could have used to offer Nene a max contract. That frontcourt, combined with great depth and several underrated perimeter players, would likely have propelled Houston to a top-4 seed in the West, if not further. (Scoff if you will, but Houston had the scoring margin of a 48-win team last season. They didn't need to improve that dramatically to join the elite.)

And if the Rockets are upset, the Hornets must be apoplectic. New Orleans scored three very solid, not-quite-All-Stars in Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Odom, plus they added a scoring guard in Goran Dragic and a first-round pick from New York. The Hornets could have started those four and Emeka Okafor and likely been a one-and-done playoff team just like they were with Paul, except with a brighter future.

Instead ... now what?

What does the league tell them when they have to settle for a lesser deal instead of this one, or lose Paul outright in free agency? Or when the Hornets have trouble even negotiating another Paul deal, for fear the league will swoop in at the last second after everybody on their roster has heard their name in trade talks?

Big picture, the league put itself in a tough spot the day it bought the Hornets & but it put itself in a much tougher one today. By setting an ugly, awful precedent, they've shown the entire league the ramp to a long, slippery slope.
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Buss is pushing for AK (After Kobe).

They know that Kobe is on the decline (he is 33) and they can build an uptempo offense around Chris Paul (only 26 years old). It will be hard for Bydumb to improve with Pau and Odumb around... but at the same time, they still have Bydumb as trade material.

The biggest loss would be Gasoft, without him, the Lakers would not have got their back-to-back (thanks West!). Chris Paul in LA will also draw players hungry for a championship for less money.

And while David Stern may know this... he doesn't have any precedent to overturn the trade. Has he even given a plausible reason as to why? The argument of small market/big market parity is ridiculous considering the great small market teams (SA, OKC) and crappy big market teams (LAC, NorCal). And then he does this while the fans are still irritated about the lockout? Yeah... the next few days may see a capitulation.
 
While I would like to see Howard as a Laker, that probably fits now... but what about later?

I think Howard is headed elsewhere... he doesn't want to be Shaq 2.0.

It would be awesome if CP3 became a Clipper... but that would give Sterling too much credit... instead we get another player with knee problems in Caron Butler... bah.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Buss is pushing for AK (After Kobe).

They know that Kobe is on the decline (he is 33) and they can build an uptempo offense around Chris Paul (only 26 years old).
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I agree that this is his motive, and there's also some ego in play.  He wants to put his imprint on this team and start getting credit for being more than an annoyance.  The whole justification for keeping Bynum this long was to have a center hitting his prime just as Kobe was exiting the league.  That was Jim Buss' vision.  He's always been focused on the post-Kobe era.  Yet Kobe is only 1 year removed from winning a championship and even a Kobe in decline is better than 90% of the league.  They shouldn't give up on this nucleus and instead try to fill in the missing pieces without giving up too much. 
 
I think Liar Loan is going to be stiff competition in our fantasy league... his auto-draft will probably be better than my in-person draft.

Lebron sucks... all you guys should stay away from him.
 
So no more Odom... sent to Dallas for cash?  So now they have Terry and Odom coming off the bench... best 6th and 7th man of the year award..

So if we don't get Howard, we're gonna look stupid..
 
ps99472 said:
So no more Odom... sent to Dallas for cash?  So now they have Terry and Odom coming off the bench... best 6th and 7th man of the year award..

So if we don't get Howard, we're gonna look stupid..
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Lakers seemed to have shot themselves in the foot.  What the hell was that Odom trade all about?  They better get Howard now or it's gonna be a LONG season. 
 
CP3 in a Clipper uniform would be awesome... I might actually make the trip outside the Orange Curtain to see some games.

I'm glad to see Odom go... never felt he was a smart player even back when he was a Clipper.

Funny how Stern vetoes a trade because he think New Orleans didn't get enough back in value... yet the Lakers basically got nothing from Dallas... and they're the defending champs and bolster their forward position and he is okay with it (as is Cuban).
 
Getting back to the fantasy draft.  Since I've never done this before, this might seem like a strange question.  Are the picks done based on position, like each player picks their point guard, then each player picks their shooting guard, etc., or is it more like real life where each player picks their top choice regardless of position?
 
More like real life, owners can pick however they want, you fill your roster based on need.

The auto-draft will take your top choices and later on make sure you have at least 1 player in each of the starting positions (I think).
 
You can also pick all centers and later use them to trade, but then that might backfire on you when you have all centers and no one wants to trade with you..
 
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