No Blood No Foul

According to most reports, the Lakers are currently in the lead for the rights to acquire Chris Paul (as of December 7, 2011). The problem is, L.A. doesn’t quite have the right assets to land Chris Paul. Here’s why, and here’s a logical solution:

What New Orleans Wants: Losing Paul is going to kick start a rebuilding process, and that means that the Hornets need to turn solid veterans with big contracts (i.e., Emeka Okafor) into less expensive players and assets. The Hornets also want good first round draft picks.

• Takeaway: New Orleans probably isn’t going to trade Chris Paul unless Okafor goes along with him.

What Los Angeles Wants: Chris Paul at any cost. Paul can be the face of the Lakers for the rest of this decade, succeeding Kobe. Furthermore, Paul + the Hollywood lifestyle will ensure that L.A. can entice free agents for years to come.

• Takeaway: L.A. will probably trade anyone who isn’t named Kobe to acquire Paul.

The Problem: If we look at the centerpieces of the Chris Paul – Lakers trade:

1. New Orleans would pass on a Bynum for Paul trade because that doesn’t get rid of Okafor.
2. Trading Paul + Okafor for Bynum + Gasol (or perhaps Bynum + Odom), solves #1, but neither Odom nor Gasol help the Hornets rebuild. There’s also the fact that Odom and Gasol are incredibly expensive players for a rebuilding team.
3. The Lakers can offer first round picks, but none of the picks are going to be very high. They’re likely to come in the late 20′s, which is nothing to get excited about considering Golden State and the Clippers can offer more.

The Solution: Why not pull in the Hawks?

Josh Smith is available, and Atlanta has picks they might be willing to offer up in a Gasol trade. L.A. could then trade the pick(s) from Atlanta to New Orleans (along with a pick or two of their own) and take back Okafor and Paul. Here’s the deal I would propose:

• L.A. gets Chris Paul, Okafor, and Josh Smith
• New Orleans gets Bynum, Kirk Hinrich, and draft picks from both Atlanta and L.A.
• Atlanta gets Gasol and saves about $2 million in salary

Everyone wins. (more…)

Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Devin Harris and Derrick Favors have been traded to the Jazz for Deron Williams.

Shocking, right?

Looking at Utah’s cap situation and the seemingly inevitable drama that would have followed the Jazz around next season – the “Where will Deron go?” hysteria – Utah made a gutsy decision and turned a great point guard into a very good point guard, an interesting rookie, and two draft picks.

The conclusions that we can draw are: (more…)

If I’m Cho and I’m running the show in Portland (pardon the pun), I’m working hard today to put my hands into the rumored Knicks-Nuggets trade that sends Ray Felton to Denver. Why? Because, as much as I like Andre Miller (and I’m speaking as a student of the game and as Blazer’s management), he’s old. He’s as good as he’s ever going to be. Felton? He’s only going to get better.

Raymond Felton is a good passer, a decent defender, and a better shooter than Miller, and therefore he’s a better running mate for Brandon Roy. He’s also younger, so he’ll have a chance to develop chemistry with Portland’s new franchise player LaMarcus Aldridge.

In other words, Felton is a better fit than Miller.

In my opinion, Denver will be open to trading Felton right away because: (more…)

The rumor of the day is that L.A. is considering trading Andrew Bynum for Carmelo Anthony. I assume L.A.’s reasoning goes something like this:

1. Bynum has missed a lot of games this year and we still win without him
2. Kobe is on the downhill slope of his career – it’s a good idea to have a successor waiting in the wings
3. Melo might be a better player with Kobe and Phil Jackson looking over his shoulder – after all, we saw a glimpse of what Melo can do in the Denver-LA Western Conference Finals
4. Melo creates space for Gasol and Kobe and puts a lot of pressure on defenses

I also think LA is hesitant to trade for Melo because he wouldn’t improve their defense. There’s also the issue of usage – where will the ball go with Odom, Gasol, Kobe, and Melo all on the floor?

To be honest, I don’t see LA having a lot of reasons to do this deal. Unless Bynum isn’t taking things seriously and applying himself, trading him seems like the wrong move.

As far as Denver is concerned, this deal is a no-brainer. Here’s why: (more…)

The sports blog world is probably going to erupt tomorrow with news that Carmelo has demanded a trade. I can see it now – hundreds of bloggers saying that Denver *has* to trade Melo or risk losing him for nothing.

Not so fast.

While it’s certainly true Denver would probably be wise to move Carmelo now, they certainly don’t have to. There are a lot of unknowns that play in Denver’s favor. (more…)

I won’t go into my opinion of LeBron too much, but I think Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports has it right. James is an egomaniac, and his spectacle only served to ruin his image. However, that’s really not important now. Now it’s time to wonder just how well the new triumvirate of Wade, Bosh, and James will play. Without all the pieces assembled, it’s still up in the air a little bit, but it’s safe to say the final Heat roster will look something like this: (more…)