As bad as it sucks to be a fan of an average small market team.....man, I can't even imagine how bad it sucks to be a NO Hornets fan right now. The latest deal that David Stern turned down... Chris Kaman - a very solid young-ish center. Al-Farouq Aminu - a lottery pick just last year. Eric Gordon - a young borderline all-star. Minnesota's unprotected 2012 1st round pick - which could very well end up being the #1 overall pick in an incredibly loaded draft. They turned down ALL THAT for a guy that's just going to leave for nothing at the end of the year!? IMO, Minnesota's pick alone would have been enough to pull the trigger. Super-star for a super-star (potentially). It doesn't get much better for a team in NO's situation. AND they were including three other good players!?! That's an entire new team right there. Because ERIC BLEDSOE wasn't included in the deal!? Give me a freaking break. You think the deals are going to get better as CP3 gets closer to leaving for nothing!? If Paul leaves N.O....no one goes to/watches any of their games this year...and the team (i.e. David Stern and his bosses) lose money in the short-term. They're getting COMPLETELY SCREWED and I can't believe there isn't more uproar about it. Oh wait...yes I can...no one cares about the great game of basketball anymore. Thanks Stern.
That would be a sick deal for the Hornets. Maybe Stern is trying to ensure that the team is run into the ground so the league can just move it to another city or contract it.
The Clippers declined that trade, because it's "too much" to deal to a team without much leverage other than being ran by the NBA. Don't forget, the Hornets also wanted Eric Bledsoe back in the deal as well. FYI, Kaman is ehh. His inclusion in the trade is a cap dump. Sidenote, are there really that many Hornets fans? The Saints are winning; seems like the city would just shrug and move on after Paul was traded. New Orleans is a bad market for basketball. The NBA doesn't want to move the team despite this because of the PR hit of the perception of the league abandoning New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
