Friday Bolts – 12.9.11
How about this Chris Paul stuff? Two quick thoughts on it: 1) Completely ridiculous by David Stern and the league to pull this and 2) now what the crap are the Hornets supposed to do?
Dan Gilbert sent an email to Stern: “I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen. I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do. When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals? Please advise….”
Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak in a 5-on-5 on trading Westbrook: “I’m not even ambivalent here. Westbrook had a better season than Paul in 2010-11, and if you believe in things like friendship (and isn’t that Paul’s motivation for playing for the Knicks?), it’s reasonable to expect that Westbrook is far more likely to spend his career in Oklahoma City. Stay the course, Mr. Presti.”
Darnell Mayberry on superteams: “And it’s not like the remaining 20 franchises are fresh meat for the top 10 to feast on. Dallas, for example, won the title last year. All the Mavs had was Dirk Nowitzki and a bunch of role players, albeit really good ones. As you go down the line, you’ll find plenty of teams with superb young talent. Teams like Washington, Utah, Toronto, Sacramento and Golden State. The lottery has been structured to help those teams strike gold and land another potential star to add to their stable. Some day, and perhaps some day soon, those teams can join the league’s most talented 10. In the meantime, it’s the top 10 that will keep us coming back. Keep us glued to our TV sets. Keep us reaching for our wallets to pony up for tickets and NBA League Pass. So bring on the super teams. I want to seem them. And you do, too.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com on last night’s developments: “The developments were “unbelievable,” said another team executive, given that the league-owned Hornets had been allowed to conduct basketball business without interference from the league office since the other 29 owners assumed temporary ownership of the woebegone franchise in December 2010. Also, the league office technically was not supposed to be open to evaluate, approve or disapprove trades until Friday.”
J.A. Sherman of Welcome to Loud City on the supposed Westbrook-Durant stuff: “If we’re going to try and assign a story-line, why does it have to be a negative one? Why can’t it be the Jordan-Pippen story, where two supremely talented individuals knocked heads at first but eventually learned to grow together professionally and personally, turned into one of the most dominant tandems in NBA history, and collected six rings in the process? Unlike Shaq-Kobe, Steph-KG, and Avon-Stringer, we don not know how the Durant-Westbrook story ends. I for one would sure like to witness it though, and I am not going to presume any ending.”
Kevin Arnovitz of TrueHoop on the Clippers move yesterday: “After Blake Griffin landed in the Los Angeles Clippers’ lap in the summer of 2009 after a disastrous 19-63 season, the organization gradually committed itself to a rebuilding blueprint. This later became known to Clippers fans as “the Oklahoma City template,” once the Thunder took off during the 2009-10 season.”
Ben Detrick of Grantland on the rip move: “So the rip-through has ostensibly been banished. Sort of. Since it remains classified as a foul, players will still be able to earn trips to the free throw line by pulling it when an opposing team is in the penalty. You know, like late in close games, when the outcome could teeter on Kevin Durant being handed two free throws. The problem with the change in the rules is that it doesn’t go far enough. If David Stern and the NBA took the rip-through as seriously as they did the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, offending players would be charged with an offensive foul, forced to sit on the sideline wearing suits from Men’s Warehouse and entombed in a New Orleans Hornets uniform forever.”
