Chris Paul traded again- to Clippers for Eric Gordon

[Da Coach]

Pending League approval-
Chris Paul and 2 second round picks to the New Orleans Hornets.
Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and an unprotected 1st round draft pick (Minnesota's 2012)

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2011/12/clippers-acquire-chris-paul-send-eric-gordon-to-new-orleans-.html

Interesting switch of players, but unless the Clippers add more than CP3, I still don't see them being very good.

[Gwright]

Pending League approval-
Chris Paul and 2 second round picks to the New Orleans Hornets.
Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and an unprotected 1st round draft pick (Minnesota's 2012)

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2011/12/clippers-acquire-chris-paul-send-eric-gordon-to-new-orleans-.html

Interesting switch of players, but unless the Clippers add more than CP3, I still don't see them being very good.

We are excited to get him out of town. We want this to go through, we very well might not get an offer better than this, and he is walking out of town next year anyway.

[spoon]

I wonder how mad Lakers fans are right now.

[Da Coach]

N.O. Hornets fans are much happier. This is a much better trade for them. They were thoroughly fleeced by the Lakers.

[buschsquirrel2011]

I cant imagine the New Orleans Hornets being around much longer themselves.

[spoon]

N.O. Hornets fans are much happier. This is a much better trade for them. They were thoroughly fleeced by the Lakers.

They should be. Gordon/Aminu both have tremendous youth and upside, and Kaman is a serviceable center. The first round draft pick they receive is also the T-Wolves unconditional pick, which means it will likely be a top 10 pick.

[BUfan14]

Interesting switch of players, but unless the Clippers add more than CP3, I still don't see them being very good.

I don't know, starting Paul, Billups, Caron Butler, Griffin, DeAndre Jordan with Mo williams, Eric Bledsoe, Randy Foye, Trey Thompkins, and Ryan Gomes off the bench they look to be pretty competitive. I think they at minimum make the playoffs and have a chance to be competitive with anyone.

By the way, I would not have traded Gordon and the 1st for an injury risk in Paul....

[Da Coach]

Recall that with Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon, the Clippers had one of the worst records in the NBA last year (24-58 ). I just don't see this trade improving them enough to be more than a marginal playoff team if everyone stays healthy.
Most teams with a legitimate chance to advance to the finals need 3 star players and several other players who can reliably score if needed. The Clippers have 2 great players in Paul and Griffin, but IMO the others are all role players.
Chris Paul averaged 15.9 ppg last season, which btw, is his lowest scoring average of his 6 year career. And the Clippers just traded away 40.3 ppg to get him. (Gordon- 22.3 ppg, Kaman-12.4 ppg, Aminu- 5.6 ppg). And they traded Baron Davis, their 4th leading scorer last year to get Mo Williams.

None of their other players averaged more than 10 points for them last season. They lost 3 of the 5 top scoring players from last season. Maybe Billups or Butler can fill some of that void, but Billups is 35 years old and clearly on the downside of his career, and Butler will be 32 during the season.

[TylerDurden]

I personally don't think the proposed trade by the Lakers was a fleecing of the Hornets at all. Remember it was a three-team deal

Hornets would get:
Lamar Odom - NBA 6th Man of the Year and one of the most versatile players in the league http://www.nba.com/playerfile/lamar_...eer_stats.html
Kevin Martin - consistent 20+ ppg scorer http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kevin_...eer_stats.html)
Luis Scola - 18/8 last season, consistently good big man http://www.nba.com/playerfile/luis_s...eer_stats.html)
Goran Dragic - young, backup guard http://www.nba.com/playerfile/goran_...eer_stats.html)
1st Round pick (from Houston)

Houston got:
Pau Gasol - 31 years old, one of the top big men in the game http://www.nba.com/playerfile/pau_gasol/

Lakers get:
Chris Paul - one of the top 2-3 PGs in the league http://www.nba.com/playerfile/chris_...eer_stats.html

The Hornets were going to add proven NBA players while only giving up a guy who was going to leave as a free agent anyway. To be fair, they'd also take on the contracts of those players and lose their PG.

That said, the deal with the Clippers has the potential to be more attractive to a potential owner and the draft pick could be a top three selection.

Hornets get:
Eric Gordon - one of the top young scorers in the league http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3431/eric-gordon
Chris Kaman - solid NBA center http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/1982/chris-kaman
Al-Farouq Aminu - still a project but has a high ceiling http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/4248/al-farouq-aminu
Minnesota's unprotected 2012 first-round pick

Clippers get:
Chris Paul
two future second-round picks

I think it breaks like this: the Lakers deal was better for now, the Clippers deal is better for the future.

[BUfan14]

Recall that with Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon, the Clippers had one of the worst records in the NBA last year (24-58 ). I just don't see this trade improving them enough to be more than a marginal playoff team if everyone stays healthy.
Most teams with a legitimate chance to advance to the finals need 3 star players and several other players who can reliably score if needed. The Clippers have 2 great players in Paul and Griffin, but IMO the others are all role players.
Chris Paul averaged 15.9 ppg last season, which btw, is his lowest scoring average of his 6 year career. And the Clippers just traded away 40.3 ppg to get him. (Gordon- 22.3 ppg, Kaman-12.4 ppg, Aminu- 5.6 ppg). And they traded Baron Davis, their 4th leading scorer last year to get Mo Williams.

None of their other players averaged more than 10 points for them last season. They lost 3 of the 5 top scoring players from last season. Maybe Billups or Butler can fill some of that void, but Billups is 35 years old and clearly on the downside of his career, and Butler will be 32 during the season.

Ya those are all good points. All though the Mavs won it all without 3 legit stars last year and a few aging players (Billups and Kidd are very similar IMO), so you never know I guess. I don't know if you NEED 3 stars, but it certainly makes it a lot more likely. The health of Butler and Paul is a concern too though. I would rather have Kaman, Gordon, and that 1st than Paul also, but I still think they are a playoff team. Probably not a legit contender yet.

[Braves4Life]

Pending League approval-

Am I the only one that has a problem with this "pending league approval"? IMO, if teams agree to a trade it should be allowed to happen.... Free market capitalism.

[Da Coach]

But it is not entirely a free market. Each team is confined to it's own city, and therefore not all teams have access to some of the greater revenues that teams in cities like NY, LA, and Chicago have. Thus some are far better off financially than others. If left solely to free market, the wealthy teams would accumulate all the talent and put the less wealthy teams out of business. The NBA owners (even those from the wealthy teams) agree that the only way the NBA can remain competetive and survive, is to have salary caps for teams, and allow the commissioner to have the power to veto trades that unfairly benefit one team at the expense of another.
In the same way that anti-trust laws are in place by the government to protect the consumer, there needs to be some restrictions in the NBA.