Busy day. The CP3 trade went down but it appears that the Lakers have focused their collective attention at another superstar. Maybe the superstar they should’ve gone after in the first place. We’ve got a Heisman winner and an MVP who got busted for PED use. We’ve got the football picks. Busy busy Sunday. Strap on those special helmets that the doctors gave you to protect you from all this hard hitting action. Another two parter! Let’s go!
According to multiple outlets, the Lakers have officially pulled OUT of the CP3 trade discussions. How do we know this? Because one of the pawns in that supposed deal was shipped to Dallas. The trade exception the Mavs received as part of the Tyson Chandler sign and trade was used to acquire Lamar Odom. The Hornets front office is said to be devastated says Yahoo Sports. Meanwhile, Dwight Howard’s agent has received permission to seek out proposals from the Lakers, Mavericks and Nets about possible deals that would land the soon to be free agent center on to their respective teams reports Ken Berger of CBSSports. Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wants to know what happened to the guy that promised to make Orlando-natives forget about Shaq, instead he’s making them relive it. Peter Vecsey, the longtime scribe of the NBA says that in his four decades of faithfully traveling the NBA circles he’s never seen a deal for a superstar that has gotten equal value so he’s telling Otis Smith of the Magic to get what he can and live with it. Marc Berman of NY Post says that Tyson Chandler was talking defense during his introductory press conference. Mitch Lawrence says its about time the Knicks began to realize that there is another side of basketball and finally addressed it. Finally, Chauncey Billups, mister Big Shot turned mister Big Mouth, went on the offensive saying the Knicks undervalued him during his tenure and if he were healthy during the Celtics series it may have gone differently according to Ian O’Connor of ESPNNY. Finally in the FIX, Alan Hahn says that Shawne Williams is mulling over several offers before picking one and why number 6 for Chandler is relevant.
 Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_SI)12/10/11 6:37 PM Dwight Howard is the 2nd-best player in the league. If there’s a moment you think about dangling Steph Curry or Eric Gordon, this is it. |
Ok so digest all that and come back to me when you’re ready. Oh, you want more? Ok well here it is. Late last night sources said the Lakers fell out of the CP3 bidding when it became clear to them that no version of that trade would be acceptable in the league’s eyes. The League won’t take on more salary and the Lakers don’t have the young assets that the league wants in return, and so the three team trade that would’ve sent Chris Paul to one of his desired locations is not going to happen. Teams like the Warriors and Clippers who felt they were out of it have now re-engaged the Hornets. The Clippers could dangle that unprotected first round pick along with a slew of young talent like Eric Bledsoe and a sign and trade with DeAndre Jordan (who got a qualifying offer for 4 years/$40 million which the Clippers will immediately counter since the new CBA only gives teams 3 days to respond), to get CP3.
But now that the league has virtually shut down that Laker deal it now becomes a race for both the Hornets front office and the Orlando front office to send their star player to a team they desire while getting back the necessary pieces. Those pieces and teams may not be there if one deal is done before the other. The Magic have the Lakers bidding since they have run out of patience on the CP3 front and now have dealt Odom to Dallas for the $12 million trade exception they received when Tyson Chandler left for the Knicks in that sign and trade. Details of that sign and trade are part of a weird 3 part construct which you can read, but heres what the Knicks lose: a 2nd round pick in 2013, they get the draft rights to two Mavs’ second round picks and they lose Ronny Turiaf and Andy Rautins.
Its sad what the NBA did but you can’t blame them considering the financials of that Laker deal would’ve set the Hornets with a high payroll to be saddled on to a prospective owner without a star player in the mix. According to Peter Vecsey’s report, there appears to be someone already in the hunt and so there may have been discussions with that person as well so don’t just reserve blame on just one guy here NBA fans.
As for the Dwight hysteria, I agree with Zack Lowe. You get the chance to get the second best player in all of basketball at his peak or heading into his peak, you trade your young pieces. Eric Gordon is a shooting guard with much promise. But you trade Gordon, DeAndre Jordan AND that unprotected first rounder Orlando says yes so fast it will make his head spin. But apparently the Nets and the Lakers are his first two choices, in that order. I kid you not, the Nets are his choice ABOVE the Lakers. Like I said, these superstars come with their own egos and I suppose that Dwight would love the opportunity to forge his own legacy in his own building with his own team. I think that makes sense for his brand if he’s associated with the Brooklyn Nets. He could show up in Jay-Z videos. His wife could be bosom buddies with Beyonce. His future kids could roam with Jay and B’s future kids. They would have armed protection by the Russian mafia. I get the allure but the Lakers pose that looming threat and this trade allows them to send Gasol and Bynum and allow the Lakers to take back Hedo’s contract. Otis Smith may want a number one draft pick from thin air, which would throw a monkey wrench into this whole thing but chances are slim that it would take that to push it over the edge. Meanwhile the Nets have options outside of Dwight. If Dwight doesn’t get traded, Nene may get into their radar and suddenly Nene would get the Rockets, and Nets among other teams pushing to sign for him although now that the Laker/CP3 deal is off the Rockets wouldn’t be able to sign him.
That’s why Nene hasn’t signed. He’s waiting for this carousel to stop and it may not end until mid to late this coming week which means that Nene would have a week of practice with a new team. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. He may just get tired of waiting and sign a deal but who knows.
Meanwhile Chauncey Billups’ anger makes a ton of sense. He got traded in a situation he wasn’t completely comfortable with. He then never got a chance to prove himself because the Knicks were waiting for that next point guard. When the Knicks ditched that plan he still got the short end of the stick which again is unfortunate for Chauncey. He’s known as one of the classier dudes in the league but he’s tired of being the mentor- a situation he may be put in if he gets picked up by a team that is rebuilding. Its a situation he doesn’t want to be in and he says he will retire if not given the opportunity to go to a winner. Even a team like the Heat- a team the Knicks will play 3 times this year. Something that seems very appealing to him.
Look, I love Big Shot, but as much as he’s been traded he still hasn’t gotten over the fact that this is a business. A business that is unforgiving and has very few loyalties. Billups feels he should’ve felt some loyalty from some team but he never got that. This is a former third overall pick here. Not some scrub undrafted veteran who bounced around in the CBA and made his name known elsewhere. He has that confidence and trust me I agree that the Knicks never truly gave him a shot. His introduction was as loud as Carmelo’s introduction because real basketball fans understand what Billups brings to the table. He brings veteran leadership, poise and the cojones to take the shot. I will miss him and look forward to the Knicks competing against him.
The winner here I feel are the Mavs. They got the contracts off the books that will allow them to make a run at Deron Williams next offseason. If they don’t trade Lamar Odom this year, which seems unlikely, they will have a formidable front line again albeit not as defensive minded as the old one was. The Mavs, and Mark Cuban are smart and are reassessing all their options given the new CBA which will be unforgiving for a team that annualy reports over the luxury tax line because he CARES about putting a winning team on the court. He gives a damn and realizes that in order to build a winner it takes cash. He’s a smart guy who loves his Mavs and I loved that he won that title last year. We’ll see what the Mavs have in store but I get the feeling that Odom won’t be long in a Mavs uni.
Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says, if true, this Ryan Braun testing positive for PED’s would be destructive to the image of that town.
And another superstar goes down. And no matter how many people tell you to wait for all the information to come out it doesn’t matter. Ryan Braun is done. In this day and age, its impossible to remove the stain of that allegation against you. Braun was an up and coming superstar and now he’ll be forever earmarked as one of those guys. It doesn’t matter if tests show he didn’t use, his MVP is up for debate and now his career up until now is as well and its sad. Braun never looked like the kind of guy who would but this just goes to show you you just never know. Skinny guys, big guys they’re all one in the same.
On the other hand its so difficult for players to know what exactly they are putting into their bodies. Supplements have so many ingredients in them that can trigger a positive test that even if you think you’re putting muscle milk in, buyer beware. Its difficcult that a person’s entire reputation can go in the crapper because of one failed test but now everything is up for grabs including possibly his NL MVP trophy which he JUST received. And if this positive test result was known prior to the voting, it may make some voters cry foul and ask for a recount.
Trust me folks, this story is JUST beginning. This is going to have legs and this is going to run faster than Jesse Owens in Berlin.
On the strength of one final performance Robert Griffin the Third won the 77th Heisman yesterday becoming the first player from Baylor to win the prestigious award. The award is handed out to the most outstanding player in all of college football and is considered the highest individual honor in college athletics.
There were so many people who thought Andrew Luck was a foregone conclusion to this game especially after leading his team to a win over USC. But suddenly RGIII got some wind and some steam and began gaining respect and momentum with each big performance. Then Stanford lost to the Ducks. RGIII was the last to play on that Saturday prior to voting and that’s what decided it. Its unfair to Luck that he carried that front runner burden all year long and yet lost it in the end, but RGIII is a phenomenal athlete who put up elite numbers and who relied on his skills in the pocket more than his athletic frame outside of the pocket. That helped him vault over several special athletes including the Honey Badger himself.
I don’t follow College football too much but I got to see him against Oklahoma and that may have won him the award though he had the Heisman pose in his final tryout which is always a plus and the superman socks at the ceremony which I’m sure made voters run to the podium and switch votes. But in the end, Luck won’t need a Heisman to be the first pick in next year’s draft and Griffin now will get double the pub and a bit of boost to catapult him into the draft.
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