Lakers trade

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

I get your point and it's a valid one, but Stern never has seemed particularly interested in poor PR. You guys got the former Sonics in your backyard now. The behind the scenes bullsh.it deals that went on to get that team there were borderline criminal.

Plus, since there is a 0% chance Paul resigns with New Orleans, at least they get something for him, instead of just totally losing him.

I didnt see this as poor PR for the NBA in the first place other than by conspiracy theory believers. As a matter of fact I saw it as a net win for the league. NO gets better and one of its under the radar stars gets exposure on the big stage before he starts to decline.

NOW I see it as terrible PR for the NBA. Stern looks like a puppet, the owners look petty and greedy, the Hornets are in a terrible spot, the dominos that fall after a move like this are held up because this is in limbo (surely the NBA players association will file a lawsuit), the players look greedy even if they are simply wanting to play for a better team (Hell NO doesnt even have an owner nor supposedly do they have a suitor) and the Lakers have 2 pissed off players in an already potentially disfunctional situation. Small market teams can compete in the NBA as shown by SA and OKC. Big Market teams can suck for extended periods as shown by the Knicks.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I didnt see this as poor PR for the NBA in the first place other than by conspiracy theory believers. As a matter of fact I saw it as a net win for the league. NO gets better and one of its under the radar stars gets exposure on the big stage before he starts to decline.

NOW I see it as terrible PR for the NBA. Stern looks like a puppet, the owners look petty and greedy, the Hornets are in a terrible spot, the dominos that fall after a move like this are held up because this is in limbo (surely the NBA players association will file a lawsuit), the players look greedy even if they are simply wanting to play for a better team (Hell NO doesnt even have an owner nor supposedly do they have a suitor) and the Lakers have 2 pissed off players in an already potentially disfunctional situation. Small market teams can compete in the NBA as shown by SA and OKC. Big Market teams can suck for extended periods as shown by the Knicks.

You make good points, but maybe what we're all forgetting is real fans already know everything this situation is bringing to light. Stern has always been a puppet. The owners have always been petty and greedy. New Orleans has been in a tough spot for years and of course the players want to play for a better team, although being in a city like LA or Miami helps. I find it hard to believe there would be a big push by players to play in Alaska if they had a team...but that is a whole other conversation.

The people who will be outraged by this are people that don't really pay attention (so who cares?) and greedy owners who don't want to spend the money to bring big talent in.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

You make good points, but maybe what we're all forgetting is real fans already know everything this situation is bringing to light. Stern has always been a puppet. The owners have always been petty and greedy. New Orleans has been in a tough spot for years and of course the players want to play for a better team, although being in a city like LA or Miami helps. I find it hard to believe there would be a big push by players to play in Alaska if they had a team...but that is a whole other conversation.

The people who will be outraged by this are people that don't really pay attention (so who cares?) and greedy owners who don't want to spend the money to bring big talent in.

That is true. I dont see Bucks fans saying "that it, Paul to the lakers, Im out"

The funny thing about the LeBron situation was despite the bad press for him the most outraged people outside of Cleveland were those who dont really follow the game anyway. The league had huge ratings last year and the playoffs were very good from round 1 to the Finals. A huge portion was because of the interest created by LeBron. This is like the anti-LeBron situation. The Hornets arent a draw with Paul and while i'm not convinced that the deal would make the Lakers better the cancellation has made them worse just because you now have 2 key players knowing they were traded and that is Mike Brown on the Bench, not Phil Jackson. The 1st time Pau goes into a funk you can believe that Kobe will be killing him. I dont like the Lakers but the league is a better place when they are relevant. A Paul/Kobe backcourt would be fun to watch though the frontcourt would be potentially woeful if (when?) Bynum goes down.