Stern needs to be fired. Into the sun.

Wow, I didn't realize that David Stern had veto power over over everything. Strange league.

Stern sucks.

The owners can try and stop these trades all they want, but as soon as Paul's a free agent, he's going to bolt for another team and the Hornets will get nothing for him.

The league has done this to themselves by marketing stars above teams. The top labor wants to play with the other top labor, and there's nothing they can do about it, because the reserve clause is dead and buried.

m1ke: Wow, I didn't realize that David Stern had veto power over over everything. Strange league.

He owns the Hornets.

It's hilarious watching Stern burn down the league. Now small market teams can't even get trade value for guys, and just need to inevitably lose them to free agency. In twenty years the NBA will be 8 teams.

Owners should have negotiated a franchise tag if they were that concerned about it. This should end Stern's tenure, but then again having refs proven in court to be fixing playoff games for the mob should have ended his tenure too.

IDamnYankees: As a Lakers fan, I feel terrible for Odom. Love that guy.

I wouldn't worry about Lamar Odom, because he's Lamar Odom. Regardless of what's swirling around him, he'll smoke a bowl and show up at the first day of camp to inbound the ball to himself, pass to guys standing on their bench, have random sparks of anger and power tackle Ray Allen wherever the hell he might be, and in general be the Lamar Odom we all know and love.

m1ke: Wow, I didn't realize that David Stern had veto power over over everything. Strange league.

Simmons on the matter. (new window)

Soon Right Away: m1ke: Wow, I didn't realize that David Stern had veto power over over everything. Strange league.

Simmons on the matter. (new window)

Was about to post this. I wonder if Stern will be on another podcast with Simmons anytime soon....

I think Chris Paul and the rest of the Hornet players just sit the whole year when on the road.. Play at home, since the home fans don't deserve it, but on the road, give the FU to the NBA and just standaround while the other team wonders what to do. What if the Hornets forfeited all their road games?
Bad move by the NBA, and I can't see how this could even be legal.

velvet_fog: [oi39.tinypic.com image 476x272]

awesome haha...

Stern is a beady-eyed little goblin. Horrible move.

what i don't get is why do folks think this deal was so tilted towards the lakers? personally i was fine with the lakers gutting their interior for a point guard with one knee who will struggle to share the ball with a 42-year-old ball-hogging rapist douchenozzle named kobe. i mean, the lakers plans meant they would rely on bynum to man the interior and be healthy for more than a dozen games. this was a great way for the lakers to suck...

I think this is mostly just blowback from people tired of seeing the Lakers get a superstar player for pennies on the dollar .... for the umpteenth million time in the last 40 years. I think this will eventually get reversed.

The only good part of this is seeing Chris Paul sit out and pout. He can finally give up that stale, tired "God I just love it in New Orleans. I love the city and the people so much. I don't want to leave. Gosh, I honestly don't know where all these trade rumors are coming from." schtick. Dude, give it up. Everyone knows you're a phoney.

star_topology: Soon Right Away: m1ke: Wow, I didn't realize that David Stern had veto power over over everything. Strange league.

Simmons on the matter. (new window)

Was about to post this. I wonder if Stern will be on another podcast with Simmons anytime soon....

Maybe after he resigns...

star_topology: Soon Right Away: m1ke: Wow, I didn't realize that David Stern had veto power over over everything. Strange league.

Simmons on the matter. (new window)

Was about to post this. I wonder if Stern will be on another podcast with Simmons anytime soon....

He might still. Simmons has never gone away from criticizing Stern in the past when he's done something dumb and praising him when he's doing well. Stern did a podcast during the lockout I believe and Simmons had been knocking him and wondering if he was in trouble since last year.

A Fark Handle: what i don't get is why do folks think this deal was so tilted towards the lakers?

You must have missed out on the "Lakers get the best point guard in the league and actually shed tons of payroll in the process" part.

I bet the owner of the Bobcats is pissed. He would.'t have made the deal if he didn't think it was in the franchise's best interest...

how can the league negotiate a trade in good faith only to nix it because it sees it as bad, after the deal has been finalized? No conflict of interest at all..... League owned teams should be prohibited from making trades. Problem solved. Way to devalue the franchise sine they will get 0 for Paul now.

ATRDCI: dougermouse: I think Chris Paul and the rest of the Hornet players just sit the whole year when on the road.. Play at home, since the home fans don't deserve it, but on the road, give the FU to the NBA and just standaround while the other team wonders what to do. What if the Hornets forfeited all their road games?
Bad move by the NBA, and I can't see how this could even be legal.

The previous Hornets owner sold the team to the NBA, kinda like how MLB owns the Dodgers. This gives Stern veto power over the moves the Hornets makes

teams should not be owned by a league. if teams are in money trouble perhaps their city could buy a share (this would also prevent them from being moved to a bumfark flyover shiathole). of course i'm a fan of public ownership since leagues seems to believe the taxpayers should pay for the arena, thus taxpayers should own the team...

InmanRoshi: You must have missed out on the "Lakers get the best point guard in the league and actually shed tons of payroll in the process" part.

But that payroll happens to be the best big man on their team and one of the best 6th men in the league...

InmanRoshi: A Fark Handle: what i don't get is why do folks think this deal was so tilted towards the lakers?

You must have missed out on the "Lakers get the best point guard in the league and actually shed tons of payroll in the process" part.

you must have missed out on the "chris paul has one knee, kobe needs the ball, and the lakers would have no interior players" part.

Hopefully this reverses the super team trend

ghall3: InmanRoshi: You must have missed out on the "Lakers get the best point guard in the league and actually shed tons of payroll in the process" part.

But that payroll happens to be the best big man on their team and one of the best 6th men in the league...

Yep... And Odom would have been a clear starter on basically every other team.

mc_madness: velvet_fog: [oi39.tinypic.com image 476x272]

awesome haha...

Stern is a beady-eyed little goblin. Horrible move.

Haha. Not mine, but pretty much sums up Stern's legacy, so it seemed oblig.

Tickle Mittens: It's hilarious watching Stern burn down the league. Now small market teams can't even get trade value for guys, and just need to inevitably lose them to free agency. In twenty years the NBA will be 8 teams.

If we contract the Clippers, Grizzlies, Raptors, and Bobcats, that would go a long way towards improving the league. But they would have to scale the playoffs back to 4 teams per conference.

A Fark Handle: ATRDCI: dougermouse: I think Chris Paul and the rest of the Hornet players just sit the whole year when on the road.. Play at home, since the home fans don't deserve it, but on the road, give the FU to the NBA and just standaround while the other team wonders what to do. What if the Hornets forfeited all their road games?
Bad move by the NBA, and I can't see how this could even be legal.

The previous Hornets owner sold the team to the NBA, kinda like how MLB owns the Dodgers. This gives Stern veto power over the moves the Hornets makes

teams should not be owned by a league. if teams are in money trouble perhaps their city could buy a share (this would also prevent them from being moved to a bumfark flyover shiathole). of course i'm a fan of public ownership since leagues seems to believe the taxpayers should pay for the arena, thus taxpayers should own the team...

The problem is that just about every league has rules explicitly forbidding public ownership. The Packers got grandfathered in because they were publicly owned when the NFL was formed.

Soon Right Away: Simmons on the matter. (new window)

Great article, Simmons is one of the best sportswriters around at present.

I hope Chris Paul sues. I hope the Rockets sue. I hope the Lakers sue. I hope Dell Demps resigns and makes a sex tape with a stripper wearing a David Stern Halloween mask.

Awesome.

A few years ago I read somewhere that doctors in small town, rural areas made more money than big city doctors. Because highly educated people, usually marry highly educated people and want to be surrounded by highly educated people. So doctors move to the big cites where there are more highly educated people.

So in Rural and less educated areas can charge more for their services because of less competition.

If the NBA really wanted to increase the power of the small market teams, they should allow them to pay one superstar a true market rate, and not have it account against the salary cap.

For example, if CP3 leaves at the end of this year for LA/NY he knows he's giving up a guaranteed 5th year, and a few million dollars. But he could make that up in his second contract with NY/LA as well as greater off-court revenue opportunities. But if NOLA was able to pay him 25 Million a year but only have 16 million count against the cap, that changes the equation for Paul.

DamnYankees: grinding_journalist: Great article, Simmons is one of the best sportswriters around at present.

IMO today's article is the best thing he's written in...years, maybe.

Just finished reading the whole thing, and I completely agree.

InmanRoshi: A Fark Handle: what i don't get is why do folks think this deal was so tilted towards the lakers?

You must have missed out on the "Lakers get the best point guard in the league and actually shed tons of payroll in the process" part.

They would have gotten what MAY have been the best point guard in the league who just came off knee surgery, and lost one of the best big men in the league (Gasol) and a very good player (Odom). There was absolutely nothing wrong with this trade but it made Gilbert butthurt and less of Buss' money would be spread around.

Komplex: A few years ago I read somewhere that doctors in small town, rural areas made more money than big city doctors.

I highly doubt that. Specialists are usually in the bigger cities, and those guys (and gals) get paid quite a lot of money. If you're talking about some run-of-the-mill general physician or something useless like D.O., then I could believe that you might make more in Bumblefark Arkansas than in New York or San Fran. But not because of the "surrounded by highly educated people," thing, I think it might have more to do with the supply and demand thing. There's a ton of doctors in New York, but not a lot in the middle of nowhere.

Or I could be completely wrong. I have no idea what I'm talking about and I've never once looked into this. Carry on!

ole prophet: InmanRoshi: A Fark Handle: what i don't get is why do folks think this deal was so tilted towards the lakers?

You must have missed out on the "Lakers get the best point guard in the league and actually shed tons of payroll in the process" part.

They would have gotten what MAY have been the best point guard in the league who just came off knee surgery, and lost one of the best big men in the league (Gasol) and a very good player (Odom). There was absolutely nothing wrong with this trade but it made Gilbert butthurt and less of Buss' money would be spread around.

Oh thats BS. This was a clear precursor to a Dwight Howard sign and trade and everyone knew it, The Lakers got rid of over 20 million in cap space and 20 million in luxury tax in this deal while giving up zero draft picks. You are delusional. The owners saw the endgame and killed it for the good of the game, whats left of it.

This was actually a fair trade

A Fark Handle: you must have missed out on the "chris paul has one knee, kobe needs the ball, and the lakers would have no interior players" part.

This is how it was going to play out....

Dwight Howard was going to tell all the teams in the NBA to not even bother to trade for him, because he wanted to join Chris Paul in LA and he wasn't going to sign an extension with anyone. That would have suppressed his trade value to the point that the only possibilities for Orlando were to trade Howard to the Lakers for Bynum or watch him walk away for nothing.

That's why the owners stepped in. The fact that this trade goes down literally minutes after the new CBA is voted on added to it. The whole thing stunk, and it smelled like "The Decision" all over again, where several superstar players and their teams of agents had conspired a plan where they join forces and permamently disrupt the competitive balance of the league.

star_topology: DamnYankees: grinding_journalist: Great article, Simmons is one of the best sportswriters around at present.

IMO today's article is the best thing he's written in...years, maybe.

Just finished reading the whole thing, and I completely agree.

I've been enjoying him more since he's been on Grantland. Maybe it's just the casual swearing. I'm a sucker for some goddamn casual swearing.

m1ke: Wow, I didn't realize that David Stern had veto power over over everything. Strange league.

Maybe only for league-owned teams, but with that farking dictator, who knows...

Tickle Mittens: It's hilarious watching Stern burn down the league. Now small market teams can't even get trade value for guys, and just need to inevitably lose them to free agency. In twenty years the NBA will be 8 teams.

It already is... 8 teams, and a bunch of Washington Generals clones.

Why Would I Read the Article: Komplex: A few years ago I read somewhere that doctors in small town, rural areas made more money than big city doctors.

I highly doubt that. Specialists are usually in the bigger cities, and those guys (and gals) get paid quite a lot of money. If you're talking about some run-of-the-mill general physician or something useless like D.O., then I could believe that you might make more in Bumblefark Arkansas than in New York or San Fran. But not because of the "surrounded by highly educated people," thing, I think it might have more to do with the supply and demand thing. There's a ton of doctors in New York, but not a lot in the middle of nowhere.

Or I could be completely wrong. I have no idea what I'm talking about and I've never once looked into this. Carry on!


You are completely wrong. Comparing specialists to regular doctors is apples to oranges. Small towns regularly give bonuses, be it higher salary or "living allowance" to attract doctors who would otherwise practice in a big city. There are programs set up that pay for med school if the student agrees to practice in a small town environment. It's quite common.

Morpheses: It already is... 8 teams, and a bunch of Washington Generals clones.

You're being generous with 8.

Morpheses: Tickle Mittens: It's hilarious watching Stern burn down the league. Now small market teams can't even get trade value for guys, and just need to inevitably lose them to free agency. In twenty years the NBA will be 8 teams.

It already is... 8 teams, and a bunch of Washington Generals clones.

Dan? Is that you Dan?

InmanRoshi: A Fark Handle: what i don't get is why do folks think this deal was so tilted towards the lakers?

You must have missed out on the "Lakers get the best point guard in the league and actually shed tons of payroll in the process" part.

I'm pretty sure that the Bulls haven't traded Rose to the Lakers.......

downtownkid: You are completely wrong. Comparing specialists to regular doctors is apples to oranges. Small towns regularly give bonuses, be it higher salary or "living allowance" to attract doctors who would otherwise practice in a big city. There are programs set up that pay for med school if the student agrees to practice in a small town environment. It's quite common

Huh. Well, there you go then. Thanks for the education, I honestly had no idea. Also, to get back on track, screw the Lakers!