Yahoo! reports that Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert e-mailed NBA commissioner David Stern as news of a trade that would send star point guard Chris Paul from the league-owned New Orleans Hornets to the powerhouse L.A. Lakers broke. Stern eventually vetoed the trade, citing "basketball reasons." Gilbert's reasons to oppose the deal were of the more emotional variety.
I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process. And it doesn't appear that they would give up any draft picks, which might allow to later make a trade for Dwight Howard. [...]
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?
Gilbert was considered a hardliner in the NBA lockout, where competitive balance and revenue sharing were major issues of contention.
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Angry Dan Gilbert is angry
FearTheSword, SBNation's Cleveland Cavaliers blog
by Conrad Kaczmarek on Dec 9, 2011 9:22 AM EST reply actions
Dan Gilbert is a very foolish man
CP3’s knee is a coinflip and will be for the rest of his career. The Lakers are taking ALL the risk here and giving away blue-chippers.
The Hornets were getting back almost a full squad of solid role-players PLUS a 1st round pick next year. Instead, they have 5 men on their roster and training camp starts today! CP3 won’t be happy and will definitely leave.
Attention Dan Gilbert: 4 guys and a 1st round pick is MUCH better than nothing!
The Rockets would be a wash in this deal if they didn’t have to throw in the pick.
Demps did an awesome job getting value for a depreciating asset. I wouldn’t have looked down on him if he had resigned when Stern overruled him. He did his job and gets cut down by his boss. The owners are playing dirty pool here because Demps did such a good job for the league-owned team. If Omar Minaya had done this well for the Expos, who knows what could have happened.
by hotspur on Dec 9, 2011 10:45 AM EST reply actions
It's not like the Lakers intentionally lost games to draft a home grown superstar
That would be bad for the league.
The fact that Dan Gilbert thought this trade was one sided for the Lakers explains why the Cavs are awful, and Lebron jumped ship.
"Lattimore, as the kids can say, can ball, and sometimes does it to the extent one might say [he] is out of control in his balling." - Spencer Hall
by GwinnettGamecock on Dec 10, 2011 6:43 PM EST reply actions
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