In the last week...
Albert Pujols followed the Astros to the AL (he just gets a one-year head start);
June Jones abandoned my school only for his potential new employer to pull the offer on him;
and now the NBA has decided to play fantasy sports in the real world by vetoing a perfectly good trade.
There's one image that keeps coming to mind:
Beyond that I have a few thoughts on the subject, but since they might become NSFW, let's bury them under the jump. Follow me if you dare.
First things first:
fuck you, David Stern. I may be the biggest Luis Scola fan I know. And I am a huge Speed Racer fan, too. I own both of their jerseys. This is not something I take lightly. I wanted them to be Rockets for a long, long time. Nevertheless........
you cannot pick-and-choose which trades are good and bad
The Rockets and Daryl Morey decided that getting an All-Star big man was worth giving up two starters in addition to Goran Dragic and at least two draft picks. Yes, I know that Pau Gasol can be softer than Charmin(tm) at times and that you are not winning a ring if he's your best player. But he's also a rarity: a 7' tall big man who can score and defend and rebound. He's like a Hasheem Thabeet that is not a huge bust.
You have to let the Rockets live with their choices.
Similarly, you have to ignore the likes of Dan Gilbert.
And on that note, fuck you, too, Dan Gilbert.
Yes, the Lakers are the NBA's glamour team. They have success and money and status. All the things Cleveland does not (and likely never will) have. Tough shit. Writing an e-mail to Stern begging him to veto the trade is no better than little brother tattling on his sister for outsmarting him for the last cookie. Grow up and deal with it. The Lakers are simply exploiting the new CBA that you agreed to just yesterday. And now you want to punish them for being smarter than you?
If the NBA owners and David Stern did not want Chris Paul dictating where he would play this season or next season......... well, they should have re-thought that whole "free agency" concept long ago. There are only a handful of truly elite players in the world. No matter how you set up your league, those players will ALWAYS have the leverage because they have qualities that you cannot manufacture or purchase. If they want to play with their friends or for big market teams that's just a fact of ilfe. Just like how I was never be tall enough to play in the NBA. It is merely something you have to deal with. But now you all look ridiculous. And rightfully so.
The only person who comes out looking good in this whole mess is the Hornets' GM, Dell Demps, who apparently had to be talked out of resigning his position on the spot. He put together a hell of a trade for the Hornets only for Lucy to pull the ball away at the last second. If Demps was not allowed to make that trade, you had to tell him much, much sooner. To let him spend hours, days and weeks negotiating the fine points of this deal only to veto it upon completion is one of the more shameful things I have ever seen.
It has also killed a part of my NBA-fandom.
And I say this as someone who thinks the Rockets got the worst end of the trade, too.
I mean, I like Gasol enough, but the trade (hypothetically now) guts our depth and leaves us woefully short at the shooting guard position (with only Courtney Lee on the roster). Yet I still hate the fact that it got vetoed. Just on general principle.
This is wrong and every player involved needs to lawyer up ASAP. In fact, by the time I publish this, I am sure that Chris Paul and Lamar Odom have consulted with some uber-talented lawyers (no, not me, but...). The Players' Association will probably intervene as well. As they should.
Something tells me a modified version of this trade gets processed over the weekend. Just so the NBA can save face and perform some level of damage control.
Seriously though... fuck you, David Stern.