The NBA lock out officially ended Friday with the beginning of a shortened free agency period — and boy did it get off to an interesting and, sometimes ugly start.
One of the major reasons there was a lock out at all, is because smaller market teams wanted to end the practice of losing their franchise players to major market teams. LeBron James started a trend with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami that led to the concept of a “super-team,” which loads up major teams with major players, while leaving other teams with the leftovers. The lock out was supposed to address that. But 1 minute after the lock out ended last Friday, major players continued the trend of joining their superstar friends on major market teams, effectively making the lock out a waste of time.
Perhaps owners haven’t figured out they simply can not stop a free agent from playing wherever they want to play — which makes the perfect case for contraction (cutting out the less profitable teams and downsizing the number of teams in the league to a minimum).
Nevertheless, last Friday was a flurry of rapid moves in advance of the start of the NBA’s shortened season, which begins in 2 weeks. Here’s a look a the good, the bad and the ugly from the day:
CHRIS PAUL – CP3 as he is known, told the New Orleans Hornets that he wanted to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, or he would simply walk to them when he becomes a free agent next summer. In order to prevent losing him for nothing, New Orleans swiftly crafted a 3 team trade with the Lakers and Houston Rockets that included Lamar Odom (Kardashian), Pau Gasol and others being shipped out of L.A. to accommodate CP3. But the Hornets are currently owned by the NBA (until a buyer takes them off the league’s hands) and NBA commissioner David Stern nixed the trade in the 11th hour, claiming the deal was not good enough. CP3 was livid and vowed he would never play for the Hornets again, even threatening to sit out the season if the NBA forced him to stay. He also pledged legal action against the league for preventing his preferred move to join Kobe in L.A. The league quickly allowed the Hornets to restructure the deal so as to accommodate CP3, but then L.A. pulled out of the deal and decided “never mind,” opting to send Lamar Odom to Dallas and to enter the Dwight Howard sweepstakes instead. So now, one of the biggest free agents of the season could be team-less — unless the L.A. Clippers are successful in crafting a deal for him. Hmmm…
DWIGHT HOWARD – Arguably the best center in the game today, the franchise player of the Orlando Magic told his team he preferred a trade to the New Jersey Nets (expecting to join his pal Deron Williams there), or else he too would simply walk to them when he becomes a free agent next summer. In order to prevent losing him for nothing, Orlando began looking at options to trade him. But then word came that Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov secretly met with Howard last Thursday in Miami so as to persuade him to New Jersey, which just so happens to be tampering. If the Orlando Magic can provide proof that this meeting took place, it could mean curtains for the Nets even before their expected move to Brooklyn in 2 years. Not only would they not be able to sign Howard, but they would not be permitted to re-sign Deron Williams either. They’d also lose several 1st round draft picks and would basically be relegated to nothingness as punishment for interfering with another team’s player. Interesting…
TYSON CHANDLER – Perhaps the 2nd best center in the league and an important member of the reigning NBA champs, the 7’2 Chandler somehow slipped out of the hands of the Dallas Mavericks and into the open and eager arms of the New York Knicks. Chandler will now join Amare’ Stoudamire and Carmelo Anthony in New York to make up perhaps the most formidable front court in the NBA. With the addition of the defensive minded Chandler, the Knicks are now considered among the top 3 teams in the Eastern Conference and could conceivably make a run for (dare we say) a championship! Exciting…
