J.R. Smith has literally been shanghaied away for the foreshortened 2011-2012 NBA season: rolling ILH sandbox thread

how about the appearance of Chris Paul sleepwalking through a season in NO and then leaving them for nothing? That's a better look?

how could dell demps even keep that job? he has, what, 30 bosses?

demps quitting tomorrow would be a gangsta move

it's a great day to be dwight howard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2y1blI9sAc

yeah if this results in LAL getting howard it'll be even more ridiculous. how the fuck do these morons become billionaires in the first place with foresight like this?

think he might be going overboard here but

johnhollinger John Hollinger
Lakers would have had no bench, no frontcourt, and virtually no chance at Dwight Howard. Houston, if Nene came, was potential top seed.

man i go to a lil wine tasting and come back to this what a day

loool if lakers get d-ho

dhoshea

if the lakers get howard now stern should be fired

i mean he should be fired anyway but

is hollinger just pulling that Nene commitment out of his ass? Cuz I'm inclined to assume so.

houston woulv have had a ton of cap space had this deal gone down and pau been flipped to the rockets

*would've

why would Stern allow a similar deal for Howard to the Lakers now? It would be clear then that the league was just burning the Hornets franchise to the ground.

comments my wife just made about various NBA stars:

• dwight howard: "oooh, he's cute."
• d-rose: "he looks like dwight howard, but not as cute."
• lebron james: "he used to be cute. does he have tattoos?"
• dwyane wade: "he's short, isn't he?"
• chris bosh: "tall, looks like he has a shrunken head."
• pat riley: "oooooh, i like him. is he married?"

the wouldn't block a howard deal

well the league can't be accused of tampering in a deal like that. the hornets/lakers deal had bad optics since the league essentially runs NO.

stern has no ability to kill a howard to lakers trade. the NBA doesn't own either of those teams.

they could do this in a snap bcuz they have control of the hornets -- they wouldn't set a precedent of vetoing trades b/w two third parties

(i guess they could kill a howard-to-LAL deal if it was the product of tampering or a violation of league rules, but that isn't what happened here, either.)

i think the nene thing was the rockets' plan

I was under the impression that this trade was "nullified," i.e. it was done under the commissioner's prerogative to approve or not approve any trade.

or at least grabbing a for real center

not sure where he gets a potential top seed out of that backcourt tho

I'm happy to announce that the NBA has sold the hornets to me, for $1, so that this deal can go through - I'm going on record as saying that I don't object at all to this trade. happy basketball y'all

fyi, jho has the authority to kill any deal involving howard if he feels it is unjust

I was under the impression that this trade was "nullified," i.e. it was done under the commissioner's prerogative to approve or not approve any trade.

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, December 8, 2011 8:33 PM (9 seconds ago) Bookmark

no, stern as the 'owner' of the team, killed the trade like any owner could

another horrible thing: they just lowered the franchise value of the hornets!

this is just utter insanity

but Stern should not be able to nullify a trade in his capacity as "owner," right? Because obviously as "owner" he would like the deal!

like I said: Buss should sue.

matt, it's just the optics of the thing mostly. the other owners don't want the nba making deals regarding superstars going to very visible teams right on the heels of a lockout that, theoretically, was supposed to help small market teams and keep stars from bolting whenever they felt like it.

but Stern should not be able to nullify a trade in his capacity as "owner," right? Because obviously as "owner" he would like the deal!

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, December 8, 2011 8:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

yeah but he doesn't have to have a good reason to stop his GM from trading one of his players

owners don't consult with other owners about how their trade has hurt their feewwwwings. Which is why the Lakers should sue.

and can the owners possibly be so dumb as to buy their own BS about the reasons for the lockout? It was always about the revenue split and contract lengths.

there was a lot of small-market owner anger at big-market teams.

the labor-dispute was largely owner v. owner.

the labor-dispute was largely owner v. owner.

this is totally true and never really got enough coverage.

this wasn't about optics or owners being concerned about the league's image -- it was about butthurt owners

butthurt small-market team owners. micky arison didn't do this.

RT @MickyArison Whatever happens with @CP3 all I can say is I wish him the the best.

oh god, daniel. don't just assume that bcuz micky arison amassed the big 3 that he was just totally cool w/ the lakers starting to assemble a super team to rival the heat.

RicBucher Ric Bucher
Reports are owners squashed Hou-LA-NO deal, citing conflict of interest for NBA-owned NO. But sources say Pau didn't want to go to Hou, too.

yeah, no shit

David Stern steps in to protect the fragile pride of Pau Gasol

what's the evidence you have for thinking arison's trying to pull the ladder out now that he's climbed up into the treehouse of NBA powerhouses?

maybe if the league wanted to restrict player movement they shouldn't have asked for the players to give them 3 billion dollars.

what's the evidence you have that he didn't? a tweet at chris paul? the guy is a CEO, he knows how to put on a good face.

sorry that sounded overly harsh. arison's comments -- during the lockout and now -- suggest to me he's not afraid of competiton or player movement or other teams ascending. maybe i'm wrong. we're all just reading tea leaves about individual owner's motives.

it's in arison's interest to be pro-player. he'll be able to spend a lot of money to create a new team if and when the Big 3 move on, retire, get injured, etc. that's a business-savvy perspective that a good CEO might take, as well.

i highly doubt that he tried to step in and defend the rights of jerry buss and the lakers to come for a crown that the heat desperately need

like mccain said when the GOP was proposing to kill the fillibuster in, say, 2003: "i'd like this idea more if i thought we'd always be in the majority."