NBA: A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Chicago and New Orleans are switching the roles that they have just obtained and only just briefly held.  (As part of a natural shift)

Chris Paul is saving New Orleans like Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Kirk Hinrich once saved the city of Chicago. 

The Bulls spent the past three seasons going to the playoffs as a team that was just one year or one move away from being a major powerhouse.

The New Orleans Hornets were just trying to decide whether to stay in New Orleans or make the move to Oklahoma City. 

Ben Gordon was the greatest thing to hit Chicago, and was even drawing strained comparisons to Michael Jordan. (We were starved for some sort of talent after the Jordan era, so pretty much anybody that could drop 15 a night was the next Jordan)

Chris Paul is the greatest thing to hit New Orleans since, well, ever.  He is filling the void that Reggie Bush was destined to fill. (Instead, Bush is a tiny running back who is having trouble being as elusive as he once was.)

The Chicago Bulls are now sitting out of the playoffs in the talent-starved Eastern Conference.

The New Orleans Hornets are now sitting near the top of the talent-filled Western Conference. 

The Bulls are lacking a strong inside presense that could have lifted the team to Eastern Conference supremecy.

The New Orleans Hornets are flying high with former Bull Tyson Chandler dominating the inside grabbing rebounds (12.3 rpg) and scoring points (11.8 ppg) better than the current guy in Chicago.

The tides are changing (for good this time New Orleans) as Chicago is losing the title of a sports mecca and one of the best sports cities in the world.

Hope you can fill that void New Orleans.

I'm Joe W.