NBA Rumors: Dan Gilbert's Letter Proves Why NBA System Is Flawed
Welcome to the new NBA, where parity abounds, and if it doesn't, it will be forced.
By now we have heard that Chris Paul was going to be granted his wish of being traded to a contender. In return, the Hornets received a great deal of talent, which is a million times better than what they will get now when Paul walks in the summer.
We have been given reasons for the now-defunct trade being axed, but they linger somewhere between laughable and ridiculous.
But when did David Stern decide to flip the script? After allowing hours of dedicated work to go into this trade, the league never once stepped in until the Hornets had a deal in place that would save them from getting nothing once Paul leaves in just a few months time.
It all rests in unrest. The same small-market owners that made sure the lockout was a matter of months instead of days were letting their voices be heard as the Lakers received a superstar.
Never mind that the deal hurt Los Angeles as much as it helped, the loudest barkers were being attended to. The most vocal has been discovered to be Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.
In what must be the most coincidental turn, Gilbert delivered a scathing email to Stern on his thoughts on the trade. Yahoo! Sports has supplied the letter, and here are some snippets.
"It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed.
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.
"
Since that time, Stern has released a statement of his own. He doesn't give a reason for his decision, only that he holds final say in how the Hornets, a league-owned team, is run.
That is at the heart of the problem. Glbert's letter in conjunction with the subsequent decision to void the trade shows the league can finagle matters in a way they see fit. Consider this an altering of storylines to make things much more beneficial to the league and not the players or fans.
Yes, this is now the WWE.
Stern states that having Paul was much more beneficial to New Orleans than not having him. So I can only guess that Stern is outfitting shackles to keep CP3 in the Big Easy, because Paul is gone.
It is either now or later. All that Stern has done is move that time of his departure to the summer, when Paul becomes a free agent.
So, Gilbert, the squeakiest of wheels, gets his way. David Stern, an emperor, makes sure that the landscape is just as he sees fit.
So who loses? Chris Paul, the Rockets and their fans and the city of New Orleans who will be set back about a decade when Paul walks with no amount of recompense coming back, that's who loses.
David Stern pulled back the curtain and showed us that the wizard really has his hands on all the gears and mechanisms, and that is why this decision will haunt him and the NBA for decades.
