Chris Paul Lakers: The Most Controversial Chris Paul Opinions on the Web

NBA commissioner David Stern's overruling of a 3-team trade that would have included sending New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers has sparked a ton of controversy and strong opinions from sportswriters across the country.

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's letter to Stern telling him why he thought the deal should not go down, and that it was a "travesty" also sparked lots of conversation. This wasn't the first time Gilbert has written a letter he shouldn't have.

Stern has been harshly criticized in his decision making regarding this deal, with many players angry at the route he took. 

Let's look at some of the most powerful opinions on the Chris Paul trade that almost, and probably should have happened.

Bill Simmons on David Stern and His Poor Decision to Kill CP3 Trade

Bill Simmons wrote a piece his website Grantland on Friday, saying that David Stern's decision to block this trade was one of the "biggest conflict of interests in sports history."

Here is an excerpt from the column:

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"This made no sense. By blocking the trade, David Stern was willingly creating his own Watergate and validating every critic who ever claimed, "That guy stayed too long." Tim Donaghy was just one guy acting alone — we think — and tampering with dozens of games before they caught him. Blocking the Paul trade? This was different. This was Big Brother stuff. This was one of the biggest conflicts of interest in sports history. This was a league intentionally jeopardizing its own credibility. This was a scandal popping out of thin air, self-created, almost like a man-made lake or something."

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This is a fantastic article by Simmons and he gives you a great blend of opinion, facts, and humor in a very fun and informative read. 

Rating: 5 stars

Simmons, like he normally does, gives you the facts without boring you. Not only will you understand this fiasco much better after you've read it, I bet you'll laugh a few times as well.

Ken Berger Covers All Angles of the Chris Paul Trade Fiasco

CBS Sports NBA writer Ken Berger wrote a wonderful column on Friday that explains how the NBA will pay a price for Stern's poor decision.

He also points out that Stern's decision to nix the Paul trade adds to the conspiracies and credibility issues the NBA has faced for years. Stern found a way to make a shortened season worse. A terrible start to a new era of the NBA.

Berger says in his piece:

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"Immediately on the heels of a lockout that obviously accomplished nothing, the NBA managed to step into an even bigger pile of its own waste before the first whistle had even been blown or basketball dribbled. This supposedly healed economic model resulted in a trade that was disallowed because the sad-sack, charity case team supposedly couldn't be trusted to make its own decisions. And after this, how will that team possibly be able to make it any more? After making a credible, beneficial trade under the circumstances, how is Demps going to find a way to save his franchise with a better one?

But something bigger than that happened Thursday. The NBA became the place where conspiracy theories and frozen envelopes and suspicious whistles are no longer the stuff of overactive imaginations or the objects of cold stares from company men. It all came home to roost with this decision from Stern Thursday night, a fine way to take something that was already going to be a struggle -- a lockout-shortened season filled with bad blood and worse basketball -- and turn it into something far worse.

The punchline of a sorry excuse for a joke, under a circus tent growing more inflated by the minute."

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Rating: 4 stars

Berger gives a real in-depth look at the many angles to this story, and how each team has been affected. A great blend of strong opinion and quality analysis.

Adrian Wojnarowski's Piece on the Killed Chris Paul Deal Is a Must-Read

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, who has done an unbelievable job of covering this story, wrote an exceptional piece on Friday.

He touches on several subjects throughout the story, including the dictator-like power Stern has used in getting what he wants.

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"The curtain has been pulled back on how this league operates, how Stern still sees himself as emperor, as a dictator of what he wants and how he wants it. Back on All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, Stern told those stars in an angry, true moment in the locker room that he knew where the bodies were buried because he had buried a lot of them. He threw that shovel over his shoulder again Thursday and walked away from one more dirt ditch.

After five months of a lockout, after failing to deliver a promise to his owners that he would reform NBA rules to make these superstar hostage crises disappear, another was underway in New Orleans on Stern’s watch. Stern doesn’t see superstars with the gravitas of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and feels like so many of these owners that he privately despises: Who the hell are these players to dictate terms to him?"

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Rating: 5 stars

I recommend this piece to everyone because of Wojnarowski's strong opinion and reporting on Stern, as well as his reporting on how Stern destroyed the hard work Hornets GM Dell Demps did in finding a trade that would give New Orleans a nice return for Paul. Wojnarowski has been an amazing source of information on this story.

Larry Coon Dissects the Dan Gilbert Email to Stern with Great Precision

Larry Coon is one of the more knowledgeable basketball writers in America, and he wrote an exceptional special to ESPN.com on Friday dissecting Dan Gilbert's email to David Stern regarding the Chris Paul trade.

Coon critiques Gilbert's letter in a way that we can easily understand, and why the Cavs owner was not concerned about Hornets.

Here is an excerpt from Coon's article:

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"Gilbert's logic was as flimsy as his motives were suspect. He called on Stern to act in his role overseeing significant management decisions with the Hornets, yet Gilbert's letter made clear that the Hornets were the least of his concerns. Instead he complained about the Lakers receiving the best player in the trade while saving money, not giving up any draft picks, and receiving a large trade exception to boot. For good measure he also brought up the Lakers' trade for Gasol in 2008, just in case the commissioner needed a reminder of the perception of the Lakers as the league's golden child."

Coon wrote further in the piece:

"Even though Gilbert's letter was a train wreck of illogic, it still appears to have influenced Stern's decision. Stern, however, denies that there was any connection. "In the case of the trade proposal that was made to the Hornets for Chris Paul," Stern said in a statement released by the league office, "we decided, free from the influence of other NBA owners, that the team was better served with Chris in a Hornets uniform than by the outcome of the terms of the trade."

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And if you believe that, then I have a bridge to sell you. Never mind the fact that Gilbert's letter was a clear smoking gun."

This is a must read because Coon really gives you what Gilbert was really upset about in this email to Stern, and why the Cavs owner was foolish to write it.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Coon really breaks down every part of Gilbert's letter, and even explains the financial points the Cavaliers owner makes in a way the average fan can understand.

Boston Globe Columnist Tony Massarotti Addresses the New CBA

Boston Globe Columnist Tony Massarotti is an excellent sports writer who is highly respected in the Boston area. 

In a piece he wrote on Boston.com Friday, Massarotti talks about the owners who wanted this deal nixed because of the possible competitive imbalance it would have created, and if they did not want that, why didn't they address it in the new CBA?

The new CBA really didn't do anything to stop the players from having the majority of the power. The owners really failed to make a CBA that helps prevent star players from dictating the teams they want to go to.

Massarotti writes:

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"Um ... fellas? Correct us if we're wrong, but you just agreed to the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement. If the new CBA does not adequately address the flaws in a league where players have far too much power -- and it doesn't come close -- it's your own fault. You should have buried the entire season.

What a bunch of dopes."

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Rating: 4 stars

Massarotti's points of about the new CBA are dead on, as his the rest of his analysis in this piece. His writing style his makes his work easy to read. For Celtics fans, he also helps describe what the deal means for Boston.

B/R's Collin McCollough Speaks on the Lack of Parity in Today's Game

Bleacher Report's own Collin McCollough wrote a fantastic piece on why the NBA for him, just is not fun anymore. 

He talks about the 1990s, and how the league, even though it was dominated in terms of titles by Michael Jordan, was incredibly fun to watch. Back in the 90s, fans loved watching small market teams like Seattle Supersonics, the Utah Jazz, and the Indiana Pacers on national television. 

McCollough makes the point that:

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"Teams were more interesting. Players were more interesting. There was a reason to tune into NBA on NBC broadcasts and listen to Marv Albert and Mike Fratello call a game featuring the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers. Modern NBA fans have only seen those teams when skipping through the selection screen to select the Lakers, Heat or Celtics in NBA 2K12."

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His opinion on the lack of competitive balance in the NBA is dead on:

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"But at some level, I wonder where the yearning for the old game is, and why anyone would support a league that would gladly reduce itself to a handful of competitive ball clubs. It's not as if this trend is subtle. I'm not sure these moves, or lack thereof in this case, could receive any more media attention. 

We should, as fans, want a competitive NBA, a league where anything is possible. When teams like Milwaukee and Toronto can compete with giants like Los Angeles and Miami, it means better match ups, better games. Better basketball."

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This piece is a must-read because McCollough really makes a great connection on how the game has changed for the worse since the 1990s. 

Rating: 5 stars

McCollough really gives a fresh angle on how the game has changed from the 1990s, when small market teams were fun to watch and could compete with big market teams. For those of you who grew up in that decade, his story will remind you of the great times watching the NBA on NBC and playing NBA Jam. Those were the good ole days.