So let me get this straight, the Lakers' offer wasn't good enough but the Clippers' offer was according to the Honorable David Stern. Let's first compare the 2 trades to be fair...
Lakers trade...
Hornets:Lamar Odom-14.6 ppg, 8.9 rpg 4 apg
Luis Scola-14.3ppg, 8.0 rpg
Kevin Martin-18.5ppg
Goran Dragic-6.8ppg
1st Round pick
5 people 54.2ppg 16.9 rpg 4 apg
Houston:Pau Gasol All-Star 18.8ppg 9.1 rpg
Lakers:Chris Paul
Clippers trade...
Hornets:Eric Gordon18.1 ppg 4.4 rpg
Chris Kaman-11.8ppg 8.3rpg
Al-Farouq Aminu-5.6ppg3.3 rpg
1 first round pick
4 People 35.5 ppg, 16.0 rpg and give up 2 picks
Clippers: Chris Paul
2 second round picks
This makes no sense to me at all. Apparently, David Stern just didn't want the Lakers to get Paul because there were a ton of owners that had something to say about it. Riiiiight, that's a great way to run a league. Basing your decisions on pleasing the less successful owners. This is all about control. Let me break it down for you. NBA owners want to control where NBA players, most importantly, NBA stars play. What happened with Lebron, Bosh and Wade absolutely frightened owners and Stern. Instead of chasing the dollar and going to the highest bidder, which the public persecute athletes for, they went after the best city and situation balance. Basically, they balanced out where do I want to play and who do I want to play with. Wow, sound familiar. This is pretty much what every other college graduate does when they leave school.
They go to the best situation. This has Stern and the bottom feeding owners scared out their minds. Now these sucky owners have to actually shell out some money on more than just one player. Stern has been successful for the longest time controlling players through their pockets, i.e. the dress code. This was obviously targeted towards black players that didn't wear suits to games and press conferences. Where does race fall in. Many places, most notably, in the NBA, the majority of the players, especially the stars are Black or European. The Americans players are almost all black. Stern has been the commissioner forever and a day and he has never tried this kinda crap until the NBA's race made this turn. This kinda mess would not have happened back in the days of Larry Legend, John Havlicek, Mark Price, etc.
I leave you with one more note. A quote from Bryant Gumbel, who's hardly a known as a civil rights activist...
During his commentary at the close of the show, the Emmy-winning host said Stern appeared to want the image of "some kind of modern plantation overseer" and said the commissioner treats the players like they were "his boys" and "hired hands":
"Stern's version of what has been going on behind closed doors has of course been disputed, but his efforts were typical of a commissioner who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys. It's part of Stern's M.O., like his past self-serving edicts on dress code and the questioning of officials. His moves were intended to do little more than show how he's the one keeping the hired hands in their place."
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