RealGM

After the amazing perfromance that CP3 has done in the playoffs and it still not being enough i think hes going to be leaving NO.. Considering how well hes done though and what Denver got for Melo (a pending FA) i dont think hell come cheap but the clippers definitely have the young players and high picks it would take to get him.. Also considering theres already a superstar(Griffin) there and its a big market i think CP3 would agree to go to the clippers..

That being said what would you give up for Chris Paul?? I think the Hornets would be interested in players like Gordan, Bledsoe, Aminu, and a re-signed Deandre.. i would also be pretty sure that the hornets would demand the t-wolves pick i believe you guys own


your thoughts.

There's a decent possibility that Paul would like to play here. He's had compliments for DeAndre Jordan in the past and the player that he was most excited to play with in the All-Star game was Blake. Then add in the market and a team on the "rise" and it can make a lot of sense for him.

The problem right now for us or any team looking to make a trade for Paul is that the Hornets are owned by the NBA. If the NBA is going to sell the Hornets to a new owner, then the franchise is going to look much more attractive with a superstar on the roster.

Chris Paul is great and would be nice in a Clippers jersey, but we wouldn't offer Blake, Gordon or Jordan at any circumstance.

Those are the three guys(Jordan to a certain point) we're building around and they won't go anywhere IMO.

Therefore only Bledsoe, Aminu and that Minny pick would be available of the guys you've mentioned.

Though, we could throw in Kaman's expiring and Mo Williams(who's got a player option next summer and will be a free agent in 2013 the latest) contracts, to help absorb some of your longer contracts like the ones of Okafor and/or Ariza.

So I could see something like this happening, if Paul really wanted to become a Clipper.

Clippers trade:
Chris Kaman, Mo Williams, Eric Bledsoe, Al-Farouq Aminu, Randy Foye, Willie Warren 2012 Minnesota First round pick(unprotected)

Hornets trade:
Chris Paul, Emeka Okafor, Trevor Ariza, Jarrett Jack

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=3n8vk6f

Lineups:

Clippers:
Paul/Jack
Gordon/FA - Jack
Ariza/Gomes
Griffin/Okafor
Jordan/Okafor

Hornets:
Williams/Bledsoe
Belinelli/Foye/Warren
Aminu/Pondexter
Draft Pick or FA/
Kaman/Gray

The Clippers become a player in the wester conference, while the Hornets dump pretty much all of their long term contracts and are able to start over very quick.

I pretty much agree with the trade except for replacing Kaman with Jordan and not including Ariza, the way he's been performing in the playoffs and his affordable contract the hornets wouldnt throw him in..i was thinking more along the lines of Bledsoe, Aminu, a re-signed Jordan, Mo Williams and the first for Okafor and Chris Paul...

Clippers CP3 Gordan Gomes Griffin Kaman - with Okafor backing them both up

Hornets Bledsoe Ariza Aminu West Jordan (definitely rebuilding but some young pieces to build with along with 2 probably high first round picks)

i gotta say a big 3 of CP3 Gordan Griffin is up there with any 1 in the league and a 2 solid big men, i think the clippers would be top 3 in the west, especially considering what CP3 has done with new orleans basically by himself, youd be a sf short of a great team.

If we are trading for Chris Paul I'd rather not trade Jordan. Kaman isn't really a running big man, Jordan would fit in much better with what we are trying to build. However I don't see the Hornets trading away Paul right now. I hope that we can just straight up sign him.

I'm not totally opposed to trading Gordon, but I wouldn't trade both him and the Minnesota pick in the same deal. It would be one or the other for me. Preferably, I'd like to keep Gordon; but if these teams are trying to get into the rebuilding process, then they are going to want players like him (especially since they won't be getting Griffin). I feel that EJ is underrated on RealGM and even in the media, but I do believe that he has a lot of value around the league to people that actually pay attention.

Moving forward, Griffin needs to be paired with a player like DJ as opposed to Kaman. In fact, I think DJ played better opposite either Kaman or Griffin, than Griffin and Kaman did together. Kaman is an expiring contract of nearly $13M . He would be involved in the deal, either directly or in a multi-team trade.

We have over $18M in expiring contracts (Kaman, Foye & Cook), young players (Aminu, Bledsoe & Warren), and the minnesota pick (probable lottery pick). Any other team offering up a pick is probably going to be giving up to be a late one. We can afford to take on a bad contract in addition.

If you are getting a top 10 player (I believe Paul is top 5 when healthy), then you're going to have give some substantial value. However, I wouldn't want us to gut the team or it wouldn't really be that much of an improvement (e.g. Knicks). Getting a Paul, Howard or Williams would be the best thing ever, but I'd also be cool with getting a nice pick-up through free-agency or trade and using that 2012 pick ourselves.

I totally agree that we should go after Dwight or CP3 if/when they become available, since they would each make the Clips instant playoff contenders, plus we will still have assets to continue to improve our team. Like MK said, I would deal EJ for either of those guys, since EJ is in line for a large payday soon, and his value will probably slip a little just due to not being on the rookie scale anymore.

We have over $18M in expiring contracts (Kaman, Foye & Cook), young players (Aminu, Bledsoe & Warren), and the minnesota pick (probable lottery pick). Any other team offering up a pick is probably going to be giving up to be a late one. We can afford to take on a bad contract in addition.

that's a good summary of the situation from my point of view as well. i think including either ej or jordan would be a huge mistake, mainly because of the fact that their value to this team is not commensurate with their perceived market value and consequently it would almost certainly be a lopsided exchange in favor of the hornets.

i've been drooling at the prospect of adding paul to this core (ej, griffin, jordan) and i think it's absolutely within reason IF paul signals to management that he won't resign ala anthony and williams. he would instantly transform this team into a legitimate contender for the 5-7 years. williams is also a great alternative as well. i'm not as keen on howard even though he's a top 2 player, plus he is a less practical target.

I'd rather go with a trade that doesn't involve Okafor coming back to the Clippers, if they sign Jordan in the offseason, something like -

Clippers - Kaman, Mo Williams, Aminu, Minny pick or Gordon
Hornets - Paul, Ariza

The Hornets would have the option of pairing up Kaman and Okafor by moving Okafor to PF if West has contract demands they don't want to meet.

Couldn't we just wait for free agency instead of trading for him? Then we could keep everyone, or just trade a few for cap purposes.

supfoo wrote:that's a good summary of the situation from my point of view as well. i think including either ej or jordan would be a huge mistake, mainly because of the fact that their value to this team is not commensurate with their perceived market value and consequently it would almost certainly be a lopsided exchange in favor of the hornets.

i've been drooling at the prospect of adding paul to this core (ej, griffin, jordan) and i think it's absolutely within reason IF paul signals to management that he won't resign ala anthony and williams. he would instantly transform this team into a legitimate contender for the 5-7 years. williams is also a great alternative as well. i'm not as keen on howard even though he's a top 2 player, plus he is a less practical target.

I would trade DJ in a deal for Howard, but would rather keep him if we went after Paul or Williams. I like all of the big 3 free-agents for us. With Howard, he's basically an elite version of DJ. For what he brings on the defensive end, we'd be one of the best teams in the league period. On the offensive end, we'd give opposing teams hell in the paint. Both Dwight and Blake have to deal with constant double and triple teams, that wouldn't be the case if they were in the game together. Surround them with some shooters and call it a day. If we can get Paul, then I'd love to have him, but I'm honestly still concerned about the long-term status of his knee. He can possibly be easier to get than the other 2, and if we can get him to team up with BG, DJ & EJ, then it's well worth the risk imo.

SuperNova854 wrote:Couldn't we just wait for free agency instead of trading for him? Then we could keep everyone, or just trade a few for cap purposes.

We could try to wait, but the risk is that their teams could make a move to get some decent compensation now (between this summer and trade deadline) rather than waiting and ending up with only a TPE and some late draft picks at best.

How about we involve Miami; they are pretty much only team that would love to get Okafor

so

Clippers get; Paul, Mike Miller, Haslem, Joel Anthony
clippers give; Kaman, Foye, Aminu, Bledsoe, 2012 Minny Pick, Cook

Hornets give; Paul, Okafor
Hornets get; Kaman, Foye, Aminu, Bledsoe, 2012 Minny Pick

Heat give: Haslem, Miller, Anthony
Heat get; Okafor, Cook

We roll with

Paul/ Mo
Gordon/Miller
Miller/Gomes
Griffin/Haslem
Jordan/ Anthony

I guess that team would compete

I like that scenario, but the question i would ask is it worth getting rid of both rookies with good potential in Aminu and Bledsoe plus our pick? for CP3 obviously yes so im gonna say yes, but would Miller be our SF that we need to be consistant.. we'd still have that problem. but with CP3 i wouldn't care to be honest, id take ANYTHING basically to get CP3 on a team with Gordon, Griffin, Jordan. done.

SuperNova854 wrote:Couldn't we just wait for free agency instead of trading for him? Then we could keep everyone, or just trade a few for cap purposes.

I think CP3 or Dwight will probably be traded before they reach free agency, since once their respective teams realize they are not coming back, they will try and salvage as much of a return as possible.

As much as I would love to see CP3 running the team with Blake, I would actually slightly prefer Dwight, because Blake and Dwight would probably create one of the best (if not the best) bigman duo in the history of the NBA.

Clippers trade
Chris Kaman
Al Farouq Aminu
Eric Bledsoe
Brian Cook
Randy Foye
MIN 2012 unprotected 1st

Hornets trade
Chris Paul
Trevor Ariza

Why for Hornets?
They get a couple of young players in Aminu and Bledsoe. They also get Wolves 1st which will most likely be a top 5 pick. They also get a couple of expirings in Kaman, Cook and Foye so they get more cap flexibility

Why for Clippers?
The Clips want to win now especially because they have that franchise guy to build around in Blake Griffin. They get an elite point guard in CP3 and also a very capable starter in Ariza

Hornets lineup
PG. Ercic Bledsoe
SG. Marco Bellineli
SF. Al Farouq Aminu
PF. Emeka Okafor
C. Chris Kaman

Clippers lineup
PG. Chris Paul
SG. Eric Gordon
SF. Trevor Ariza
PF. Blake Griffin
C. Deandre Jordan

^ We would need some sort of guaranteed first round pick in the next 2 years, which we wouldn't have in this case. Otherwise, it looks good.

SportsFan215 wrote:^ We would need some sort of guaranteed first round pick in the next 2 years, which we wouldn't have in this case. Otherwise, it looks good.

I think that rule depends on when a trade is made. The rule (to my understanding) is that you can't go 2 consecutive future seasons without a 1st round pick (either yours or another team's). After the 2011 draft passes, then the fact that we traded that pick away is irrelevant. We can then trade away the Minny pick and our 2012 can be conveyed to the Celtics as long as we have a 1st rounder in 2013.

Honestly i think something very similar could and should happen but i really think the hornets would want the team taking CP3 to also take Okafor .. If we trade CP3, were rebuilding, no need for Okafor and his contract

Basically i think we all pretty much agree what it it would take.. I want Jordan over Kaman obviously and i think if the hornets came to the Clippers and said throw in a re-signed Jordan instead of Kaman, I strongly doubt the Clippers would turn them down.. considering how marketable a team built around CP3 and Blake with Eric Gordan as the 3rd player in a "Big 3"would be

Bledsoe Aminu Jordan + 2 high picks (ours and minnesotas) + a lot of cap room.. and that starts the rebuilding off process with some good building blocks.

CP3 is just awesome how he gets his teammates great shots, and his overall production and PER are out of this world. Forget Derrick Rose, he is the best all-round point guard in the game today. With that said, it would be a little tough to get him to go to the Clippers, although I think the allure of playing with the talent on this team would enticing to him.

I would give up any combination of Kaman, Aminu, Bledsoe, Craig Smith, Gomes, Foye, AND our Minn. 1st pick unprotected if he signed an extension with us. I would even possibly consider EJ or DJ, albeit with reluctance. Same goes for Dwight Howard.

You guys have to understand that the entire league will be throwing all their riches at NO and Orlando to get these two players. NY/ORL both know that they can and will get great players in return for their superstars, so you will have to be ready to give up important pieces. New York had to gut their team to get Melo, and NJ gave Utah a very nice deal, as well.

Completely agree with you, i thought that Melo would go for a lot less than he did but what he went for pretty much set the bar for CP3. Also Howard and CP3 are the last of the big time superstars that are on smaller teams that will be moved (james,bosh,stoudemire,melo,dwilliams) all moved already.. So i really doubt hell go for less than Melo considering CP3 is the BEST PG in the entire league.