RealGM

Still, it's not just the Clippers who are invested in this plan. Paul played a huge part in the process, convincing Olshey and coach Vinny Del Negro that he shared their vision during a two-hour phone conversation that took place before the deal. When it was done, Olshey was finally convinced that Paul wanted to be in a Clippers uniform and soon after agreed to send shooting guard Eric Gordon, veteran center Chris Kaman, forward Al-Farouq Aminu and a 2012 first-round pick from Minnesota to the Hornets.

"Everybody knows he's a high-IQ player, but this was more about the fact that he knew our roster, knew our assets, knew what he was going to need to see once he got here to be successful," Olshey said. "And I think that really inspired me to try to get a deal done."

Paul, ironically enough, was the one selling the deal.

"Yeah, I know the game better than just about anybody," Paul said. "I know who's on what team. I know what they're going to look like in the future. I know what their contract situations are and stuff like that. So knowing that it was going to be a possibility to come here, I was looking to come to win right away so I needed to be as informed as possible."

"If we continue to do all the right things in this organization and continue to build the culture the way we are, and get Blake hopefully locked up long term and continue to build, then we'll fulfill every obligation that we'd told Chris we would fulfill in order to get him to be here long term," Olshey said. "All I cared about was that Chris committed for as long as he possibly could based on the economics of the new collective bargaining agreement, and that gave me the confidence that this wasn't a lily pad to land on. He wants to be here. He wants to see it work."

"I'm here, and I plan on being here."

Sam Amick, Sports Illustrated