Wolves-Hornets trade possibility?

[wolves_fan_82au]

it wont happen ,he wants to win we cant give him that
we have to wait to we are in postion to win before making such a big trade

and if sessions is playing better than flynn than flynn is useless anyways

[shrink]

New Orleans wasn't drawing more in Oklahoma, we were one of the few teams that actually turned a profit for 2 years straight.

I agree with you, but don't oversell it. Yes, what you said is true, but you did it on second half gate receipts after preparing before the season to lose up to $20 mil. Those second half gate receipts came from the fact that you guys were winning. And even with the butts in the seats, your team still only barely turned a profit. The size of your market negatively impacts the team.

I think its very unlikely Paul will be traded, but it would not shock me.

If NOH starts losing, how do any of your arguments differ from ones that would have been given a year before Garnett was dealt?

[Wolves2011]

New Orleans wasn't drawing more in Oklahoma, we were one of the few teams that actually turned a profit for 2 years straight.

Chris Paul won't demand to be traded because he isn't that kind of guy, even if he should.

Anyway, you can keep making stuff up if it helps you feel better, but the team will go on a fire sale and move the good contracts like West, to get rid of some of hte poor ones, before they trade Paul and go bankrupt.

The Hornets will lose money if they lose Paul's drawing power and jersey sales, and they know that.

sorry, if I'm wrong I'll admit it. I thought I read that Oaklahoma City was outdrawing New Orleans and the Hornets were having financial problems. [I don't live in New Orleans so I only see intermittent stories about financial issues.]

What has happened in the last couple of years? Are they still profitable? I thought that I read that many seats were empty when the Celtics visited last year.

[Wolves2011]

just found this online....why would they do this if there weren't problems?

feb 08 article:

"Last month, Shinn and state officials announced a revised deal with a carrot and a stick: It extends the team's lease through 2014, but also allows the Hornets to leave after next year if the team does not average 14,735 fans through the 2008-09 season."

"Despite the best record in the Western Conference and a rising superstar in point guard Chris Paul, the Hornets have the second-lowest average attendance in the NBA: 12,645."

http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/2008/0 ... th_to.html

[Esohny]

just found this online....why would they do this if there weren't problems?

"Last month, Shinn and state officials announced a revised deal with a carrot and a stick: It extends the team's lease through 2014, but also allows the Hornets to leave after next year if the team does not average 14,735 fans through the 2008-09 season."

http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/2008/0 ... th_to.html

Uh oh. This sounds familiar, I think Shinn is dating ex-showgirl Rachel Phelps...

[Wolves2011]

Anyway, you can keep making stuff up if it helps you feel better,.

Just found this ... .not an expert on New Orleans... but Feb 08 article

"Despite the best record in the Western Conference and a rising superstar in point guard Chris Paul, the Hornets have the second-lowest average attendance in the NBA: 12,645."

http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/2008/0 ... th_to.html

I try to be as factual as I can.

Do you owe me an apology?

[dunkonu21]

What's up with being all sensitive and asking for an apology lol.

BCal, you can keep holding your breath til Flynn turns into CP3 I'd prefer that cuz then u can't talk, maybe u can type, but at least the people around u wont have to hear u.

[Wolves2011]

What's up with being all sensitive and asking for an apology lol.

BCal, you can keep holding your breath til Flynn turns into CP3 I'd prefer that cuz then u can't talk, maybe u can type, but at least the people around u wont have to hear u.

I'm a "stand up guy" and will admit when I'm wrong. Guess, I hope others will do same.

[skorff26]

I could see a scenario like this in the offseason

NOH Out: MoPete, Paul
MN Out: rights to Rubio or Flynn if he has a good year, rights to 2010 1st (if in top 5, maybe Turner or Aldrich), Cha 1st, and maybe Gomes to match salaries if need be.

-They would cut a ton of money, get 3 quality prospects in Rubio, our 2010 1st, Cha 1st

-it would be even more likely to happen, if we could find a way to take away Peja w/o giving them a lot of extra salary as well

[NO-KG-AI]

You found the february 08 stuff, before the all star break.

Go find the stuff after the all star break(in New Orleans), when the city caught Hornets fever, then come back with your apology.

[Wolves2011]

You found the february 08 stuff, before the all star break.

Go find the stuff after the all star break(in New Orleans), when the city caught Hornets fever, then come back with your apology.

I apologized earlier... see my posting above [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:54 pm]

... so you are saying attendance last season was good. And this season is projected to be good?
If you are right I apologize again. But I'll look for more articles online also.

But don't call me a lier, if I read something about attendance being the 2nd lowest in the NBA in Feb of 2008 and thought it was continuing. It was an honest mistake.

From further reading the city of new orleans rallied around to exceed the minimum necessary to keep the team there in 2008-2009. [It was a SPECIAL EFFORT to get that attendance up.]

Whether thats sustainable or not might still be an open question. Lets check back at the end of this season also.

if attendance falls off this season this season, without the special effort related to preventing the team from moving.......

[NO-KG-AI]

All good points, but you are still missing the main points. Paul is getting paid a max contract, but he's the only draw the Hornets have, and if they trade him away to get out from his 15 million or so dollar contract, they are losing far more in jersey sales.

Shinn is money hungry, and he'll cut out every piece around Paul to shave off money if he could, but he wouldn't trade his cash cow.

edit: Jersey and ticket sales.

[Wolves2011]

All good points, but you are still missing the main points. Paul is getting paid a max contract, but he's the only draw the Hornets have, and if they trade him away to get out from his 15 million or so dollar contract, they are losing far more in jersey sales.

Shinn is money hungry, and he'll cut out every piece around Paul to shave off money if he could, but he wouldn't trade his cash cow.

I'm no expert on this, but I thought jersey sales went to the league not the team, the player plays for...

If Paul makes it clear to ownership he will make a "public stink to force a trade" as other player have done, and will definitely leave when his current contract is up, in 2011/2012, he can force a trade. Thats what the article I posted in the first post of this string, half implied Chris Paul should do.

If Paul tried to force a trade, the wolves would be one of the teams with the inexpensive good young players and draft picks that the Hornets would likely seek.

[NO-KG-AI]

What Paul should do, and what he will do are two different things.

[Wolves2011]

another Chris Paul article in ESPN: see todays dailydime on ESPN....[could't copy link]

Says Paul isn't a happy camper with his team.....

Title --- CP3 frustrated

NEW YORK -- On the subject of his altercation with Rajon Rondo, Chris Paul was mum Monday. On the subject of whether he smacked Al Harrington upside the head, he was in denial.

But as for his team, the New Orleans Hornets, Paul didn't mince words after a 117-111 loss to the New York Knicks on Monday night.

Paul is not a happy man with his team now 1-3, and here's why.

"When we talk right now, me, coach [Byron Scott] and [general manager] Jeff Bower, it's all about what can we do with the guys we have," Paul said. "I mean, we have guys that are capable of doing anything anyone else does in this league. We've just got to find it.

"Every team has an identity, a style of play they have. We have to find out if we're going to be a fast team, are we going to be a slow-down team, are we going to run a set every time? We just have to find out what our identity is."

They also have to figure out how to play better defense, because any team that allows 117 points to the New York Knicks simply cannot be considered among the league's elite or near-elite, no matter how far they've come over the past two seasons.

Back then, "We knew going in every night what this guy would do or this guy would do, and right now we've got such a different team, so many new guys, we haven't found that yet," Paul said.

Offensively (unless a way is found to bring Stephen Jackson aboard), there simply may not be enough talent to go around -- especially in the starting lineup, if Scott sticks with his preseason decision to bring Peja Stojakovic off the bench.

Paul (12-for-18 for 32 points with 13 assists), Emeka Okafor (9-for-13, 24 points) and David West (7-for-13, 21 points) carried their share of the load. But Julian Wright contributed only two points, Morris Peterson added nine and the bench shot a combined 8-for-29, with half those buckets coming from Stojakovic.

Coming off a humbling loss the previous night at Boston, along with a 17-point loss to San Antonio on opening night (and a five-point home victory over Sacramento), the Hornets now face three consecutive tough opponents -- Dallas, Toronto and the Lakers -- as they attempt to figure out what's ailing them and turn it around quickly.

Paul was pretty much a one-man offense for the Hornets in the fourth quarter, scoring 18 points, but New Orleans allowed New York to shoot 60 percent from the field and sent the Knicks to the line 18 times. After beginning the quarter with a four-point lead, they fell behind by 12 with 2:50 left and had no more juice.

For a moment midway through the fourth, it appeared Paul had a little extra fight left in him -- perhaps from frustration, perhaps from some holdover emotion from the previous night when he exchanged words with Rondo during and after the game and reportedly had to be restrained from going into the Celtics' locker room to confront Rondo.

"That's over and done with. I don't even remember what he said," Paul said.

Scott also claimed to not know exactly what was said between Paul and Rondo, and one member of the Hornets said what particularly irked Paul after the buzzer was Rondo saying something to the effect of: We won the game, what are you going to say now?

Scott's take on it: "I think there comes a point in time during the game, or even after the game, when somebody says something to you -- and the only thing I heard Chris say at the end of the game when we were walking off is that, 'He is going to respect me as a man.' So I don't know what Rondo said, but obviously Chris took exception to it."

Against the Knicks, Paul and Harrington were scrambling for a loose ball midway through the fourth when Harrington felt something striking him on the back of his head. Replays appeared to show it was Paul, swiping in the direction of the loose ball.

"That was nothing," Harrington said. "I dove for the ball, and I think he thought I fouled him, so he was, like, frustrated. I don't know what he thought, but it wasn't nothing I was worried about or nothing nobody should review or anything like that."

Paul's version: "When he dove for the ball it was like he grabbed my legs, and I just couldn't get to the ball. I was trying to get to the ball because I had just had the turnover."

As he answered that question, and the one about Rondo, an unmistakable look of frustration crossed Paul's face. Unmistakable because that look -- and the words explaining that frustration -- are things we're starting to see and hear plenty of from CP3.

Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.