First and foremost, the trade is fair! The New Orleans Hornets receive three borderline All-Stars (Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Lamar Odom) for one superstar. The Los Angeles Lakers lose a perennial All-Star (Pau Gasol) and a borderline All-Star (Odom) to gain a superstar. The Houston Rockets gain a perennial All-Star (Gasol) and lose two borderline All-Stars.
How does a trade of this magnitude get any better? You are telling me it is better in the interest of the New Orleans Hornets to trade for Rajon Rondo straight-up, or to wait until their backs are against the wall and be forced to accept a lesser deal? Even worse, no deal could be made, and the team could get nothing for Paul.
Of course, the ringleader here is Dan Gilbert, the worst sore loser in the history of sports. I did not hear Gilbert stand up for the little guy when his Cleveland Cavaliers were the best team in the NBA regular season after regular season. I did not here him cry foul when his team traded absolutely nothing for Shaquille O'Neal and Antawn Jamison.
Again, Gilbert is nothing but a sore loser. He is no champion for the small-market team. He is the guy that could not make a champion out of a team featuring the best athlete on the planet. He is the guy who publicly ripped LeBron James, the face of his franchise for seven years. All LeBron did for that team was make them relevant, send the team to their first NBA Finals and drag the Cavs to deep playoff run after deep playoff run.
Gilbert, you had your chance to build a dynasty and you screwed it up. You thought it was a good idea to pair the bloated corpse of Shaquille O'Neal with LeBron James, whose game is predicated on gett...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
