They decided to not pay
Last season Chris Paul wanted out of New Orleans, the Hornets accommodated his request. This year it's incoming rather than outgoing, i.e. players coming to New Orleans. Dwight Howard has dominated NBA news so not as much attention has been paid to the moves of the Hornets. Of course everyone was aware of draft choices Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers, I'm talking about the other moves. The Hornets reached an agreement on a sign-and-trade deal for Ryan Anderson by sending 6-10 250 pound 2nd year man Gustavo Ayon to the Magic. The 6-10 240 pound Anderson just completed his 4th year in the NBA, he scored at a 16.1 ppg and 7.7 rpg per game clip for the Magic. Eric Gordon signed an offer sheet from the Suns but it appears the Hornets will match it, Gordon might be the only Hornet wanting out of town, they just might allow Gordon to leave. Remember I'd mentioned owner Tom Benson's desire to change the teams name one more identified with New Orleans? Well bleacherreport.com came up with four proposed name changes, the top two names were Gators ranked number two and Knights the number one choice. New Orleans Knights fits if we think about the night life of the French Quarter and Mardi Gras festivities.
It's almost guaranteed the Brooklyn Nets will be a better team next season. As this is written Dwight Howard remains in Orlando and may never journey to NYC. The Nets will be a winner thanks to owner Mikhail Prokhorov and his desire for a winning team. Prokhorov opened his checkbook giving general manager Billy King and staff carte blanche to improve the team. King's key move might have been convincing Deron Williams to remain with the team as they made the move to Brooklyn. He was then able to orchestrate a trade for Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson which might translate into the NBA's best backcourt combo. Free agent forward Gerald Wallace will also return after signing a contract extension. The team had no 2012 draft choices but King managed to trade for former Kansas point guard Tyshawn Taylor. It's likely Taylor will backup Williams at the point. The future certainly looks bright for second year man MarShon Brooks, his numbers 12.6 ppg, 2.3 apg and 3.6 rpg. Kris Humphries had career high numbers despite the off-court Kardashian drama, he's resigned with the Nets. The Heat must be favored to win the NBA championship and a force in the Eastern Conference. With the question mark Celtics and the injury to the Bulls Derrick Rose the Nets might be a force next season. If they should improve enough to make the playoffs credit certainly should be given to general manager Billy King and owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
Certainly anyone is liable to change their mind, we could make that statement regarding veteran center Marcus Camby. Near the middle of last season Camby was traded from the Portland Blazers to the Rockets. On his arrival in Houston Camby stated "this is where I want to retire" not a shocking statement for a 38-year old player on the downhill side of his career. Fast forward to July 1st 2012 and free agency Camby is exploring play for either the Heat or Knicks. He finally settled on a return to NYC and a 3-year contract with the Knicks, his second tour of duty with the Knicks. Should we assume (unless he's traded) this is his final stop prior to retirement?
This is part two or three of a continuing argument. My buddy Ira loves Mizzou sports, we've had a long-standing augment regarding Mizzou basketball recruiting. Part of Ira's view might be attributed to Mizzou's football coach Gary Pinkel. At the time Pinkel was hired one of his first press conferences he said "he intended to close the borders." Simply stated he wanted all top-notch football recruits headed to Columbia rather than to another program. After inheriting a bad football team in 2001 he's only had three losing seasons and an overall 84-54 record. Football to basketball is apples to oranges, both requirements are not the same. In addition a smaller number of impact recruits can change the completion of a basketball program much sooner than a football program. A winning high profile program will be an automatic attraction to a youngster. All that's necessary is to look at North Carolina, UConn, Duke and several others, the program (and coach) are often keys to a teams continuing success and recruiting.
Former Lakers Disagree
"Buck" and "Big Game" James disagree on trading
Andrew Bynum. Buck's his nickname you know him better as Magic Johnson and he's indicated he thinks the
Lakers should trade Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard. I didn't agree with Johnson's view I pointed out what I thought were differences
in each players games. My conclusion was I could find no area Howard outperformed Bynum significantly. Naturally I was pleased to discover Laker great "Big Game"
James Worthy agrees with me. The following comments paraphrases observations of Worthy. The "Lakers would be better off keeping both
Bynum and Gasol. The addition of Steve Nash should benefit the starters and the
bench. The maturity factor didn't seem to bother Worthy either, he pointed
out Howard had plenty of drama surrounding him too. Howard's
insistence the Nets were the "only" team he'd play for.
