Even in the midst of diverting and mystic trade conversations in the offseason, as we quickly are absorbing the buzz of the developing news and stunning results transpiring in the NBA, all temptations and rebuilding motives are surrounding Chris Paul, an explosive point guard with the competitive intangibles.
He would be mentioned as a potential star that the New Orleans Hornets are tempted in shopping, when he has brought mirth to a disillusioned town considering his elite competency, transforming the landscape and formulating a nucleus. It’s easy to realize that the Hornets are foolishly pondering whether or not to trade away a prolific floor general elsewhere, dispatching a three-time All-Star and the best point guard in the league.
The reality for a buzzing storyline involving a star player who is the heart and soul of the Hornets marketing project and a franchise seeking to rebuild as a worthy contender, is a brainteaser at a stage when organizations are retooling and assembling in transitions to upgrade a lowly status. Yet the likelihood of Paul’s possible trade is very unlikely, even though all the talk has initiated much speculation.
The good news is that the Hornets front office has no intentions or urgency in dealing the centerpiece of their franchise. General manager Jeff Bower insisted that he’s listening to every offer, but declined any possible trades and rebuffed to elaborate which teams inquired.
For now, the Hornets deny moving the marquee star, an indication that he’s still a top ingredient for the team’s blueprint. This pacifies worried fans, now curious to know if he’ll remain in a Hornets’ uniform come next season. In the meantime, the spotlight eschews the LeBron-Watch with all regards hovering over Paul, the pleasing leader who transformed the dynamics since departing from the college game.
It dawns on the franchise that they’ll lose much and be deprived of re-situating a down season. It’s an unwise exchange anytime a team foolishly decides to sell the best guard with promising attributes in the next five seasons. It’s parallel of trading for an unproven player or trading in a vehicle for an entertainment system. That’s just silly.
The ongoing speculations have struck basketball fanatics, and materialize as front page news and steals headlines over LeBron James free-agency signing in a few more weeks. The Hornets have our attention and are being publicized more than they were during a futile season.
In other words, it’s polite to recognized a gifted athlete, despite a history of injuries that has left his incipient career less fluctuate than durable, affecting a dicey progress of Paul orchestrating balance and vigor.
For one thing, the Hornets clearly know that if they are persuaded, they will be trading a beneficial conductor who creates advantages for his teammates by running the floor and moving the ball with his exquisite mobility and agility. There are multiple scenarios to notice in his imposing activities on the court that he maneuvers, especially if he’s healthy and hasty in manipulating the emotions in a contest.
Although he hasn’t been satisfied with the personnel measures within a single-minded organization, Paul has handled his differences with maturity and never demanded a trade or singled out his superiors. If the Hornets trade its top star, it would be a regrettable mistake, knowing that traditionally, NBA big-names aren’t an equalizer in trade values.
Before he suffered injuries, Paul was a top-five guard in the league. But it doesn’t mean he’s useless or debilitated, even when he has had trouble rehabilitating from severe blows. This is a ripening specimen, a player the league hasn’t seen in a long time, mysteriously becoming a blockbuster name in the trading sweepstakes this summer.
It’s most telling that Orlando, New York, and New Jersey have contacted the Hornets expressing interest in the availability of a dominant force, regarding the special uplifting of CP3. It’s not stunning that the Magic are willing in shopping an ungoverned and ineffectiveness Jameer Nelson to New Orleans as well as a useless Vince Carter, who both were impotent in the postseason after faltering on basketball’s biggest stage.
There’s no questioning that he’ll fittingly improve the inferior Knicks in Madison Square Garden, when team president Donnie Walsh cleared salary space to pursue James once he becomes a free agent on July 1. If he happened to land in New York, Paul will release pressure off a developing core and be surrounded by a youthful tandem in David Lee and Danilo Gallinari. It’s even fitting that he could be on the trading block and on his way to the Meadowlands for New Jersey’s guard Devin Harris.
Either way, this is basketball’s biggest conversation this summer, along with the LeBron sweepstakes that continuously makes us guess of where he’ll land and sign his next signature.
At this moment, he’s the offseason magnet, when it appeared that Paul’s job status with the Hornets was intact and when it looked as if his availability was out of discussion for at least another three years.
But he’s still under contract for three years, which is worth $49 million with a player option in the final year, at $17.7 million. And if you thought the Hornets have forgotten about Paul averaging 19.4 points and 9.9 assists in his first four seasons in the league, think again. Although he missed the final 37 games with problematic knee and ankle injuries, the Hornets know what type of player they possess and would be mindless to sell him to a desperate NBA market.
By next season, he is expected to be fully robust and make a strong recovery, most likely in New Orleans, a place he likes to call home. But the Hornets are willing to entertain trade offers because of the prodigy of Darren Collison, a prosperous guard who filled in well and impressed everyone in a dazzling rookie season.
However, in reality, the first-rate star is Paul. And they are fools if they send the best point guard away.
