Dan Gilbert wasn’t the only owner who supported David Stern’s veto on the deal between the Lakers, Rockets and Hornets previously designed to send Chris Paul to Los Angeles.
His email, seemingly a private one addressed to David Stern, was the only one that leaked publicly but he wasn’t alone in his position.
We can assume that a number of other owners shared similar sentiments, but we don’t have to assume that Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban was one of them. Cuban said as much on the record this past Friday.
Following reports that Thursday’s proposed trade was nixed by Commissioner David Stern, Cuban offered the following statement in support of Stern’s decision to block the trade in an interview with ESPN Dallas’ 103.3 FM:
“The message is we went through this lockout for a reason,” Cuban said. “Again, I’m not speaking for Stern. He’s not telling me his thought process. I’m just telling you my perspective, having gone through all this. There’s a reason that we went through this lockout, and one of the reasons is to give small-market teams the ability to keep their stars and the ability to compete.”
“Players will always have the right to choose what they want to do as a free agent, but the players agreed to rules that said, ‘You know what? Let’s give the home team, the incumbent team, an extra advantage.’ And that’s how the rules were designed. I think they’re going to work.”
Then on Saturday night Mark Cuban’s Mavericks traded for Lamar Odom, the 6th Man of the Year last season and an integral piece in the proposed Chris Paul trade. In return for Odom, Dallas sent a future first round draft pick and a portion of the Mavs’ recently acquired $8.9 million trade exception obtained through the sign and trade of Tyson Chandler to New York earlier that day to the Lakers.
The whole development is both hypocritical and kind of funny all at the same time. The ironic part about it is that this move for the Lakers also helps them in their efforts to now try to strike a deal for Dwight Howard. If they end up with Howard, instead of Chris Paul, it is difficult to argue that they’re not markedly better off than they would’ve been otherwise.
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Baron Davis Sidelined For Cavs Practice Saturday:
After being held out of the Cavaliers first practice on Friday, following a report the Cavs would use their Amnesty Clause on Davis Thursday, Baron sat out of practice again on Saturday too.
This from Mary Schmitt Boyer of the The Plain Dealer this morning:
Cavaliers guard Baron Davis received treatment on his sore back and sat out the second day of practice with the team on Saturday. His back, which also gave him trouble last season, tightened up in the first drill of training camp on Friday.
Davis has been rumored to be on his way out of Cleveland either via the amnesty clause or a buyout, although club officials have said they have not made a decision. He also could serve as a mentor to rookie point guard Kyrie Irving.
I like Baron Davis as much as the next guy, but you can’t do too much NBA mentoring from the training table. At least I don’t think you can. Tough to trade an aging vet with a huge contract who looks to be hurt all season too. The days of Davis in Cleveland appear to be numbered, I think, and I would guess that decision by club officials could be coming soon.
