Chris Paul Rumors Start, Nothing More Than Empty Opinions

Chris Broussard of the esteemed ESPN entertainment network posted an article on the Hornets starting point-guard and All-Star Chris Paul. In that article, Broussard belted out staggering claims that New York was the one and only destination for Chris Paul and that it was merely a matter of time before the Hornets had to waive goodbye to their idol and leader.

Before you think I’m some crazed, loner, Hornets fan (which in some ways I am, but I’m not too high and mighty to admit it), there are others out there that think Chris Broussard’s empty filled article is nothing but fun, water-cooler talk for most New Yorkers.

Take John Hollinger who wrote this in one of his articles, posted directly after Broussards:

"No matter how you slice it, it seems somewhere between highly unlikely and virtually impossible for Paul to end up with Amare and Melo on the Knicks. He can’t force a trade there, he’d take a financial bath signing there as a free agent, and the Hornets aren’t going to sit idly by and lose him for nothing. The CP-to-New York talk to match Miami’s Big 3 makes for fun conversation for this winter, but the Knicks lost hope of this happening the day they made the Anthony trade."

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What’s disappointing is that most won’t get to see his article, the one that counters the speculation, which is going to be seen by every New Yorker from Manhattan to Staten Island.

If Chris Paul wants to go to New York and only New York he’s going to leave ten’s of millions of dollars on the table. Not just that, but he’s going to be overwhemingly underpaid in comparison to Carmelo and Stoudamire when Paul might be the better player of the three.

All of this is not to say that Chris Paul is staying in New Orleans, no way. Paul would be smart to stay in the Western Conference where he can avoid the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat. As well it would make sense that perhaps the Clippers or even the Lakers might be better suiting spots.

The Clippers have a lot of trade assets. They have young talent and draft picks to boot. If the Hornets end up shopping Chris Paul, teams that have those two items will be the front runners, not teams that have zero draft picks and very limited and questionable talent that isn’t quite young.

Fans in New Orleans feel even more angry because of such lines as this from Broussard:

"“…and Paul’s current team, the poor, league-owned New Orleans Hornets, will of course do everything they can to avoid losing Paul for nothing.”“The bottom line is that this will all make it tough on New Orleans, which is already in dire straits with just five players currently under contract. The Hornets’ Plan A (re-sign Paul) is not going to happen, their Plan B (trade Paul before or early in the season) is unlikely, and Plan C (send him to New York in a sign-and-trade) will yield them hardly anything in terms of valuable assets.”“But once he turns that down and refuses to commit to them long term, they’ll have no choice but to begin shopping him”"

There will be bias in every article, but when there is no attempt to offer balance, reason and logic within an article it cannot be represented as such. The clear jabs and ridicules of fans of New Orleans and people who live there are unforgivable. The notion that the Hornets are in panic mode is one that is clearly not lost on Broussard who has continued to spray his slanted viewpoint all over ESPN readers. Calling the Hornets and by extension their fans poor, he’s crossed the line into poor journalistic values and ethics.

For most Hornets fans, and any fan of Chris Paul, they can’t understand how, and I quote the great Chris Broussard, “the bright lights of New York,” match up with his personality. Paul seems like the type of person who wants to win, no matter where he is, not go to a big market because it’s simply a big market.

I understand that big markets are perceived (I emphasise the perception) to being the easy route to a championship, but that’s not always true. With a new CBA it will be more difficult for teams over or close to the cap to spend more. If you don’t trust me, go read John Hollonger’s article.

The discerning thing of it all is that with these rumours persisting it may adversely affect Dell Demps’ off-season plan to retain David West and Carl Landry. Drawing in other free-agents may be a problem, but until he and Chris Paul are convinced that they can build a championship in New Orleans then the rumours will fly wildly and get more ridiculous than ever before.