Category — Magic Johnson

The always entertaining Tom Hoffarth educates us on the huge differences between Laker and Clipper fans.
Daily News

Even without Chris Paul, who sat out his 2nd straight game with a sore hammy, this is embarrassing for the Clippers. And they fall a game back of the Lakers, who they handled just days ago, in the standings. It doesn’t mean much now though, but it definitely was a message sent by the Jazz, who have owned the Clippers in Utah.
NBA.com

The wonderful TV personality passed today after an apparent heart attack. He was only 67.
AP

Even noted ladies man Luke Walton couldn’t resist an upclose look at that hand job.
Line of the week: “Is it a coincidence that Kobe’s wrist injury coincided with the release date of Lindsay Lohan’s nude Playboy pictorial?”
Grantland.com

Do the Clippers vote David Stern a share of playoff coin if they win it all?
In a poll of 30 ESPN writers and personalities, 25 of them picked the Heat to win this season’s NBA title. Three of them picked the Bulls and 2 predicted the Thunder would win it all.
Us? As much as Miami is the safe pick, we’re rolling with our homies (Thunder). Now beam us up Scottie.
ESPN.com

Forget the Lakers getting the shaft in the Chris Paul deal. The Rockets are reeling too. And the reputation of Hornets’ GM Dell Demps. Can you spell s-l-a-n-d-e-r?
Adrian Wojnarowski pens 1 of the best pieces I’ve read so far regarding this hijacking by David Stern and the NBA.
Yahoo Sports

For the record, the writer is a white guy.
So much for labor peace.
With 1 mighty veto, David Stern turned the 1st day of training camp into a public relations nightmare for the NBA.
The league commissioner and thus the final voice in the workings of the NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets, Stern proved he was really not in charge. We knew that though from the lockout.
The true men behind the curtain are those small-market owners who want what’s best for them and not the league.
Some only signed the new labor deal with their eyes shut and while holding their noses.
They wanted more, though missing the entire season would have been OK for them.
They were back at it again Thursday.
When the Hornets made what looked like a good trade to send free-agent-to-be guard Chris Paul to the Lakers, it seemed New Orleans was on its way back.
The Hornets, who will get nothing for Paul when he leaves at the end of this season — and he will leave — were going to get 3 likely starters and some help for the future. Even the Rockets were getting better.
Now the Hornets get nothing. The deal may not be dead but it is clearly on life support.
All this to keep a group of owners unable or unwilling to pay top dollar happy.
This was exactly what the NBA lockout was all about.
Forget losing money and fans. This still is about power. Power to the unfortunate people such as Dan Gilbert and Michael Jordan. Mark Cuban even singing the NBA’s praises for shooting down this deal. And why not? All the clubs are in the Western Conference and in Mark’s vicinity. And damn the Lakers and the horses they’re riding now.
NBA owners saw players gaining power through free-agent moves and forced trades and they didn’t like it.

How dare they decide where they want to live and raise their families. What, they think this is a free county?
They argue about competitive balance, about the little guys having a fighting chance. The NBA has never been about small guys. Nope, it’s all about power. Owners make sure they keep it that way.
Even more so, this might be a little title envy.
If the Lakers get Paul and then Dwight Howard, they would again be a title contender.
The Lakers have fleeced sad franchises for their talents in the past and won, which hardly makes them evil or unique, just the Yankees and Red Sox of the NBA. Or the Celtics.
The league backed itself into a corner. Will the Association now try to run all 30 teams when it comes to trades so Orlando can’t deal Howard to the New Jersey-Brooklyn Nets?
But those owners are missing the bigger picture.
By keeping Paul away from the Lakers and telling players to watch their steps, they are doing their own product an injustice.
History has shown that the NBA is good when the big markets are winning. Ratings and sales are up and so is the value of franchises.
By keeping Paul away from L.A., at least for the moment, the owners are hurting their own product.
It is a selfish move which seems to mirror that of the players who are creating these mega teams.
Let it go. It is the only way to really begin a healing process that will need a long time to sort out.
However, for now, this is just another indication of how divided and messed up the NBA really is.
Just ask Chris Paul.

Some folks are calling for David Stern’s head in his decision to kill the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers. In this case, it’s Bill Simmons, a huge Celtics fan and Lakers hater.
Grantland.com

Maybe Bryant Gumbel had a point.
Put your Laker hate aside. Look at what the Hornets got in the Chris Paul deal and you wonder who’s running the store at the NBA’s office in New York. Seriously, the Lakers gave up a perennial All-Star (Pau Gasol) and last season’s 6th Man of the Year (Lamar Odom) for Chris Paul. It wasn’t like Gasol for Kwame Brown and Pau’s brother Marc, who turned out to be a steal, as a throw in.
And what happens now? Lamar is pitching a bitch. The Kardashians cash in again.
SI.com

Is that you Mark Cuban? Or are those Kardashian fame whores behind this?
We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, but our 1st impression is that this deal gets done if it’s anyone but the Lakers. And why oh why does the NBA and hypocrite David Stern let it blow in the wind, pull the trigger on it and then the league vetoes the deal? WTF? You mean the NBA vetoes its own deal? How insane is that? Not really so crazy if you consider Cuban, that little scumbag in Cleveland and that Charlotte owner might have something to say?
This also makes a prophet out of Phil Jackson, who made this comment last season regarding a trade for Chris Paul: “Who’s going to pull the button on it? When Chris says he has to be traded, how’s that going to go? Someone’s going to have to make a very nonjudgmental decision on that part that’s not going to irritate anyone else in the league.”