Chris Paul/Emeka Okafor

[amrgeddon]

It seems from news reports that NO ownership is looking to make some changes- particularly to reduce payroll, and that these two players may be on the move.

Raps have about 3 expiring contracts that they can leverage:
Banks - $4.8MM
Evans - $5.0MM
Bellinelli - $2.4MM
Total expiring - $12.2MM

Maybe you offer NO these contracts + draft picks (the two we got from Miami) + the Bosh T/E for both Paul and Okafor. Maybe to sweeten it for NO, we throw in Ed Davis instead of Bellinelli...

The main incentive for NO to do this deal is to get rid of the horrible Okafor contract and replace it with contracts that are coming off the books this year. With the trade exception, they get an instant payroll savings from the Paul contract, some picks, and maybe even a young stud in Davis.

Interested in your feedback...

[Priest]

Man...this trade proposal comes up everyday now. Stop it. Any combination of Chris Paul/Collison/Okafor are not coming to Toronto. Until there is an actual damn article that states that they have legit sources telling them BC is aggresively calling NO for players, stop having pipe dreams about Paul being in a damn Raptors Jersey.

[AirRaptor]

If we COULD get CP3, it would be very interesting, because not only would we be a playoff team, but he would be able to recruit other players to TO...but DC is much more feasible.

[amrgeddon]

Hey Priest, I was throwing a scenario up there - not inventing a rumour. It's an actual fact that Paul/Okafor are being shopped, so it's not such a stretch to think that BC would look into it...Any responsible/smart GM doing their job would.

Unless you are privy to insider info - I would quit with the holier-than-though attitude...

[Priest]

Hey Priest, I was throwing a scenario up there - not inventing a rumour. It's an actual fact that Paul/Okafor are being shopped, so it's not such a stretch to think that BC would look into it...Any responsible/smart GM doing their job would.

Unless you are privy to insider info - I would quit with the holier-than-though attitude...

Aight I have nothing against you first of all. Second i just came across this article today which reminded me of this thread
http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2010/0...-the-internet/
See fan type #7 and tell me what you think

[Tim W.]

Hey Priest, I was throwing a scenario up there - not inventing a rumour. It's an actual fact that Paul/Okafor are being shopped, so it's not such a stretch to think that BC would look into it...Any responsible/smart GM doing their job would.

Unless you are privy to insider info - I would quit with the holier-than-though attitude...

It's actually not an actual fact that Paul and Okafor are being shopped. Before the draft, when New Orleans was over the tax threshold, they were looking to clear some salaries, and did, by trading Mo Pete. Now they're not.

And I'm pretty sure that 29 other teams could come up with a better offer than the one you proposed, that would include better players for New Orleans, who would never simply getting rid of their best player in team history in a salary dump.

[amrgeddon]

It's actually not an actual fact that Paul and Okafor are being shopped. Before the draft, when New Orleans was over the tax threshold, they were looking to clear some salaries, and did, by trading Mo Pete. Now they're not.

And I'm pretty sure that 29 other teams could come up with a better offer than the one you proposed, that would include better players for New Orleans, who would never simply getting rid of their best player in team history in a salary dump.

I beg to disagree on whether Paul/Okafor are being shopped. People are leaking info on a daily basis re: Paul so it's not a stretch to believe that he's 1) he's being shopped 2) being actively pursued by other teams. Latest rumor has bobcats/hornets chatting deal.

As far as 29 teams offering something better - the bobcats, outside of Wallace, have nothing better to offer NO that would make sense for both teams.... ditto Chicago, Phx, LA,NYC. Only a handful of teams have good mix of assets/expiring contracts/financial flexibility to absorb contrcts...

There's no doubt that there's a considerable amount of wishful thinking on my part, but the raps have some interesting pieces they could throw NO way that weren't discussed previously. dd, weems, davis, calderon, jj, etc... DD/Weems/Davis were the talk of the summer league...

[Buddahfan]

I would love to see CP3 play for the Raptors but it seems to me that the odds of that happening are maybe just a bit higher than Storyville being resurrected in New Orleans.

Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917.

It actually had a very interesting history. Some of the greatest Jazz musicians of all time played in Storyville: eg., Louise Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, Joe "King" Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton just to name four.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyville

[Tim W.]

I beg to disagree on whether Paul/Okafor are being shopped. People are leaking info on a daily basis re: Paul so it's not a stretch to believe that he's 1) he's being shopped 2) being actively pursued by other teams. Latest rumor has bobcats/hornets chatting deal.

What happened was New Orleans was over the luxury tax and were looking to rid themselves of some contracts. Fans from other teams jumped on this and talked about them completely dumping all their salary, including Paul. And I actually haven't heard one rumour from a reliable source about Paul being shopped.

As far as 29 teams offering something better - the bobcats, outside of Wallace, have nothing better to offer NO that would make sense for both teams.... ditto Chicago, Phx, LA,NYC. Only a handful of teams have good mix of assets/expiring contracts/financial flexibility to absorb contrcts...

There's no doubt that there's a considerable amount of wishful thinking on my part, but the raps have some interesting pieces they could throw NO way that weren't discussed previously. dd, weems, davis, calderon, jj, etc... DD/Weems/Davis were the talk of the summer league...

There were more than a couple of teams that could have simply absorbed contracts. New Jersey could have taken on Okafor and Paul and given back Favors, Damion James and Terrence Williams, as well as another first rounder, giving the Hornets a HUGE amount of immediate salary relief and great young talent.

One problem with the pieces you're talking about is it would leave the Raptors in a worse positions than the Hornets right now. It would be great to get Paul, but giving up the entire roster to do it would be completely pointless, especially since he can opt out next year, and probably would if he were surrounded by crappy players on a lottery team.

[mo-sales]

That 11 types of obnoxious fans article was pretty good. For all future Chris Paul trade proposals, if you don't involve 2 of the top 3 player's on the team please destroy your proposal. If NO accepted the trade you proposed, Stern would likely move the Hornets to Seattle within 2 years.

I don't know why people hear a rumor that NO is 'hemorrhaging' money (They always use hemorrhaging) and assume its some sort of firesale. How much money would they lose after they gave up Paul for nothing?

Emeka doesn't have this awful, awful deal as well. He is a very good defensive center who rebounds, blocks shots, shoots a high percentage and doesn't turn the ball over. Is he getting paid too much, yes of course, but so is every center in the league. It doesn't mean you package a once in a generation point guard to get rid of a player who had one off season which was likely a result of not playing said point guard.

Every time someone proposes a dumb Chris Paul trade, a puppy dies.