Hornets to Change Name to Pelicans

The New Orleans Hornets announced Thursday that they will be going ahead with the name change to the New Orleans Pelicans.  The change has to be approved by the NBA although commissioner David Stern has stated before that he would not object to any name change Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Hornets and Saints, chose for the team.  The Hornets will also change to team colors to blue, gold and red.

Hello Los Angeles

The NBA finally game LA Clippers and the New Orleans the thumbs up to
send CP3 to LA.

After many speculations that Chris Paul would end up with the Lakers before the season begins, CP3 is officially headed to LA, as a Clipper.  Trade talks for Paul originally began with CP3 heading to the Lakers last week but the trade was vetoed by the NBA.  All trades must be approved by the NBA and the trade for Paul to the Lakers was halted due to "basketball reasons". Whatever that means.  But after that trade fail the NBA opened trade talks for CP3 back up and although everyone assumed that the Lakers would eventually be graced with Paul's presence it was the Clippers, the JV of LA as they are called, who rose on top this time in Los Angeles.  After the Clippers first trade discussion for the star PG came to an end feeling that the asking price for Paul was too high, talks were reopened on Monday after the Clippers acquired veteran Chauncey Billups after he was waived by the New York Knicks under the new amnesity clause in the CBA.  After speculation all day the NBA finally approved the trade between the Clippers and the Hornets sending Paul to Los Angeles to join Blake Griffin and new addition Billups and the Hornets received Guard Eric Gordon, Center Chris Kaman, Forward Al-Faruoq Aminu and the 2012 first round pick from Minnesota.  Along with Paul the Clippers will also receive two future second round draft picks.  The trade for Paul had turned into a 'circus' as some called it, with it seeming like no deal was being approved by the league to send Paul away from the NBA owned Hornets.  It was stated that among the Clippers and the Lakers, the Celtics, the Warriors as well as the Knicks, in which CP3 best friend Carmelo Anthony currently plays, were all attempting to make a bid to bring Paul to their town.  In the end Paul ended up in his original destination just with a different team where with the big lights of Hollywood I'm sure Paul and Griffin will shine.  It would have been interesting though to see what happened to the Hornets if the trade did not go through though because before the trade the Hornets only had seven players and eight players are required to suit up in order for the team to play.  I for one am happy that the drama around Who is going to get Chris Paul has come to an end, although it seems that the drama is just getting started with Dwight Howard.  Wonder if he will remain a Magic.  Stay tuned to see what else is happening with trades and players.

Everyone Wants CP3

It seems like just earlier this year we were dealing with the same drama with Carmelo Anthony, but the drama around one of Melo's best friends Chris Paul, has taken trade drama to an entirely new level.  While Lakers fans were ecstatic because yesterday evening a trade has taken place involving the LA Lakers that would change their team in a major way.  On the other hand while the fans were super excited and preparing to welcome the superstar to LA, the owners had another say on the trade.  With the New Orleans Hornets being owned by the NBA all 29 owners have a say in what goes on with the team.  Almost a year ago Phil Jackson stated once the league acquired the Hornets when its time to trade Chris Paul is going to be a major problem. Well boy was Jackson right.  After the buzz of Paul going to LA begin to spread the owners who did not agree, which was pretty much all the owners except for those involved in the trade, emailing Commissioner David Stern asking him to put a stop to the trade.  Most owners stated that trading Paul to the Lakers went against the competitive balance that had been preached the entire lockout.  Shortly after 10 pm, only 3 hours after it had been announced that Paul would be going to the Lakers, it was announced that Stern had put a kill to the CP3 trade to LA.  If the trade would have been upheld Chris Paul would have been sent to the Lakers, Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets, and Lamar Odom, along with 3 players from the Rockets, would have been sent to the Hornets.  Before the trade had taken place it was stated that the New York Knicks were also pursuing CP3, which is really where he wanted to be in order to play with best friend Carmelo Anthony. Only issue with that trade is that Melo is the reason CP3 could join the Knicks, due to the fact that the Knicks had traded its players that would be appealing to other teams in order to get Carmelo Anthony before the trade deadline last season.  It was also reported earlier this week that the Boston Celtics were willing to trade Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green for Paul.  Paul showed up for training camp with the Hornets but it will be interesting to see how things will turn out.  The 3 teams involved in the trade plans on appealing the decision by the league, Paul was planning on suing the league, and it has now been reported that the league has now reopened trade talks for all trades involving Paul.  It will be interesting to see if Paul do end up in LA, or if the Knicks will find away to bring him to NY or if the Boston Celtics will revisit the idea of trading Rondo and Green for Paul.  It was also reported that if Paul was not traded by Monday he would pursue a lawsuit against the league through the players association.  If Paul remains with the Hornets this year he will be a free agent at the end of this season so he can go to whichever team he feels is the best fit for him that offers him a deal.  Stay tuned to see how this turns out.

Hornets Continue to Dominate

CP3 and the New Orleans Hornets winning streak continues tonight after they defeated the number 1 team in the league right now, the San Antonio Spurs.  After coming off a very explosive game last night in Atlanta, the Hornets flew back home to take on the Spurs. The Hornets outscored in the Spurs throughout the 1st three quarters, holding the Spurs to only 10 points in the 3rd quarter alone.  The Spurs had only two players in double digits tonight, the highest being 11 points by Splitter, and Duncan was held to shooting 2-11 field goals and only scoring 6 points and 5 rebounds.  Although the Hornets did not outscore the Spurs in the 4th, the Hornets still held on to beat San Antonio 96-72 and has extended their win streak to 8 games and are now 29-16.