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Yes, I’ll have a double-dip of my usual goofiness later on today. But this is something that I have to blog about.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the L.A. basketball teams. But I’m an even bigger fan of the whole NBA. And when I see a team that has something great going, I become a fan of them as well. It was nice to see the “seven seconds or less” Phoenix Suns back, although, yeah, I admitted that I wanted to punch someone in the face upon seeing the Clippers getting plastered by that Suns team (rematch later on tonight, but I don’t like their chances against a motivated Phoenix team).

This Tyson Chandler trade, though, made me angry. Screw the cost-cutting shiz.

Why?

I feel really terrible for Sarah (of Hornets Hypelook at this sad post she wrote) and the rest of the Hornets fan base. This move doesn’t make sense to me. Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox aren’t really mediocre players; they’re more than capable to replace Tyson Chandler‘s offense. But Chandler brought defense and size, which both of these guys don’t have (weren’t the Hornets looking for more players that can fill the center position?!). And a trade can be crippling to a team. Remember what the Billy Owens trade did to the ’94-95 Golden State Warriors? The Andre Miller trade to the L.A. Clippers before the ’02-’03 season? It destroyed both teams. I think Chris Paul is better than that and will eventually be all right but…

…this Hornets team deserved a second shot. Sure, Chandler hasn’t played well this year… but the season’s not over yet and he played well in the two years he was there. In fact, the Hornets haven’t caught fire and I expected them to make a second half push (they’re currently 6th in the West but 4 through 8 are very close in the standings). Sure, they may not beat the Lakers or even San Antonio. But doesn’t this team deserve to get another crack at these guys? It’s fine to trade him during the offseason (at least, they can take a look at what went wrong)… but this crappy cost-cutting move DURING the season essentially means New Orleans is waving the white flag for this season. I would feel very betrayed if I were a Hornets fan because this team did have a bright future. Now the Hornets players are scratching their heads. So are the fans. They’re there to watch basketball, not stupid executive decisions.

So what? Do these guys actually want to win a title? Why are they running this team? Why do they own this team? Eternal cap space? What?

Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox better combine for 50 points and 35 rebounds a game while shutting down the opposing team’s fives.

Rey-Rey
Blogger of the No-Look Pass

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