Basketball Reasons were because Dell Demps is a lousy GM

https://www.si.com/nba/2018/10/24/david ... rs-hornets

Stern, speaking in an in-depth interview with Sports Illustrated, said he didn't do a good job of explaining his reasoning for the trade veto at the time.

"There was a trade that Dell Demps wanted us to approve, and I said heck no, but he had told Daryl Morey and Mitch Kupchak he had authority to do it and he didn't," Stern said of the Houston Rockets' general manager and the former Los Angeles Lakers GM. "I said no. We just settled a lockout and you want me to approve a basketball trade?"

Despite a wave of heavy reaction, Stern did not waver in his decision.

"[Demps] had agreed to [trade Paul to the Lakers for] Kevin Martin and Luis Scola or something, and I said we can do better than that," Stern said, "... And the next trade was [to the LA Clippers for] Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu and what we thought was a really great draft pick, the 10th pick, which turned out to be Austin Rivers. At least those three and someone else [center Chris Kaman].

"But Dell Demps is a lousy general manager and none of those players are currently with the team anymore, and he may lose Anthony Davis," Stern said.

"I did it because I was protecting the then-Hornets," Stern said of the 2011 veto. "... To this day, everyone always asks me, 'Well why did you keep Chris Paul from going to the Lakers?' I didn't keep him. I didn't approve the trade. No team sells or trades a future Hall of Famer without the owner signing off, and I was the owner's rep.

"But I wasn't going to hand up Dell Demps."

The Pelicans threw some shade Stern's way in response.



That last line.

New Orleans winning the lottery would have been far more suspicious had they finished 10th or so in the West like they probably would have had this trade gone through..

But he's right - Demps is a bad GM. AD is the only reason he still has a job. He traded away a first round draft pick to overpay Omer Asik. He gave injury prone bench warmer Solomon Hill a 4 year, $52M deal when Indiana didn't even pick up his team option. He traded two lottery picks for a year of DeMarcus Cousins, who was not a good fit with Anthony Davis. Jrue Holiday's max contract doesn't look so bad right now, but tying up nearly a third of your cap into a fringe all-star veteran guard with a history of injuries is... risky.

His saving grace is that he has a top five player in his mid-twenties on his team. But this looks an awful lot like KG's Timberwolves

He also picked up Nikola Mirotic at a great price, but taking advantage of GarPax doesn't exactly make you Danny Ainge.

i thought the cousins trade was a great move. they had limited assets and were still able to get a player of cousins talent. whatever sacto received, does anyone remember/care?

cousins got hurt and the Pels parlayed that cap space to Niko and Randle. still a good move

no player is worth the max but holiday is a beast. made me a believer last year especially shutting down lillard in the playoff. surprised to see Payton doing well but he may get rondo'ed in the playoffs. if this team could get a legit sized SF who can shoot and a good defender....

Etuwan Moore resents that comment

Your spelling of his name too

no player is worth the max but holiday is a beast. made me a believer last year especially shutting down lillard in the playoff.

I agree with this so much. Didn't think much of him before. Last year with him playing the 2 more than the 1 really made me notice him. Good on Gentry for figuring shit out over there.

Whoever said this is much like the KG-Wolves is pretty spot-on, Davis out there putting up numbers on a team that won't make it passed the second round. Just hope Davis doesn't go to the Celtics when the time comes.

Interesting comparison

Are these pels capped at the kg spree Cassell team? So far in the west it's GSw and everyone else.