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07/26/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Orleans Hornets have prepared for their scheduled sit-down with All-Star guard Chris Paul by fending off the latest flurry of trade calls received from teams salivating over adding the game's best pure point guard.
Opposing general managers are circling New Orleans like sharks smelling blood in the water, with most convinced Paul will formally request to be moved at a planned Monday meeting, and furnish new Hornets GM Dell Demps a list of teams to which he would like to be dealt.
Paul's desire to move away from New Orleans reportedly stems from watching his close friend LeBron James land in Miami with fellow Team USA teammates Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. In fact some have even speculated that LeBron and his lackeys, Maverick Carter and William Wesley, have been pushing Paul to force the Hornets' hand.
"Best of luck to my brother," James wrote on Twitter about Paul. "Do what's best for you and your family."
Of course Demps has no reason to panic and pull the trigger on an ill- conceived deal right now. The Hornets still have two full seasons before CP3 can opt out of his deal in the Big Easy and become a free agent in the summer of 2012.
Monday's tete-a-tete with Paul will be Demps' first face-to-face meeting with his star since taking over basketball operations from Jeff Bower last Wednesday. He and new coach Monty Williams are hoping to sell Paul on the new regime slowing being put in place, and address concerns over the team's inactivity in free agency and delay in ownership transfer from George Shinn to Gary Chouest.
That's a tough task, since Paul urged the Hornets to be an active player in the market and their only move thus far has been re-signing backup center Aaron Gray.
Likely wary of the public backlash James received for ditching Cleveland on national television, Paul has been careful to play both sides of the fence. During the recent Las Vegas Summer League, Paul told his new coach he would like to stay in New Orleans.
"I'm not going to jump to any conclusions off of something that's been alleged," Williams told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "We've already had dialogue and all of it has been great and everything that he said to me is what I'm going off of. He wants to be in New Orleans, and he hadn't said anything to me about any kind of movement, and we're going to sit down again."
What is clear at this point is Paul has been looking at the new NBA landscape and now realizes he has little chance to compete for an NBA championship unless things change drastically in New Orleans. In fact, Paul is suffering from a severe case of envy. Like LeBron, he wants to be part of a super team.
It looks like the competitive juices that defined players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird just doesn't exist in this generation.
"There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team.' In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys," Jordan recently said when discussing the James-Wade-Bosh Holy Trinity in Miami.
To players like M.J., the rings may have defined them, but it was the competition that fueled them.
The battle cry of today's NBA player should be "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Paul is just the latest superstar that wants to tap out just as things are getting a little tough.
<< Canucks sign LW Raymond to two-year deal
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<< Blackpool striker Clarke might miss entire season
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<< Browns sign second-round pick Hardesty
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<< Raul confirms exit from Real Madrid
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raul confirmed on Monday that he is leaving
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This Week in Golf - July 29th through August 1st >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN, Royal Birkdale Golf
Club, Southport, England - The women remain in Europe this week for the fourth
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Gasquet rolls; Robredo exits Gstaad >>
Gstaad, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former top-10 Frenchman Richard Gasquet
reached the second round, while fifth-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo came up a
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Inter Milan brass taking massive gamble with Balotelli sale >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With reports surfacing that Inter Milan are
prepared to transfer Mario Balotelli to Manchester City for a fee in the range
of 30 million Euros, the young star's tumultuous time with the club seems to be
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Lightning name Tod Leiweke CEO >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Lightning chairman and governor Jeff
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After all the trouble that’s ensued since Braylon Edwards allegedly punched one of LeBron James’ homeboys in the face at a club, the Cleveland Browns have sent away their last remaining player of worth to the New York Jets. This is a great move for Dirty Sanchez and all, but it’s even better for the Knicks. Now Donnie Walsh can say, “You get to haunt Braylon Edwards with your posse if you sign here!” next summer.
Putting that aside for a moment, the move is a clear indication that the new-look Jets are gunning for the Super Bowl this year. I don’t think that New York thought that Dirty Sanchez was going to be such a rock star. With a 75.2 passer rating that was killed against the Jets, Sanchez is doing an admirable job of managing games and putting the Jets in a position to win. The defense has been the major story in New York thus far, but the acquisition of Braylon Edwards makes this offense loaded with talent that can dent any defense…as long as Dirty Sanchez continues his meteoric rise.
Thus far, Edwards has been a non-factor in the NFL piling up just 139 receiving yards on 10 catches. He has yet to find the endzone, and with the Browns mired in the most unsexy quarterback controversy of all time (Anderson vs. Quinn...yawn), there going nowhere fast. Edwards is two seasons removed from a career year which saw him catch 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns when the Browns were the spread killing monsters of 2007. In 2008, injuries slowed the receiver down to just 873 yards and three touchdowns though he played in all 16 games.
So that being said, we really don’t know if Braylon Edwards is just a flash in the pan, or a legit threat. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he is a prototypical receiver. But he’s also shown a strange, and unwarranted, talent for dropping passes. Lining up opposite Jericho Cotchery, a speed demon with 23 catches, 356 yards and a single touchdown, may give Braylon the open looks he needs. A change of scenery may also rejuvenate the star receiver.
In return, the Browns will receive Chansi Stuckey, online football betting a special teams player you’ve never heard of and a pair of draft picks. That’s a tall order for a guy whose only real value right now is in his name, and it shows no promise to the Browns that they can rebuild around those acquisitions. Braylon was the only reason to hope for the Browns to go 3-14 SU this year. Without him, they don’t have a single guy on offense that can scare any team.
For the Jets, it’s a response to the pounding that they took at the hand of the Saints. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have averaged around 4.0 yards per carry each on the ground, but striking a fair balance between the passing and rushing attacks in New York has been a struggle. You have to believe that the trio of Dustin Keller, Jericho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards will give Sanchez the weapons he needs to unleash through the air. Theoretically, that would open up holes for the rushing game. But the proposed public option health care plan works in theory too. We need to see the proof in the pudding before we start loading up mega bucks on the New York Jets to take the AFC.
The one wrinkle in this whole thing is that Braylon could very well be suspended by the league for disciplinary action due to his “brawl” with LeBron’s friend. If that’s the case, the Jets may have to bench him for a few games leaving them with a somewhat depleted receiving corps for a few games. Also, this is a guy who gets in fights with people at clubs. New York may not be the best place for him. Just sayin’.
The Jets have a long week before they meet the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football Betting in a virtual pick ‘em game. Braylon’s excess baggage may be a distraction, and his curiously low production may be what we should be expecting of him overall, but for the Jets, taking a chance to strike gold is well worth it. At the end of the year, they can simply just blame it on their rookie quarterback.
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