After a tremendous amount of waffling over the past week and a half, the league has relented and Chris Paul is finally headed to Los Angeles...to partake in 'lob city' with Blake Griffin and the Clippers.
NBA analyst Jarrod Gillis has the in-depth particulars on the trade between the Clippers and the New Orleans Hornets, which involved a total of four players and three draft picks changing hands.
To quickly recap the players involved in the trade, Los Angeles gave up promising guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman and its lottery pick from 2010, forward Al-Farouq Aminu, to obtain one of the best, if not the best, point guard in the NBA in Paul.
Obviously the Hornets made out like bandits, receiving younger talents, while maintaining financial flexibility; however, it is the first-round draft pick that New Orleans received in the deal that could have a dramatic impact on the organization.
First, let's take at the draft picks changing hands. The Clippers pick up two future second-round picks in the deal, while the Hornets were able to coax Los Angeles into parting ways with Minnesota's unprotected 2012 first-round pick. That's right, New Orleans now owns the first-round pick of the perennial draft lottery Timberwolves, a team that has selected no lower than 7th overall over the past six drafts.
Before we dive into the richness of the potential 2012 draft class, let's take a look at how that pick came to be in the hands of the Clippers and later dealt to the Hornets.
Back in 2005, following eight consecutive trips to the playoffs, Minnesota's downward spiral had begun and the team was looking to shed burdening contracts and shake up a roster that, despite having Kevin Garnett in his prime, wasn't going anywhere.
The Timberwolves and Clippers would consummate a deal that off-season, with Marko Jaric and Lionel Chalmers heading to Minnesota and Sam Cassell and a conditional, lottery-protected 2006 first-rounder going to Los Angeles.
Now, had Minnesota produced an eighth-seed season over the past six years, this discussion would be null and void; however, the Timberwolves would devolve into one of the league's worst.
Six years later that previously lottery protected pick is now unprotected, and, oh yeah, Minnesota is still pretty bad.
Looking ahead, the 2012 NBA Draft is, on paper, one of the deepest, most talented, big man-stocked drafts in recent memory. Impact small forwards (Perry Jones, Harrison Barnes, etc.), franchise big men (Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, etc.), the 2012 draft is slated to have it all.
And if history repeats itself – remember the Timberwolves had the most ping-pong balls in the 2011 lottery – the Hornets are primed to hit the jackpot and, perhaps, find the next 'face of the franchise' come June.
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© 2011 Neal J. Leitereg -- All Rights Reserved
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