David Stern - Right All Along? | Thebigtip

Everybody loves to take shots at David Stern. First, through greed and stubbornness he tried to take away our season. Then, he nixed three agreed Chris Paul trades within the past week. However, now that the CP3 saga has come to an end, can we concede that he may have been right all along?

The Lakers, Rockets and Hornets completed a trade last week that saw Chris Paul being shipped to the Lakers in return for Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Lamar Odom and Goran Dragic. Yes, they are all nice players but the NBA isn’t looking to add ‘nice players’, they are looking to raise the value of the franchise in hope of finding a buyer. When preparing a franchise for sale, there are measures that can be taken to raise the value of the organisation. First, contracts and financial commitments must be shed. No potential buyers are interested in Scola hanging around another 4 seasons and earning $11m when he is 35. Next, collect as many young assets as possible, the perfect assets being young players on their rookie contracts and high draft picks. Scola is 31, Kevin Martin is 28 and Odom is 32. Not only are most of them heading towards the end of their prime, they are owed a total of $57m.

Enter the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers sent Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Chris Kaman and the Timberwolves 2012 unprotected first round pick.  Eric Gordon was pick 7 in the 2008 draft and is one of the best scorers in the league already at the age of 22. Aminu was pick 8 in 2010 and is still only 21 years of age and Chris Kaman is an expiring contract. Being an unprotected first round pick originally owned by the Minnesota Timberwolves, it could very well end up being a top 5 pick. Couple that with the Hornets own first round pick and they may end up with two top ten (or even two top five) picks in a 2012 draft that is expected to be strong. Gordon and Aminu will earn a total of under $7m in the upcoming season on their rookie deals. These are the assets required when trying to add value to an NBA franchise and achieving the largest possible sale price.

The Hornets added great young assets and two expected top 10 draft picks in the 2012 draft without acquiring any excessive contracts or financial commitments. There is no doubt that the Hornets increased the value of the franchise much more than what would have been gained through original Lakers-Rockets trade. Stern may not be well liked, but in this case it cannot be denied that he successfully held out for more… much more.