Were you all had? The NBA Lockout of 2011

If I told you that you could be reincarnated and earn $50 million but and all you had to do was kill yourself today, would you do it?  What if you told me that you couldn't swim but I told you that if you tried to swim across the Atlantic Ocean, you wouldn't drown, would you believe me?  I'm having a hard time figuring out why so many "fans" are disappointed by today's news that the Lakers have made an agreement with the Hornets to acquire All-Star guard Chris Paul.  The Miami Heat upgraded their bench by adding Shane Battier and a reborn Eddy Curry and the Knicks are close to acquiring NBA Champion center Tyson Chandler.  These are examples of big market teams making a splash 24 hours before training camp is to begin.  Surprised?

If you were surprised by the agreements today and/or disappointed by the fact that the big market teams are still able to sign whomever they would like then you were a victim of the owners lies plain and simple.  The NBA Lockout of 2011 was promoted by the owners as a chance
for there to be competitive balance across the league, the Pacers would be able to compete with the Knicks for talent as an example.  It was all fabricated to cover up the truth, the real reason the owners locked out the players, the owners wanted more money and in the end they received a giveback from the players of over 1 billion dollars.  You've been had!  You've been took!  Hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led Astray!  Run amok!  Simply put you were lied to.

The big market teams will continue to grow stronger as long as the NBA is in existence because the NBA needs the Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, and Heat more than the Spurs, Pacers, Hawks or Bucks.  It's the reason only 9 different franchises have won the NBA championship since 1979.  The facts were all over the Internet throughout the summer, The Closer, Jason Whitlock, and myself tried to educated as many "fans" as we could about the real reason the owners had locked the players out, but we could only do so much as Commissioner Stern could jump on his mouth piece known as ESPN and spins "fans" at his leisure.  If the Lakers acquire Paul it will no doubt signal the final days for Dwight Howard in Orlando as he desires to be paired with an All-Star caliber point guard not named Jameer Nelson, but would the owners really allow their reputations to be tarnished in the eyes of the fans if the big market teams continue to grow stronger?

As I began this post 15 minutes ago, Adrian Wojnarwski of Yahoo sports reported via twitter that the owners were irate in a Board of Governors meeting with Stern that the Hornets who are currently league owned would be allowed to trade Chris Paul away and now the news has just broke that the NBA has killed the trade agreement between the Lakers and Hornets.....can someone tell us why?  It seems as if the owners grew wise to the fact that this proposed trade if culminated would have exposed them as liars and David Stern has now not allowed the trade to take place.

All of this is breaking as I typed and I just finished a phone call with The Closer and I must say that I am in a state of shock that this has happened.  What else do the owners want from the players at this point in time?  This is an absolute abuse of power and these words that are being typed are coming from a place of raw emotion, reports are that Chris Paul is devastated by the recent developments of tonight and this is perhaps the worst thing that I've ever witnessed in my almost 20 years of following the NBA.  Reports are also stating that due to a conflict of interest is why the Hornets were order to rescind the trade, but keep in mind that a conflict of interest works both ways because it is a conflict of interest to block the trade as well.  I leave you with one question, if the Hornets were going to trade Chris Paul to the Pacers, Timberwolves or Hawks, do you think the league would have imposed its will the way it did this evening?

Chris Broussard of ESPN has just reported that Chris Paul will explore legal action against the league with NBPA Director Billy Hunter to fight the blocked trade.