The NBA is back. What’s that, you say? You hadn’t noticed it was gone? I can’t say I blame you there. The product has gotten so bad over the last few years that I was thinking that a missed season might not be such a bad thing. A new agreement was reached recently, though, and things are moving along toward an abbreviated season which is set to start on Christmas Day. However, what should have been the beginning of an exciting condensed period of player movement, like we had with the NFL this season, immediately went wrong this week. A blockbuster trade that had been made between the New Orleans Hornets, the Houston Rockets, and the Los Angeles Lakers involving superstar point guard Chris Paul was squashed by the league a few hours after it had been completed. The same league, by the way, that currently owns those same New Orleans Hornets.

The trade saw the Hornets sending Paul to the Lakers, who would send Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, and Luis Scola to New Orleans and Pau Gasol to the Rockets, who would then send Goran Dragic and a first round draft pick to the Hornets. As great a player as Paul is, he is going into the last year of his deal and appears to be extremely unlikely to resign with New Orleans. Trading him now means the Hornets get something for him, rather than losing him after the season and having nothing to show for it. The trade saw them getting a bunch of very solid NBA players, as well as a top pick. Despite that, the league, after receiving a bunch of complaints from other NBA owners, due to the powerful Lakers ending up with Paul, decided to kill the deal. They offered virtually nothing in explanation, of course.

I believe there were several factors in play here. First, one of the main things the owners were trying to accomplish with the lockout was to achieve a greater level of competitive balance in a league that has tilted strongly toward several marquee franchises in the last few years, to the detriment of most of the small-market teams (like New Orleans). Also, the league is currently the owner of the Hornets, after the previous ownership had money troubles. Facilitating yet another star player’s escape to one of the big-time teams would appear to undermine whatever gains were made during the lockout. I get that, but this was such a huge abuse of power, and it absolutely damages the credibility of the NBA. First, the league has no business killing a deal that has been agreed upon by three teams, outside of a situation where there was something obviously shady about the trade. In this case, the Hornets did about as well as anyone could have expected them to do, getting very solid value in return for their star player. Other teams may have been unhappy with the thought that Paul was now a Laker,  but that’s just too bad. Trades are not submitted for approval by all of the other owners. If they were, no one would ever get traded. Worse yet, there is now a very real chance that New Orleans will end up getting absolutely nothing. If the league thinks it can force Chris Paul to re-sign with the Hornets, it is sadly mistaken. That’s a good thing, by the way. Paul should not be forced to sign with anyone other than the team that he decides is the best place for him. That’s what free agency is all about. By caving in to this pressure, the league all but assured the Hornets that they will come out worse in the end. They also set a precedent that trades can be overruled for no apparent reason if the league decides to do so. That’s a bad way to run a legitimate professional sports league.

Bad sports, continued:

2) Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and current National League MVP Ryan Braun reportedly failed a test for performance-enhancing drugs. He is proclaiming his innocence, and as a fan of his, I hope he is telling the truth.

3) A mere week after being suspended by the league for dirty play, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was in a car accident. As the week went on, the story got stranger and stranger, with the other people involved in the accident claiming that Suh tried to cover up what happened and asked them to hide their injuries. The full story has not yet come out, and the police have failed to find those other people credible.

4) Continuing the recent spate of sports-related revelations of pedophilia, Bobby Dodd, the president of the Amateur Athletic Union, an organization that runs community sports leagues all over the country, has been accused of sexual abuse by two men who played AAU basketball back when they were children in the eighties. Dodd has since resigned his post with the AAU.

5) Fred Thompson, a freshman football player for Oregon State, died of an apparent heart attack while playing basketball on campus on Wednesday. Thompson was only 19 years old.

6) With less than ten seconds to go in a game that Xavier led by 23 points over rival Cincinnati, a massive brawl broke out between the two teams. Several players were ejected, and the game was eventually called due to the violence.

7) Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, a very talented but oft-penalized and fined player, may well be headed toward a suspension after a brutal, clearly illegal hit against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night. He lowered his head and hit Browns quarterback Colt McCoy directly in the facemask with the top of his helmet just after McCoy had released a pass. This is exactly the kind of thing that the league is trying to eliminate, and Harrison, despite his constant complaining, is one of the worst offenders. He deserves a suspension.

Good sports:

1) Virender Sehwag, a cricketer for India, broke the one-day scoring record, previously held by Sachin Tendulkar, by making 219 off of 149 balls. He and Tendulkar are the only two players who can claim the famed “double century” in international play.

2) Quarterback Robert Griffin III became the the first-ever Heisman Trophy winner from Baylor University, a perennial also-ran in the Big 12 conference, on Saturday. Griffin had a spectacular year, and is expected to be playing in the NFL next year.

Bad sports, good sports appears every Monday

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02

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