Quote Originally Posted by melossinglet:
scalabrine,in the name of transparency i must admit that paul is my favourite player of the current crop so i must say that i do speak from a position of bias......but i really dont think you are cutting the dude enuff slack in this instance.whilst it is always impossible to judge a professional athletes true character without knowing them and only seeing the image projected by the publicity machine,i do believe that everything about chris paul that we see and hear indicates that he is a genuine,honest,quality human being without malicious intent or agenda..as i say ya never can tell really but that is the impression one gets in interviews and articles and such..would you agree or not??......so in saying that i think it reasonable to take him on his word,take him on face value when he says he has a deep bond with the city of new orleans...ya gotta understand that as a hi level competitor who burns deeply to compete for and win a championship he,as many other players also,finds himself conflicted if he is in a position where his team and management/administration is not doing enuff to help put him in that position...he stuck around that place for a lot of years,producing at an all-star level year in and year and and always helping a moderately talented team over-achieve but never,ever having the horses to seriously contend for a title..i believe he did all he could and contributed all he could but for a dude that so desperately wants to win it just wasnt working being in that situation.
so anyhow i dont dispute for a second that he forced the hand of those responsible for determining where he ends up playing,but in the end he found himself just betwixt and between,liking the place he had given so much to BUT also burning to get on a team that could accomplish sumthing significant before he retired.....in the end it is a bizness,there is no loyalty in sport EITHER WAY,from management to players nor vice versa.but as much as someone can feel a bond to a sporting organisation i gic-ve this cat the benefit of the doubt when he speaks of this connection...just because his ambition made him feel he had to leave does not mean he did not form incredibly tight bonds and relationships with team-mates,coaches,trainers,staff and fans in that place over a number of years.and that time spent doesnt just get erased from ones memory.wat makes you think that the guy has such a mercenary,cold-hearted approach to the situation??he doesnt have any form in that regard does he??
just to extend the analogy suggested earlier i think it was a girlfriend he really,really liked(maybe even loved),but somehow in the back of his mind couldnt see himself spending the rest of his life(career)with her cos he knew there was just sumthing missing,sumthing that she couldnt give him.so he made the tough decision to move on
Nice attempt at spin doctoring and you do come from a position of bias as you stated.
Let's make something abundantly clear: When you are drafted at the top of the draft you are almost always going to the small market team (i.e. Lebron Cleveland and countless other examples). Be prepared to play for that team for an extended period of time while it fails to put championship quality players around you but does try to put quality around you. It does this for one reason. The team wants to keep YOU, it's star that it drafted: an elite talent that comes along once a decade if not once every 3 decades in LBJ's case.
And then you get disgruntled because you didn't win a ring (of course you won't, you don't have the players) and you force your way out.
Again, CP3, no one here is stupid. We know what you said, when you said and what you say now is a pleasant fiction you are trying to spin to improve your image/brand.
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