CP3

Paul is good, of course, and it’s good the Clippers have him . . . if that’s as far as it went.

The problem, and it is a big one, is that they gave up way too much for him. It turns out it’s OK they included Gordon, but it’s not OK they included the Minnesota pick.

Gordon’s agent, according to reports today, was asking for a max deal to extend with the Clippers. That wasn’t gong to happen, so the Clippers had to put him in the trade for Paul. Besides, he’s an undersized shooting guard and that is always going to keep him from being great. I liked him a lot, but I see why it was best to put him in hte trade.

But there was no reason to include the Minnesota pick. It’s foolish. The trade would have been far better if the Clippers had included Bledsoe (who New Orleans wanted) and then told New Orleans to keep those two meaningless second round picks.

The Clippers got played by Stern. They paid far more for Paul than any other team was going to pay. Shouldn’t have happened. That Minnesota pick would have been a future all star whose addition to the Clippers would have made them probably the top team in the West for a decade.

That great, long future was scorched when it didn’t have to be. Bad judgment. Poor emotional impulse control. Bad trading.