Deron Williams lashes out at David Stern for the Chris Paul trade fiasco; Calls him a ‘bully’: NBA
Deron Williams, the New Jersey Nets All-Star point guard, was the first high profile NBAer to exit the league when the NBA commissioner David Stern locked out the players over the labour dispute on July 1.
He was critical of Stern then and after the whole Chris Paul trade drama, he has lashed out at the commish again.
When the Nets star was asked about how he felt Stern handled the whole situation; he had this to say;
"He knows he's a bully, ain't no secret, I think everybody knows that. You're fighting a bully, man. David Stern is a bully," Williams said. "You can't really go up against him, man."
After the lockout, the league did its PR no favour by nixing the Chris Paul to Los Angeles Lakers deal. The NBA presently owns the New Orleans Hornets and that make Stern the man in charge of making all the franchise decisions.
The biggest decision of them all is the pending trade of the star point guard, Paul. The first blockbuster deal involving three teams – Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets - in that regard surfaced last week.
As per the proposal, the Lakers would have given up Spanish power forward Pau Gasol to Houston and Lamar Odom to the Hornets, with Rockets big Luis Scola, guards Kevin Martin and Goran Drajic, and a 2012 first-round pick going to the Hornets as well.
However, the deal spelled fear among many small market owners, who pointed that yet another All-Star was headed to a large market holder, having more money. The move would have also cleared a lot of cap space for the Lakers and had helped them in the pursuit of the Orlando Magic big man Dwight Howard.
In the face of heavy objections from the owners, Stern bowed down to the pressure and called the deal off by merely saying that more pieces were needed for the deal to go ahead. The decision not only left the involved franchises stunned, it also created a messy situation for Paul, who reportedly considered taking legal action.
Williams felt for Paul’s ordeal;
"That's just a tough situation for him and I really feel for him," Williams said, who tried to contact Paul but was unable to reach him. "We're friends and I don't even know what's going on with that and what's gonna happen with it”
After the deal broke, the Lakers have since traded a disgruntled Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks and Chris Paul deal is still open with the Los Angeles Clipper making strong moves.
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