NBA: Chris Paul decides to stay with the Hornets?
New Orleans Hornets star player Chris Paul told the media that he wanted to be traded, since the Hornets have failed to provide him with a supporting cast. Paul showed a lot of uneasiness after the Orleans dismissed Byron Scott, the teams former head coach.
Rumours since last week had been going around about Paul planning to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Paul told reports last Monday he wanted to win a championship and the Hornets unwillingness to provide him with a supporting cast triggered him into wanting to be traded. After this statement Paul was heavily criticised by his fans, calling him selfish like LeBron James.
However, Dell Demps, who is the general manager for the Hornets, said that he met with Chris for the first time in a meeting and discussed his future and was quite content with the result at the end of the discussion. Demps told the reporters he is quite positive about the fact that Chris will not be deserting the Hornets in near future.
The meeting took place in New Orleans in an undisclosed place. It included Paul’s brother C.J & Rose, general manager Dell Demps, the president of the team Hugh Weber and their new coach Monty Williams.
Demps told the media he was really happy with Paul as he was really honest about how he felt and it encouraged him. He also said that Paul had some solid points which cleared things out and the meeting was really productive. He further told the media that he really appreciated the fact that Paul was extremely energetic and open about how he felt and all he wants to do is win, which is what we want as well.
The speculations began when Paul opted to work with the LRMR marketing agency and fired his agent and hired LeBron James representative, Leon Rose.
Rose told the Hornets that Chris was extremely upset and wanted to be traded be as soon as possible because Hornets were coming in his way to win a championship, especially after they fired Byron, who Paul was extremely close to. However the Orleans took no time in setting up a meeting and have reportedly convinced Paul to stay in the team.
Paul has not talked to the media as of yet, but various sources say that three time All-Star player was quite content after the meeting. Chris said after having expressed his concerns about the team and him wanting to win, which seemed like impossible with the Hornets, Coach Williams and Demps gave their presentation and told him how they have planned for the future of the Hornets. Paul reportedly said at the end of the meeting he was really satisfied and wanted to continue his career with the New Orleans Hornets.
According to various media outlets Demps did not go into much detail about the meeting and told the reporters that because of competitive reasons he had to keep things confidential.
Paul came to the New Orleans Hornets after they traded Baron Davis in 2005 and picked Chris as the 1st pick in drafting season. By 2006 Chris become an NBA Rookie of the Year and since then he has made it to the NBA All-Star three times and All NBA first and second team once each.
Paul has a great scoring average of 21.9 points per game and 11.0 assists per game. The aspiring young player has unfortunately only made it to the playoffs two times once in 2008 and 2009 and lost both times. Paul along with super stars James LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Crish Bosh played for the USA basketball team also known as the Redeem team in the 2008 Olympics which was held in Beijing and won the gold medal.
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