Don't Hate The Playa (Stern)!

"Hey, I didn't make the rules bruh!"

The first law of nature is self preservation. The first rule of business is covering your butt. Once the rules of the game are laid out let the negotiations begin. Everybody involved has an interest and not everybody's interest is the same. With that understood why is everybody trippin' off of David Stern for putting the axe on the Chris Paul trade? He's a businessman protecting his business.

Currently the NBA owns the New Orleans Hornets. Their intent is to sell the joint to somebody. If they had allowed the trade to take place Thursday that would have landed Paul with the Lakers, Pau Gasol with the Rockets and Kevin Martin, Lamar Odom and Luis Scola with the Hornets, the league loses. "Who with the Hornets?" Stern says, as he is spilling his coffee down his leg when they called him with that foolishness.

The next thing out of his mouth was, "How am I going to get this team sold without a franchise player or some semblance of one. Are you kidding me?" The only team that benefits from that trade is L.A. A negotiation is a supposed to be a win-win for everyone involved. I can hear Stern saying, "Man ya'll gone have to do that over and holla at me later! Cuz ya'll trippin'!"

Well, the NBA on Friday afternoon gave the Hornets clearance to re-open conversations with all teams about possible deals that would make sense to Stern. Keep in mind, David Stern is a brilliant commissioner and that's why the NBA has flourished over the years. He's been the head man since1984 bruh! If you can remember he was the one that resurrected the league from the ashes with Magic and Bird.

When they came into the league it was Stern that decided to turn the game on its ear and start promoting players as opposed to teams. He took the Magic vs. Bird personal rivalry and put it out front for all of us to see. As a result the game got more popular. Players started making more bread and apparel companies started selling more gear. So don't hate on Stern for handling his business and seeing that the Lakers were pulling the oakey doke on some unsuspecting GM that didn't understand that the game is bigger than the trade.

Now the trade has to go down because New Orleans must deal Chris Paul before his contract expires next year because otherwise he's going to walk. If the contract expires the Hornets get nothing for him. So they've gotta figure something out or they'll end up like the Cav's did when LeBron took off. See Dan Gilbert sat around thinking there was no way LeBron was going to leave the crib and so he didn't make a move. Consequently, LeBron took off and they got nothing for him and instead of Gilbert telling his fans that he was the idiot in that situation. He made King James look like the heal.

If he'd traded him before hand he would have gotten value for him i.e. several players. Then they wouldn’t have been THE worst team in the league last year. Maybe they would have been the 3rd or 4th worst but that's all Gilberts fault not LeBron's. King James was just protecting his interest in the game not Cleveland’s!

Business is Business bruh and if you've got some you better handle it! Stern did what he was supposed to do in that situation because he was only protecting his interest. If the NBA didn't own the Hornets at the time of the trade he would have been cool with it. Just like he was cool with Jordan and Pippen bringing in Rodman; KG, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen hooking up in Boston or LeBron, D. Wade and Bosh kickin' it on South Beach. It doesn't matter to him as long as it's good for the league. So don't hate the playa, hate the game!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport