Everything looks better when you are 11-1.
Your teammates are funnier, the baskets look bigger, your legs are fresher, the Gatorade doesn’t taste like flavored sweat, and your front office and coach can do no wrong.
So no shock that Chris Paul says he’s happy now, like he told FanHouse. Sure, his people were pushing for him to get moved this summer, but now everything is good at 11-1.
“Yeah, I’m happy,” he said with a smile after a gritty 75-71 win in which he shot just 2 of 12 from the field for four points but had 14 assists despite the Hornets shooting just 32.2 percent. “I’m happy. We’re good to go.”
Perhaps the most interesting part of the Sam Amick article was this:
Perhaps most importantly of all, there are reports that the team’s ownership change from George Shinn to Gary Chouest that was supposed to be completed by the end of April should indeed happen by the end of the year. Sources closes to Paul insisted all along that his concerns about the Hornets were rooted in a fear that Shinn was either financially unable or unwilling to take the necessary steps to contend for a title.
Those would be valid concerns, the Hornets were stripping salary under the famously tight fisted Shinn. The sale is not complete but already there is $15 million in additional salary and the focus seems to be back on making good basketball moves. General Manager Dell Demps seems to have room to operate.
Fast start not withstanding, the Hornets are still a few steps behind the Lakers and likely steps behind the Spurs and Thunder as well in a seven-game series. The only question becomes when that gets exposed in the playoffs, will CP3 be as happy? Next summer he will have something he did not have — leverage because his contract is in its last year.
But right now the Hornets are trying, the team is winning and all seems right with the world.
