NBA players have "always had power" since the start of free agency, but that power has "grown in the last decade, and it’s playing out in dramatic, transparent, league-altering scenarios right now," according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY. Not only do players "decide where they want to play, they choose with whom they want to play, orchestrating moves that give them the best opportunity to win a championship." Chris Paul is the "latest example, coordinating his way" from the Clippers to the Rockets yesterday where he joins fellow All-Star G James Harden. Before yesterday's sign-and-trade between the two teams, there was "nothing to prevent Harden and Paul from having a conversation," as the league "can’t stop friends" from talking. As long as a player’s team "isn’t instructing him to recruit another player before the start of free agency, it’s not tampering, which is hard to prove." Recruiting players "isn’t brand new, either." LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh "did it in Miami" in '11. James then "repeated it," returning to the Cavaliers alongside Kyrie Irving and eventually Kevin Love in '14 (USA TODAY, 6/29). FS1's Colin Cowherd tweeted that in creating another team with multiple stars, Paul "just gave the NBA a huge gift" (TWITTER.com, 6/28). In L.A., Broderick Turner wonders how Paul "informed the Clippers on Tuesday, three days before that window was to open, that he wanted to join" the Rockets." One Eastern Conference exec said, "I don’t want to use the ‘T’ word -- tampering -- but we all don’t play by the rules when it comes to making deals." Several team execs "wondered whether the Rockets had a head start in negotiations." Front-office officials acknowledge teams "aren’t supposed to have conversations with another team’s player until the free-agency period starts, but it happens all the time through back channels" (L.A. TIMES, 6/29).
HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO: The Knicks parting ways with President Phil Jackson on the eve of free agency raised some eyebrows, but ESPN's Domonique Foxworth believes the move came at a "pretty good time" on the NBA calendar. Foxworth said, "It’s just before free agency. In this modern NBA, where the players are also kind of the GM, what better situation can you offer then, ‘You can come to New York, you can pick our GM, you can pick our coach?'” ("Highly Questionable," ESPN, 6/28).
