Winners, losers from NBA’s “We’re Back Friday”
The Sports Xchange
2 hours, 7 minutes ago

tweet2EmailPrintBy Dave Del Grande, The Sports Xchange

For a team that generally underachieved last season and didn't win a championship, the Miami Heat sure is creating a fuss this preseason.

And, no, it's not because Shane Battier and Eddy Curry are taking their talents to South Beach.

The big news on "We're Back Friday," the NBA's opening day for business, was David Stern making a statement: There will be no Miami Heat West. Or North. Or Anywhere in 2011-12.

When Stern vetoed the Hornets' proposed trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers, he became the biggest newsmaker on a day when the Knicks landed the biggest prize and the rival Nets began down the same path that made them the laughingstock of the NBA last season.

Here are the biggest winners and losers, both on the court and off, on a "Decision"-less start to the NBA season.

TOAST THEM

1. Dell Demps. The previously anonymous Hornets GM might have felt like Dell In-The-Dumps after getting Commissioner Stern's red light on the Chris Paul deal, but let's be honest: He's off to a Packers-type start in the race for Executive of the Year for the package of players he would have extracted from the Lakers and Rockets in the doomed deal. Now that it's clear who his boss is, perhaps Demps' next move should be to march into Stern's office and demand a raise.

2. New York Knicks. It's a year later than they had hoped, but there's still something rewarding about convincing the top free agent on the market to buy a home in your neighborhood.

Tyson Chandler is no LeBron James. Chris Paul or Dwight Howard? Not close. But when New York talks about having its own "Big Three," rest assured the front line of Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Chandler is indeed big. And it's three—a number David Stern clearly considers over his new superstar cap. Thank goodness he was distracted by a greater evil—the glitter of Tinseltown.
3. DeAndre Jordan. You'd think the 2008 second-round pick out of a Texas football school was related to Michael Jordan the way he's being pursued in the wake of the No. 1 available big man, Tyson Chandler, graciously taking care of business on the first day of business so the Clippers' restricted free agent could claim center stage.

The perennial doormat is said to be poised to match any offer the 23-year-old will get in free agency, which only figures to drive up his price to a desperate club looking for a creative way to convince Donald Sterling to keep his checkbook in his pocket. It shouldn't take a PhD to win that game.

4. San Antonio Spurs. Nowhere is no news better news than in San Antonio. When Tony Parker (France) and Manu Ginobili (Argentina) stepped back onto American soil this fall, they did so without the crutches and/or casts that have seemingly perennially compromised the Spurs' chances in recent years even before the season's opening tip.

No team would have been hurt more by a full-season lockout than the NBA's most talented band of old-timers. But starting late is just what the club's often called upon doctors ordered. Remember: The last time an NBA marathon turned into a sprint, it was Tim Duncan who carried the baton into the ticker-tape parade at season's end.

5. Valero Alamo Bowl. For about five minutes, it appeared TNT was one of the season-opening big winners. After all, had Chris Paul been dealt to the Lakers, it would have been TNT that reaped the huge ratings by having landed the first-week matchup of Paul's chief suitor, the Knicks, and the archenemy with whom he landed.

Instead, perhaps a more intriguing matchup on Dec. 29 late night TV pits late-blooming Heisman Trophy hopeful Robert Griffin III of Baylor against a coach, Washington's Steve Sarkisian, who believes USC's Matt Barkley is a better pro prospect. Maybe the time has come for Knicks fans to flip the channel and dream of something more realistic—Griffin someday quarterbacking their Jets.

GOT BURNED

1. David Stern. Let me get this straight: The Nuggets are allowed to jettison Carmelo Anthony in a deal that basically prompts the franchise to relocate to Shanghai, but the Hornets are denied the acquisition of long-term assets in a Chris Paul move that might actually keep them in New Orleans?

Yeah, I know. The difference is the Knicks own the NBA, whereas the NBA owns the Hornets. But, c'mon. If Dan Gilbert is predicting the move would result in Lakers championships—perhaps even earlier than the highly anticipated Cavaliers title—that's reason enough to put Paul on the first plane west.

2. New Jersey Nets. For someone with virtual vodka vats of money, spending it wisely on basketball talent appears to get lost in translation for Mikhail Prokhorov. It began more than a year ago when he went ice fishing for LeBron James, Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony and reeled in only Jordan Farmar, Travis Outlaw and Anthony Morrow.

This time around, it appeared almost impossible to mess up. After all, he had Dwight Howard so excited about heading north, the Magic star agreed to meet face-to-face a full six months before the new ink's-still-wet Collective Bargaining Agreement allowed it. Uh oh. Thank goodness Randy Foye still figures to be available to the Nets next summer.

3. Rajon Rondo. Not sure what's worse: That the Celtics clearly don't want him anymore, or that the Hornets don't want him, either. A misunderstanding? A business decision? Heck, a chance to get Chris Paul, period? Celtics fans can call it what they want, but the organization has recorded its first loss of the season—and this was in one of those areas where every decision is a must-win.

Rondo's first conversation with Lamar Odom this season should be a ratings-lifter on Kardashian TV. Rondo: You're no Kris Humphries. Odom: Well at least the Hornets wanted ME.

4. Dallas Mavericks. Everyone knows Mark Cuban is a big Cubs fan. But did you realize he's a baseball historian as well? He's sure demonstrating it in the way he has pattered the Mavericks' title defense after those of baseball's Marlins in 1998 and 2004.

Cost-cutting, planning for a brighter future, failing to capitalize on his position atop the NBA world … it's so un-Cuban-like, you have to wonder if he's locked himself out in the aftermath of the agreed-upon higher luxury tax. Hey, it worked for the Marlins, even if it took five years of bottom-feeding in order to reposition themselves to repeat. Six years from now … heck, even the Cubs might have won something.

5. Mark Jackson. Welcome to Golden State, wherever that is. Chris Paul? Tyson Chandler? Jackson prepared their would-be jerseys for the likes of Charles Jenkins and Jeremy Tyler on the opening day of training camp.

The Warriors have new owners and mostly new decision-makers, but here's the reality of the situation Jackson got to touch for the first time Friday: Most NBA teams would have amnestied Andris Biedrins' $27 million contact by 11:01 a.m. Pacific time. However, in the Warriors' less-than-golden state, the "Laughed-At Latvian" rates as their best big man.

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