Like the good floor general that he is, New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul surveyed the entire free-agency situation before making his move.

And now, he’s taking it right into the teeth of the Hornets organization.

Paul has clearly indicated that he wants out of the gulf.  But even more newsworthy is the reason that he wants out – - he wants to team up with some other superstar players in hopes of developing a team that will rival the recently created mega-trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

There’s been talk of Paul trying to orchestrate a trade to the Big Apple to play alongside the new $100 million man Amar’e Stoudemire.  Paul may also be holding on to the added hope of bringing Carmelo Anthony (who mysteriously has not signed that 3-year, $65 million extension that Denver is offering him) into the mix, too.

On a side note, there was a Twitter conversation between Kevin Durant (who recently re-signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder) and Anthony regarding the mega-team trend:

What can we extrapolate from that conversation?  Nothing, apparently (although we’ll see if Durant does an about face later in his career).

Other rumored destinations that have been mentioned by Paul include the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers – both being hot spots with stars firmly entrenched within their organizations.

But the former Wake Forest All-American did a tremendous job with the timing of his request.  He waited until his “brother from another mother,” LeBron James, took the media bashing for taking what many perceive to be the easy way out.  Now Paul slides in his intention of doing the same thing, but perhaps on a smaller scale.  But, of course, nothing about Paul, Anthony and Stoudemire playing on the same team will be small in New York.

Granted, CP3 – if he had been the first to announce his desire to join a superteam – would not have incurred the same amount of criticism that LeBron did.  The fact is that a point guard is traditionally not equipped to carry the weight of a franchise on his shoulders, and especially not one who is barely six feet tall.  Nevertheless, in his last two full seasons, Paul has averaged over 22 points, 11 assists and two-and-a-half thefts per contest.  That’s some big time production from the little man.  But there are a couple of things that I find interesting about this:

If 'Melo brought his game to the Eastern Conference, the new Miami Heat would be in for a battle.

- The Hornets’ most promising players are vertically challenged (i.e. short) guards.  While he needs to cut down on his turnovers, Darren Collison did a great job after being thrust into the role of starter due to CP3′s injury.  And LSU standout Marcus Thornton has shown a knack for scoring, and plenty of explosiveness, to boot.  So, Paul’s desire to be traded won’t leave New Orleans totally void at the point position, but the organization will have to ensure that it gets as much talent in return as possible.

- CP3′s decision says something about his faith, or lack thereof, in David West.  West, a two-time NBA All-Star, is a finesse power forward.  He’s mobile, but not overly explosive.  Paul’s preference to play with the Knicks (Amar’e Stoudemire), the Magic (Dwight Howard) or the Lakers (Pau Gasol) all point to the fact that he enjoys playing with physical, traditional bigs.  Recall that CP3 (and the Hornets) was at his best when he was paired with the offensively limited Tyson Chandler, a defensive specialist who played extremely strong around the basket.

Regardless of how the saga ends, this story reinforces the fact that the league has changed.  With mulitple quotes from old, retired goats controlling the headlines, we can be easily persuaded that there’s something wrong with the ’new NBA.’ 

But let’s not let old fogeys describe the character of players who have been under pressure since they were in grade school.  That was a pressure that none of them – Jordan, Magic and Barkley included – had to endure. 

So yes, the game has indeed changed. 

And let your own judgement – as well as the resulting product – be the guide as to whether it has changed for the better.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author