"Who you tryin' to get crazy with, Twitter? Don't you know I'm loco?"

There was already a week’s worth of backlash in the media over David Stern* blocking the trade between the New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers that would have teamed Chris Paul with Kobe Bryant by the time that the league announced that Paul had instead been traded to the L.A. Clippers. But yesterday began the entertaining backlash that I had been waiting for, as Lakers fans started their campaign of “Stern hates us, we got screwed.” It’s adorable, really, watching so many people hilariously ignore why Pau Gasol is even a Laker in the first place.

Then last night someone on my Twitter feed retweeted Ice Cube echoing that sentiment, that the Lakers have been screwed because Stern wouldn’t allow the Lakers to get Paul for dirt cheap while making the Houston Rockets do all the heavy lifting. While Cube failed to mention that the Clippers gave up a wealth of talent in Eric Gordon and one of the most valuable 2012 draft picks (Minnesota’s), he did continue on with a rant about how the Lakers own the Clippers and Kobe and Co. will still win another title this year.

You can read his Twitter rant after the jump, and I took the liberty of incorporating his Tweets with my favorite Ice Cube photos. Very funny.

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In what I would think is a pretty cool effort to show love to some people who suffer so much, the Los Angeles Clippers sent Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Eric Gordon on a bus ride with a group of season ticket holders. Together, they could embrace the legacy of Donald Sterling and gently weep into each other’s arms.

Then a funny thing happened. The Clippers and the New Orleans Hornets agreed to a trade involving Chris Paul – again – and after a conference call with Hornets GM Dell Demps, David Stern actually approved it. That’s right, Chris Paul has finally been traded. And that’s awesome for Griffin and Jordan, who chest bumped each other on the bus after someone announced the news that they acquired Paul for Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, Minnesota’s unprotected first round pick in the 2012 draft and… Gordon.

Yikes.

In case you’re wondering, yes, the Los Angeles Lakers are furious over the Clippers getting Paul. As the L.A. Times points out, everyone is talking about the Clippers right now and dreaming of the amazing alley oops that we’re going to see for Griffin this year. But the Lakers, they were supposed to have Paul and Kobe Bryant while shedding everyone but Andrew Bynum so they could also get Dwight Howard. Now, unless they give up their stance and agree to send Bynum and Pau Gasol to the Orlando Magic (spoiler: they will!) the Lakers will be scrambling to start rebuilding soon.

See? The lockout fixed everything. The Lakers are doomed and the small market Clippers have a chance to succeed now. Hooray David Stern, champion of equality!

Last night, it was like Twitter had a stroke. Tens of thousands of sports writers, bloggers, fans and general morons were going bananas over the reports that Chris Paul had been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. The first report, which could have caused riots if true, described the trade as a straight-up deal between the Lakers – giving up Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol – and New Orleans Hornets for Chris Paul. Had that been true, David Stern and Hornets GM Dell Demps would probably be in hiding right now.

Then the correction came in – Andrew Bynum and Odom for Chris Paul. A little better, but still nonsense in the eyes of most middle market fans. That couldn’t be the best deal the Hornets could get, and thankfully it wasn’t. The final, actual deal came in – Paul to the Lakers, Gasol to the Houston Rockets, and Odom, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic and Luis Scola to the Hornets. Even then, nobody was pleased, and it turns out the league owners were the least pleased of all, because they said, “F*ck a bunch of that” and within two hours this blockbuster was squashed.

Why, you ask? Well, it’s complicated.

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Welcome to Part 1 of a However Many Part It Takes series of With Leather’s Guide to Understanding the Shortened NBA Season. Some of these will attempt to answer your questions while others will confuse you more. Enjoy.

The moment that news scrolled across the bottom of my TV screen during whatever college game I was watching that the NBA owners and players had tentatively reached a deal, my first thought was: “Oh sh*t, here it comes.” Sure enough, my Facebook feed was instantly filled with “Let’s go Heat” and “Title time for Miami” status updates. Sure, most of them were poorly spelled and possibly even written by early 19th century immigrants, but I knew it was coming and for the first time since the “Big 3” teamed up, my response was: “Yup.”

When free agency begins and training camps open, NBA teams will scatter and attack like rabid animals to try and prepare for the 66-game season that not many people thought would even happen. And we’re going to see reports right away that players are out of shape and some will even experience injuries. After all, that’s how we got to this point – guys working hard only when it matters and not preparing for the worst.

As always, I’m not an expert on anything, but I am a big NBA fan – an unapologetic and constantly depressed Orlando Magic homer – and I am both agitated and fascinated by this shortened season. I’m not predicting the future by any means, but if I had to guess, we’re in for so much more than we bargained for this season.

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I probably have a few million first world complaints that I keep to myself for the sake of not being struck by lightning, but if I had to throw one out there, I’d say that Kate Upton doesn’t Tweet enough fun pictures of her and her friends. And no, it’s not because I like to sit in a dark room and photoshop myself into those pictures, despite what any court documentation might say. But when Kate does Tweet pics of her random adventures, it proves one of my oldest theories – life must be good for a gorgeous 19-year old supermodel.

Kate, a huge New York sports fan, recently toured the newest additions to Madison Square Garden and I’m sure it was the greatest thrill of her life. Must have been a million times better than those lame ass trips to Caribbean islands and sitting front row at anything on this planet that has a front row. But she Tweeted the pic of her and her friend Lizzy Glynn having fun so who am I to complain?

Oh, and if you weren’t aware, Kate was also photographed for Diddy’s new coffee table book about the female posterior, fittingly titled, “Culo.” I happen to have her contribution after the jump, as well as this week’s Wild Card Wednesday. Join me, won’t you?

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Sorry, Teen Wolf fans.

Perhaps I was a bit too bold a few weeks ago, declaring the NBA season dead, because as I had pointed out on quite a few occasions, the players were going to eventually become desperate enough to take whatever they could get. And it finally happened, as the players and owners have apparently agreed in principle on a new CBA that will keep us lockout free for at least the next 6 years and will allow the NBA to move forward with a 66-game season starting on Christmas Day.

Of course we all know by now that the players received 57% of the basketball related income under the last CBA, but we also know that 22 teams supposedly lost a combined $400 million last year, so the split had to be balanced more in the owners’ favor. The players were cool with that, offering to take just 53% and they said that was their firm offer and they wouldn’t budge, even if it meant losing the season. Then their yacht and custom shoe bills came in and they were like, “LOL JK we’ll take 49%.”

Winner: Owners.

So what do both sides get out of this nonsense?

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