I liked the other Paul trade better

The one that New Orleans got back Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, and a combo guard backup, plus a 1st round draft pick.

Now they get Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, a second year backup forward out of Wake Forest (Aminu is solid but I can't see him being David West or Odom/Scola level player) and a couple of second round picks.

I'm not sure what message the league wanted to send other than "we won't send Chris Paul to the Lakers" (even if it meant the Lakers were giving up Odom AND Gasol to get him).

Other moves. I like the Clippers pick up of Butler. Didn't like the pickup of Billups (and Paul). Little weird. I guess they can move Billups to shooting to replace some of Gordon's lost production.
Bulls needed a shooter, got Hamilton. I'm not sure he's what they needed per se, but it'll help.
Denver has been really busy. Getting back Andre Miller and picking up Corey Brewer were both smart moves. Though I'd rather have had Felton than Miller over the next couple years. I'm guessing they really wanted Hamilton. Rudy Fernandez was also a good pickup.
Dallas getting Odom doesn't quite make sense since they lost Tyson Chandler. But I guess they can go unconventional and try to score more again. Speaking of which I would like the Tyson to New York move except that they still have D'Antoni as their coach.
Indiana picking up West is smart. I like their front line (West, Hibbert, and Granger)
Miami picking up Battier, smart. Picking up Curry raises some eyebrows though. 

Not sure the Celtics did much. I do like getting rid of Big Baby and Shaq retired. But they didn't get back much for Davis and they kept Jeff Green. And Pavlovic is pretty weak. I should think they need the two Purdue kids to be pretty good. About the only good news there is that I'm not sure that the Knicks, now having no point guard at all (Bibby was washed up 3 years ago), will be any good. I'd be more concerned about the 76ers within the division. The Heat/Bulls though are both scary looking teams.

So far, I expect Toronto, Cleveland, and Detroit to all be very bad teams in the East. And Orlando once they trade Howard. Also I have no idea what to make of Washington. John Wall is worth at least 10 wins right? And then... the next best players are JaVale McGee and Jordan Crawford? Really I only expect Miami, Chicago, Boston, and Indiana to be any good at all in the East, with Atlanta, New York, New Jersey (I expect another couple weird free agent moves there) maybe Orlando (if they don't trade Howard), and Milwaukee all hovering around 30-35 wins.

Out West, I'd expect New Orleans to be pretty bad. Wolves and Kings to be bad, Jazz to be bad, and other than the Clippers and Thunder, nobody to really stand out. Maybe Memphis will be pretty good. I think the Lakers, Spurs, Suns, and Mavs are all older and not much better, if not worse (Leonard to the Spurs was however a great pickup). I'm not sure yet what to make of the Blazers and Nuggets. Probably both will be solid 40 win range, more for the Blazers if they give up on trying to play Roy. Rockets and maybe even the Warriors should be decent (it would help if the Warriors would trade Ellis).