He’s probably chugging Maalox as we speak, as we are in the midst of the NBA playoffs right now, with a seriously good series developing in Cleveland and some star-making of Deron Williams in the West (despite being down 3-1 to the Spurs), and Kobe has officially usurped all the headlines regarding basketball now. You could be forgiven for forgetting that the playoffs were still going on, by the way, there still is a game tonight — where probably everyone and their mother thinks the Spurs will finish off the Jazz after handing them their first home playoff loss in Game Four. Despite that, these playoffs have not been as horrific for me to watch as a lot of others have claimed, especially with the last two games of LeBron.
But back to the topic at hand — from the Lottery being televised, and now to Kobe’s demand for a trade, which is now a demand rather than pussyfooting around the idea — this story has grown out of control so quickly that it’s really tough to track where it’s going. I have a hard time thinking about where this could go. Sports By Brooks suspects the “insider” that talked ish about Kobe is the Big Hippie on the bench (and if Kobe gets dealt, Jerry Buss is done as owner — Roland Lazenby supports the idea of Jackson leak at TrueHoop). Both the Big Lead and TrueHoop give us trade scenarios, not a lot of which actually sound plausible. I don’t think the Lakers would deal Kobe in conference, and unless John Paxson feels like getting bilked in Chicago, I’m not sure Kobe goes there — would you deal Kobe for both Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, which is what Kupchak would probably ask for? I wouldn’t.
The Philly scenario of dealing for something involving Andre Iguodala, a draft pick, and a couple other players might work, but Kobe would knock that one down — AI asked out, you think Billy King has changed as a GM any since then?
I suspect Kobe will still be a Laker until he can opt out. He might play angry and he’ll put up his points, but it’s going to be a very ugly couple of years. Regardless of how this ends, the denouement of this saga is worse than the break-up of the original Showtime, and the early-to-mid-90s drought period that was the Lakers until 1996, when Shaq signed and Kobe was acquired via a draft day trade.
Filed under: NBA, NBA Playoffs, front office, trades | Tagged: Kobe Bryant
In all honesty, it’s possible that Kobe Bryant could force Philly to change the head coach and GM. It’s not like Billy King and Maurice Cheeks are firmly entrenched in Philly.
This trade works:
K. Bryant and J. Farmar for I. Iguodala, K. Korver, and A. Miller
I honestly don’t think the Sixers would seriously consider trading Iguodala, but Kobe would certainly sell tickets and I know for a fact that the Philly fans would completely embrace him despite all of the prior bullshit.
And yes, the Sixers have three first round picks this year.
At this point I feel liek the Lakers might need to think about trading Kobe even though he is widely regarded as the best player in basketball. They still can’t win with him and it’s time that they do somethign for the team.
Find a trade that will benefit the team (Mainly they need a good legit post not Brown, or Odom). At this point the team isn’t winning and he’s a feakin parasite anyways. Pull the trigger and do whats best for the team.