CornMonkey

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2886927

Great scots...as a Lakers fan I am just livid. What the hell just happened?!? Everything came to a crashing halt in the last 18 hours or so...

After hearing about the things he said last night on the radio, I was fearing that he would ask for a trade. Now it's really happening. Argh....! The best player in the NBA playing for a team other than the Lakers?? I'm just floored... Freaking Lakers...freaking Kobe...both screwing us fans.

Whether or not the Lakers actually trade him is yet to be seen. But it's obvious he's not happy. Read the article to see what went down.

*sigh*

So if the Lakers are rebuilding, how 'bout trading up in the lottery to land Oden or Durant?

fillup0215

Oden or Durant can not live up to KOBE ever!!

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CornMonkey

Well, since idiot-in-training Jim Buss (who I truly believe is the "insider" spewing out the garbage about Kobe) is so fond of his man-love project boy Bynum, I doubt the Lakers would want Oden. If anything, I would imagine the Lakers trying to land Durant/Ray Allen+fillers for Kobe+fillers.

Or to Chicago...

zippyjuan

As someone who does not follow basketball that much, let alone the Lakers, Kobe stikes me as very self- centered and egotistical. When he played with Shaq, he complained he didn't get the ball enough. His whining lead to Shaq being traded. He complains about the coaching. He wants to be the only person scoring- as evidenced by his number of games with over 50 points. Now he doesn't like the management so he wants either them gone or himself traded. Well Kobe, you are not an owner but an employee of the Lakers- even though you make more money than anybody else associated with the team. It should be what can YOU do for the team, not what can the team do for you. The key word being team which you are supposed to be a part of and working together with. Michael Jordan was successful for two reasons. One was that he worked incredibly hard. The second was that he knew that he need the help of his coaches and teammates to be able to succeed and he helped them to be better too. He scored a lot of points but also dished out a lot of assists. I don't have much sympathy for Kobe right now.

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Prngr44

Maybe he wants to go to Denver.

DarkFury

Jordan also took a "lower than his market value" salary in favor of his many endorsements (which more than made up for his decreased Bulls' salary) to help Chicago get better players for him to work with as well.

However Kobe blew his endorsement wad when he blew his other wad with that girl in Colorado. (DOH!!!! ) So I guess all he has to fall back on now is his team salary... thus, he probably won't be willing to make the same salary sacrifice that Jordan did to help the Bulls be a dynasty in the 80s.


That being said, I'm surprised Showtime hasn't chimed into this thread. Maybe he hasn't seen it yet.

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VTGreg

Kobe is definitely not above reproach in this situation but it sounds like he has gotten a raw deal. He was lied to by the Lakers and was the scapegoat for Shaq leaving. There have been plenty of reports over the past day or two that Buss didn't want to resign Shaq at $30 million per year.

Kobe was told by management that they were going to make the moves to contend immediately but then management turned around and told Jackson that they were going to get under the cap and rebuild. Kobe was told this so he wouldn't leave via free agency.

Really a shame that the Laker front office has screwed up a franchise that just 3 years ago was contending for titles year in and year out.

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Kevster

QFT!

I feel the same way. He's one of the leading reasons I never became a Lakers fan when I lived in So.Cal.

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gear02

Well said. He's the reason why i despise the Lakers. If he wants to score all the time, he should go overseas. That way he can be the center of the universe.

Good riddance. Maybe now the Lakers will have some class once he's gone.

ray

/yawn

people still care about Kobe?

Maarchk

What does kobe do for the lakers? Hmm #1 selling jersey in the world. Sold out stadium every night. you know, nothing big.
Kobe wants to win, hes determined to win. His approach was poor, but he doesn't really have 5 years for the lakers to build a good team from scratch. He needs people now. Granted his max salary is what is causing a lot of issues. I still think the lakers could afford and would in fact make more money in the long run to go over the cap and get a better power player to play with kobe. They would go deeper into the playoffs which would get them more money and probably counteract the extra money spent on player(s).

I realize i'm alone on this, and i think kobe went about this the wrong way, but i understand his frustration. He doesn't want to be stuck at 3, he wants another 3 championships and i'm sure some team like dallas would be happy to take him on and spend serious money to get to the finals.

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TofuNinja

After these last two days I am now TRULY a Kobe Fan. In fact I am more of a Kobe fan than a Laker fan, if Kobe went to another team I would follow him to that team. Just like Shaq I believe Kobe 1000%.

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zenbooty

He probably dropped dead from shock when he first heard it.

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zenbooty

Ooh, ooh, imagine if the Celtics got him!!!

ShawnLee

I think prevailing wisdom in this thread is that the Lakers suck, Kobe sucks, but that both parties aren't entirely to blame.

I can dig that. It just seems a bit off to me that Kobe leave the Lakers. For as much as I've disliked Kobe (and liked him too, to be fair), I always figured in the back of my mind that he'd be a one-team-for-life kind of guy. Kinda disappointing.

In terms of salary caps, that the NBA doesn't allow re-adjustment of salaries for team-building (as in baseball or football) is a contributing factor, but I think the biggest thing really is what DF mentioned. The guy just isn't getting money in the more stable places, and so needs to act more like a "lower-level" ball player in that he needs to make cash off of the team and not off endorsements.

He may not have gone to prison in Colorado, but that girl took a huge bite out of his paycheck, that's for sure.

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Dave_7

This is just a ploy to keep Buss's DUI out of the headlines. No room for his story if the Kobe-Trade-Rumors are occupying that space.

Same thing happened with Kobe and his rape case. All of a sudden, stories of the Kobe/Shaq feud resurfaced. I promise I am no conspiracy theorist.

Dave.

RoniMan

you might be onto something

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printe...ines-pe-sports

Jeffbx

There's no doubt that Kobe is an amazing player, but amazing players don't win championships - amazing teams do. It takes a tremendous amount of teamwork to go all the way, and that's why Detroit took the Lakers by surprise back in '04 - they depended on Shaq to carry the team & Detroit outplayed them with superior teamwork.

If Kobe can join a team where he's not the "superstar", they'd be unstoppable. But he'd have to ratchet himself back to 20% of a team, and not the star player with some backup guys.

yippiekiyeh

I think A-Rod might have also put in a call... the whole "stray-rod" incident.

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VTGreg

Not so sure one amazing player can't win a championship. Lebron James has a chance to do it this year.

CornMonkey

Difference between Lebron and Kobe is that Lebron has teammates that actually come to play.

Can't wait for J.O'neal to come to the Lakers!

Jeffbx

As much as I hate to admit it, LeBron may be the catalyst that pushes the Pistons out this year - he certainly did last night. But like CornMonkey says, he's a team player as much as he is a superstar. His team supports him, he supports his team.

Showtime

Kobe will not be traded... at least not this year.

I too worry about Jimmy buss taking over. He sometimes seems like the insecure young boss that got the job because of his father. Come to think of it, that is exactly what he is. His sister would probably be better, but she is dating phil and that would be a conflict of interest. She should dump him imo.

The only players that the Lakers would consider trading for Kobe are Lebron, Wade, KG, and maybe TD. It's not just the player being a superstar, it's about filling staples and only Kobe can fill a stadium with this current line up.

As far as the kobe haters go... You guys amuse me very much. You hate when he is compared to MJ, but he is the most like MJ out of all the other NBA players. Kobe works harder on his game than anyone else in the league. It is that rare mix of natural ability and work ethic that makes him the best in the game and a top 5 all time player already. You hate his attitude, but it is not much different than MJ's. You remember Michael's Championships, McDonalds commercials and Dunk competitions. You should also remember the condescending attitude, trash talking, fighting with his gm, yelling at his team mates, threats, demands, gambling, cheating on his wife, and other things that he did that was less than perfect. MJ made 30 million in his last championship run. 10 more than kobe makes.

Kobe and Shaq part 726: I really should see about becoming a sports writer here in LA. I don't know why writers miss the obvious and sensationalize all the bs. Well, actually I do, but it would be nice if every writer wasn't trying to make sports soap opera while ignoring the facts. I, being a fan and an avid one at that, watched closely that last few seasons shaq was here. Particularly, the final season. Shaq had made a habit of showing up out of shape (rehabing) and called out Dr. Buss and publicly demanded an extension and pay raise to 30 million a year. 30 MILLION A YEAR! That was the beginning of the end of Shaq's stay in LA, and had nothing to do with Kobe bryant.

Its funny that everyone agrees a team wins a championship. I disagree. Defense and superstars win championships. Check back and see how many championships have been won by great teams and how many have been won by teams with superstars. It was MJ, pippen and who? Shaq, Kobe and ? Kareem, Magic and ??
LA lost to detroit because Shaq was a fat slob. If he had been in shape and more mobile, the Show would have gotten another ring. Notice how he got in shape one year for Miami and now...

A big trade is pending. We will get someone this year. I don't think Jermaine O'neal is the answer, but that can help. We need KG and I think it will happen now. Kobe didn't handle this well and should know better than to do interviews when he's upset, but this may have been what the Show needed to get the ball rolling.
I am looking forward to see who gets fired for giving that original interview to the times almost as much as the trade.

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yippiekiyeh

Careful now, that Laker team in the 80's was a rare breed. We're talking about, 3 hall of famers, a defensive player of the year, that came off the bench as the 6th man (Cooper)!?! A #1 draft pick and backup center (Mychal Thompson). That was a freaking scary team...

But I agree KG would go a long way in helping out LA. But then again, Jermaine is a similar type of player. Both would push the Lakers to the 4th slot in the West. We already know that the Spurs, Mavs and Suns occupy the top 3 slots. This would springboard the Lakers to the top spot.

Here's a thought,I say trade away Andrew Bynum. At this point his value is probably not going to get any better than it is now. Here's my reasoning, at this point we're talking about that boy's potential, he's going to be a solid, second tier center, but statisically any big man drafted out of the top 5 (Staticially! so Sam Bowie is the anomaly P) hasn't faired that well. Plus you're trading away someone one's potential, for a proven talent KG or Jermaine.

Just something think about.

Freelance Superhero

Showtime, I don't disagree with most of what you wrote, but in terms of great teams winning versus defense and superstars, I don't mean to speak for the others, but the way I understand it is this:
Saying it takes a great team to win a championship doesn't necessarily exclude the concept of having superstars or playing good defense. By "a good team," I think I view it in a more general sense, not necessarily "a bunch of decent-to-pretty good players, as opposed to a couple of superstars + scrubs." Even if you have a couple of superstars and good defense, you still need a "good team" to win games.

In other words, Kobe is awesome, there's no denying that, and he and Shaq were amazing together, but they couldn't have done it alone. The Lakers were also a very good "team" at that time, and that's what gave Kobe and Shaq the luxury to dominate the way they did. They are no longer such a good "team." Now, they're merely Kobe + a flock of chickens with their heads cut off. If Lamar stepped up (as the #2 man, a la Pippen to Jordan), and the Lakers had a little better... hmmm... chemistry maybe? - I think they could have gone much farther. But they weren't a very good team, more generally speaking, and I think that's what hurt them.

On the flipside (and I have a feeling you're going to hate this example), look at the Pistons a couple years ago. They didn't have any crazy superstars, but they played so well together, and they had great defense (which you did mention), and suddenly they had rings.

MJ and Pippen may not have had much help in the way of talent, but the team was balanced and gelled well. Same with Magic and Kareem, tho I would argue that they did have a pretty good amount of help there; plus Magic is damn near the epitome of a team player.

All things considered, I dunno if there is a specific formula in creating a championship team, but I don't think you can so easily discount the "good team" theory, just as I don't think you can easily say "you need more than just superstars and defense."

But it's Friday, I'm tired and overcaffeinated, and I wanna go home, so I might just be talkin out my ass here.

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TofuNinja

Why KG? KG is not the answer. What happens when KG comes and the Lakers DON'T win a championship. Shaq, Kobe, Karl Malone, and the Glove couldn't win it....

KG would be nice, but is not the answer, the answer is getting Kobe more parts. Bring back Fish. The Lakers need more than KG. This dream of KG coming to the Lakers is crazy. Whenever the Lakers are NOT winning it's "We need KG" when they win it's all good. One player will not make the difference here. Who are they going to trade for KG? Smush? Andrew? Kwami? come on if you were the Timberwolves would you do it? Not unless you got Kobe. KG is to them what Kobe is to the Lakers, he's the guy that puts asses in the seats. No way KG is being traded, maybe he'll come as a FA, but not in a trade.