Kobe: Hire West or trade me

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Italian Seafood

Stephen A Smith is also an insufferable blowhard. He seems to think that talking louder and blacker than everyone else in the conversation somehow makes him an authority on basketball.

---

:Crylol:

• A source who has spoken with Los Angeles Lakers G.M. Mitch Kupchak and Pacers G.M. Larry Bird says that the conversations about a Jermaine O'Neal-for-Andrew Bynum-and-Lamar Odom trade have accelerated in recent days, undoubtedly a reaction to Kobe Bryant's four-day tirade.

"I wouldn't be surprised if this got done by the draft," the source said.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jbruin152

• A source who has spoken with Los Angeles Lakers G.M. Mitch Kupchak and Pacers G.M. Larry Bird says that the conversations about a Jermaine O'Neal-for-Andrew Bynum-and-Lamar Odom trade have accelerated in recent days, undoubtedly a reaction to Kobe Bryant's four-day tirade.

"I wouldn't be surprised if this got done by the draft," the source said.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

---

Ugh. . .I bet it takes the #19 pick in the draft too. Bird knows that Kobe is leading this and the Lakers are almost forced to make a deal right now. Hell, I'd add the pick if they took Kwame instead of Odom. I know the salaries won't work, but it would sure take the sting out of all this.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SmytheKing

Ugh. . .I bet it takes the #19 pick in the draft too. Bird knows that Kobe is leading this and the Lakers are almost forced to make a deal right now. Hell, I'd add the pick if they took Kwame instead of Odom. I know the salaries won't work, but it would sure take the sting out of all this.

---

God forbid we give up the 19th overall pick as part of a deal for Jermaine O'Neal. Especially when you look at the draft day success of the Lakers over the past decade. [/sarcasm]

If Kupchack can sell Indiana on a Bynum-Odom-1st round pick I'd do a back flip.

Some Insider stuff, talks about O'Neal plus a Kwame for Camby rumor..

Quote:

---

Camby Available?
Jun 1 - The Lakers already have been trying to appease Kobe Bryant, who has four years and $88.59 million left on his contract.
According to sources close to the team, the Lakers called Denver to see about the availability of center Marcus Camby, the defensive player of the year who will make $9 million next season and has three years and $26.65 million left on his contract.

Sources also said Indiana called the Lakers to gauge their interest in former All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal, who will make $19 million next season and still has three years and $64.1 million left on his deal.

Neither deal is imminent, sources said. -- Riverside Press-Enterprise

---

So is having both Oneal and Camby in a Laker uniform feasible?
The only player not named Kobe that i really cared about is Walton and Turiaf. Those two are good role players. I don't see why we didn't employ Ronny more often during the season instead of using the other two softies. Atleast he played like he wanted to be there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bland

1) Kobe's made his own bed, and now he wants to blame the man who tucked him in.

Kobe got everything he wanted when his contract was up: new coach, Shaq was moved, and the slate was clean for him to be the "man", which is the exact reason he was considering leaving Los Angeles in the first place. He wanted to be the "man", and if Buss wouldn't give that opportunity, he was going to walk. If he truly wanted to stay in LA regardless of the Shaq and Phil Jackson departures, he would have signed that deal before he made damn well and sure that they were gone.

2) The most important thing is that the Lakers, nor any other team that acquires Kobe, will not be a championship caliber team. The two-guard position, along with the small forward, are the LEAST important positions in basketball.

With the obvious exception of Jordan's Bulls, I dare anyone to name one legitimate championship level team in the last 25 years that had a shooting guard as its best player. The only one that I can think of is Portland's Drexler-era. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Jordan's Bulls where going nowhere until Jordan learned to trust his teammates. It took several seasons worth of veteran pick-ups before the Bulls won a title. That was a different salary-cap era as well.

There are too many quality scoring guards to max out anyone of them, even if Bryant is clearly the most talented of the bunch. It is also far too easy to create a defensive scheme to slow these players. NEVER, NEVER MAX OUT A 2-GUARD, now matter how good he is. The most imprtant positions in basketball are in this order: center, point guard, power forward, shooting guard, swingman. The ratio of talent as compared to size and availability says that you should never build your team around any of the last two positions. Maybe LeBron is an exception because he is a distributor first, but I still don't think he will win a title in Cleveland.

You can always find a 2nd tier shooting guard who will provide maybe 10-15 fewer points per night than Kobe. Spend the money on the positions that build championships.

This is a great day for TRUE Laker fans. For Kobe fans, not so much...

---

Not to continue ****ting on your basketball theories but a team lead by a 2 guard and the inside presence of the great Zydrunas Ilgauskas can now be officially labelled "championship caliber."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Die Radio Die

Not to continue ****ting on your basketball theories but a team lead by a 2 guard and the inside presence of the great Zydrunas Ilgauskas can now be officially labelled "championship caliber."

---

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...in152/zing.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Die Radio Die

Not to continue ****ting on your basketball theories but a team lead by a 2 guard and the inside presence of the great Zydrunas Ilgauskas can now be officially labelled "championship caliber."

---

I wouldn't go that far, just in the same way that Iverson's Sixers and Reggie Miller's Pacers weren't championship level teams. Do you realistically think that they will win more than one game in the finals? I highly doubt it.

Winning the Leastern Conference is completely different than winning it all.

On the same note, this only proves my point. James plays more of the point forward position ala Scotty Pippen. Larry Hughes is their disposable shooting guard. LeBron is a distributor where Bryant is a chucker. Two different animals.

Plus, the Lakers would be a far better team if they had Ilgauskas instead of Brown or Bynum.

"Not to continue ****ing holes..."? You haven't even come close to one decent example. though I implore you to keep trying!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bland

James plays more of the point forward position ala Scotty Pippen. Larry Hughes is their disposable shooting guard. LeBron is a distributor where Bryant is a chucker. Two different animals.

---

Bryant 22 shots/game (1st in NBA), 1st in scoring, 5.4 assists/game
James 20 shots/game (6th in NBA), 4th in scoring, 6.0 assists/game

They are both swingmen. So... not so much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bland

On the same note, this only proves my point.

"Not to continue ****ing holes..."? You haven't even come close to one decent example. though I implore you to keep trying!

---

Seriously, enough with your pretentious sidestepping nonsense. None of your dancing around counterexamples proves any of your points.

If you want to say "no shooting guard who wears 24 on a team wearing purple and gold who shoots 22+ times a game will win a title", be my guest. Otherwise, your originally broadly-scoped theory has been destroyed multiple times.