K to the OBE

The never ending twists and turns of the Kobe Bryant situation is about to get even better in the next few days when a video where Kobe speaks poorly of the Lakers front office and Andrew Bynum surfaces.

There are so many angles to Kobe and what is going on that it's impossible for anyone to know how this is going to end up and that includes Kobe himself.

1. I have been on Kobe's website and I don't see where it says he has narrowed the teams down to Chicago, New York and Phoenix. However, let's assume this is the case for a second. It is kind of ironic that Kobe wants a trade but his manner of doing so has made it very difficult for him to in fact be traded.

Kobe is the only player in the league with a full no trade clause. So narrowing his trade options down to these 3 teams basically holds a gun to Lakers management. If you are Chicago
you can just sit tight and low ball the Lakers because you know they don't want to send him to a Western Conference power like Phoenix, and you know unless the Knicks get creative they don't have any real pieces to give.

2. Another problem that the Lakers are facing is they have the most expensive ticket in town. In order to sell out that building they need a superstar to bring in the fans. The fans aren't flocking to see Luol Deng and Ben Gordon or Frye, Lee and Crawford. They need a stud, and this leads me to another problem.

3. When you look at the big name trades over the years, the team getting the Superstar always does better. It is never stud for stud it is always a 4 for 1 or whatever.

The Lakers acquired Wilt from Sixers in 1968-69 for Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark and
Darrall Imhoff.

Kareem was traded to the Lakers for Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers, Elmore Smith, and
Brian Winters.

The trade of Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian
Grant.

Barkley was traded for Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang

Look at the names at the other end of these deals! And now you're going to lose Kobe, who may go down as a top 10 player of all time (worst case). How do you deal a guy in his prime like this who most certainly will not get back even value.


5. My final thought on the issue is this. I think Kobe may be just ballsy enough and just competitive enough to want to go in to Chicago and try and outdue what MJ did there. Granted this is a tall task with the 6 titles and statute outside the Arena, but Kobe has 3, is it out of the question for him to think he can get 4 more in Chicago? He knows how weak the East is and he saw Lebron take 4 scrubs to the finals. Kobe thinks of himself as the best player in the league. Why not go to the East, and give yourself a shot at the finals every year.
One more final thought is whatever team he goes to, is probably going to be a bare cupboard. Whats the Bulls without Deng and Gordon? Although i could see the Lakers asking for Tyrus Thomas too and that might be too much.

Whats the Knicks without Frye, Lee and Crawford? He would still have Curry but thats about it.

What about a sign and trade with the Nets for Carter??? Kidd, Kobe, Jefferson, Kristic, ___ Probably good enough to win the east

A column for another day, but can we get KG out of Minnesota! Talk about loyalty and respect. We don't hear a peep out of him!