You guys need to stop looking at point totals and look at the overall impact a player has on the offense. If T-mac goes 28 pts 10 dimes he accounts for the majority of the offense. That is 50-60 points. Kobe goes for 40-50 points with no assists and you clowns are all up in arms about his greatness. Not only is T-mac accounting for a larger % of the offense but the team is involved so they play defense and hustle better because they feel more a part of the team versus the team complaining and slacking off because they never touch the ball. How are you supposed to give max effort when one player is hogging the ball and you never touch it. I'm sure Kobe's teammates don't feel like they are into the game and that is why the Lakers are one of the worse defensive teams in the league. The numbers don't lie. If I'm not mistaken Kobe's Lakers seem eerily similar to T-mac's Magic teams when he was the 2-time scoring champion and was still a 7th or 8th seed. He realized one person scoring all the points wasn't gonna win so he demanded a trade.
Kobe's just a more complete player on both offense and defense. And Kobe CAN get teammates involved. But take a look at Kobe's team: Kwame? LOL.
There is a link on the page 11 here, Smoothie post, also on realGM.com. in which three papers about the trade, it is getting serious, not a simple joke. From the ESPN form, everyone from different teams is talking about the trade for Kobe, including Spurs, it is very funny.
odom, walton...? that's better than any of our player if u take away yao. and tmac took this team to a 21-10 record. and kwame may be clumsy on offense, but he's a very good interior defender, better than yao. again, if tracy gets his J back, i put him against kobe on offense any day. i'll judge tmac's offensive stature next yr when he works out this offseason.
Kobe: 31.6 ppg, 5.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 22.8 shots per game TMac: 24.6 ppg, 6.5 assists, 5.3 rebounds, 20.8 shots per game I think the 2 are more similar than different. Both guys are high volume shooters. While I think that TMac is a better passer, Kobe's 5.4 assists per game are a lot better than "no assists". The main reason why I prefer Kobe is the health issue. Tmac's back SCARES the hell out of me. I wince whenever he draws contact. Feels like one bad fall could mean a whole lot of trouble. Also - Kobe's "ballhogging" is overblown. He probably shoots 3 times a game more than TMac (counting fouled shots, etc.) and logs in 5 more minutes a game. It can be argued that TMac's supporting cast >> Kobe's supprting cast.
I am not saying which player Rox should be offered, just talking the possiblity. If you go to the ESPN form, everyone is talking the trade, even the King fans want to get Kobe, the Rox has a better chance than the King.
I think they can play extremely well together. That would be one hell of a donut team though. I don't think egos would clash, etc. Both are at a stage in their careers where winning >>> ego.
wow 2nd post, ths thread must be compelling I know Tmac-Kobe trade can actually "work", but it doesn't seem to be the case for Yao.
Chuck Hayes, Rafer Alston, and Luther Head owe half of their paychecks to T-mac. Without his passing ability those guys are nothing. They're not very good as it stands now but what kind of production would they have if T-mac didn't get them wide open shot after wide open shot. Luther would be a slow, no dribbling, undersized and overmatched 2-guard. Rafer would be exposed as a streetball legend with fraud PG skills and no shooting ability because T-mac runs the offense. People think the offense runs smoothly with Rafer but we only ran 3 plays and T-mac initiated all of them. And lets not get started on Chuck Hayes. We'll just say he is severly limited on the offensive end and T-mac is directly responsible for 90% of his offensive output. Check the box scores on him when T-mac didn't play.
For me, I think it comes down to who do you want in that game 7 leading the team in the 4th quarter during crunch time? We've seen what happens with Tmac in those situations. He either can't handle the double team and passes versus being aggressive and driving OR he just can't hit a crucial shot if his life depended on it. I think Kobe can handle the defensive pressure better than Tmac in that situation. I think I would like the Kobe and Yao combination better. There is more explosive potential there IMO. Tmac can be taken out with a double team fairly easily. Kobe has been unstoppable with even triple teams on many occassions. I think Kobe has experience leading a bunch of scrubs as well so he would fit right in. LOL
T-mac deffered to Yao at the beginning of the season. It would be more comparable if you take T-mac's numbers when Yao was out. And Kobe has had multiple knee surgeries and shoulder surgeries and sprained ankles, etc. He ain't no spring chicken himself.
First of all they beat double and triple teams the same way. They rise up and shoot jumpers over the defense. But the point really isn't T-mac vs Kobe so much as it is our role players are terrible and neither one is carrying those guys to a championship. T-mac can be passive to his detriment sometimes but Kobe can be too aggressive to his detriment as well. Bottom line is Rafer, Juwan, and Chuck have no business in an NBA starting lineup.
Kobe Has $9.5 Million Trade Kicker Kobe Bryant has a trade kicker in his contract that will add $9.5 million to his total contract value, a cost to be absorbed by any team that acquires him. The money would be paid like a signing bonus and would be spread out over several seasons toward the new team's salary cap. The Lakers had to pay a similar fee to Lamar Odom when they acquired him from Miami three years ago, paying him about $8 million. http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/46306/20070530/kobe_has_$95_million_trade_kicker/
please.... stop making excuses for Tmac... this is his 10th Year... there are no more excuses... I have never trusted Tmac since he got into the NBA...and then left Toronto my favorite team at the time... he had Vince Carter, Doug Christe, Dell Curry, Charles Oakley, Dee Brown, Kevin Willis etc... that team was good really good.. but he left the team because he wanted to be the number 1 guy...
That's a good point. I was mainly trying to point out that Kobe does get his assists and TMac does shoot a lot. Both guys dominate the ball, Kobe moreso than TMac. But both guys also have pretty mediocre point guards. I do think we would have gotten past Utah with Kobe instead of TMac.
the same way most ppl who claim kobe's killer instinct and his ability to close out games would not let his team blow a 3-1 lead. it's very easy to say and assume when kobe is in a freer system where everything is catered to him scoring so u see his brilliance. kobe is not gonna score 30+ and sometimes shoot 40+ under JVG. u gotta understand that. it's fine to assume how players would do if different situations but until it happens, they're just assumptions.
