That would be a good business decision, but their fans would have a trip. You can't trade a HoFer like Kobe. He is a top 20 player of all time, and he still can provide a lot. His salary IS outrageous, but it being Kobe, I have a really hard time believing they will amnesty him.
Shaq is the only bonafide HOF player, I'd say. Gasol is a good player, but he never carried the Lakers in the way Shaq did. You could say Shaq was dominant. While both Bynum and Gasol are really good. It's also weird how you could put Howard and Williams together, and I do not think that alone would a title contending team, much less getting out of the East or West. He's been an ok NBA player, but let's not exaggerate. He's only been on 3 All-NBA Teams (2 3rd teams, 1 2nd team). That's it. He's only been to four all-star games, and three of those are with the Lakers, ironically with Kobe. You cannot put anyone on team by themselves and have them win a championship. Though in all honesty, I feel like a team with Howard and Williams may need almost as much help as a team with Kobe (if he were in his prime). Remember, Kobe on a team with practically scrubs starting reached 42 wins, twice. Imagine, if you teamed him up with any other superstar player, you couldn't tell that team wouldn't at least get to the Conference Finals or semi-finals in either conference. Howard and Williams are really good players, while Kobe is an exceptional player. I don't even like Kobe Bryant, but he has a type of heart, will to win, and skill level the other two just don't possess.
Even for the Rockets, you could add Williams and Howard to the team, and I'm still not convinced that they could get out of the West, much less past the semi-finals. I feel like our team could go further with Kobe for some odd reason. Mainly, because he can win you some of those super tough games. Williams on a young team by himself - Lottery team (Utah/New Jersey) Howard on a team by himself - Varying results from playoff contender to championship depending on makeup of the roster. Lately, they haven't been able to get out of the first round or really progress, even with Dwight Howard. With starting lineup of Smush Parker, Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, and Kwame Brown/Chris Mihm - Kobe reached the playoffs, twice. Even in 04-05, The Lakers were ravaged by injuries to Kobe, Odom, and Butler. If that team played full season together, it would've been 6th place team at worst that year.
Besides LBJ taking Cavs to Finals has any superstar won without an HOF guard? Well, there is that Hakeem guy in '94.
Rick Barry, though Wilkes is joining the HOF, this year. In all honesty, Wilkes should not be going into the Hall of Fame. Which brings up the question, shouldn't player, like T-Mac, Carter, and Bernard King should really be considered now.
Can't happen. Salaries wouldn't work sending out Bynum and Gasol for Dwight. If they take back the contracts to make it work, they're right back where they started. I'd rather have Bynum and Gasol than Dwight and Josh Mcroberts.
More likely would be to trade kobe and salary fodder to nets for SNT with D will..and trade bynum and Gasol for howard and Ryan anderson. I think its genius actually.
Kobe requests to be amnestied and "retires" as player Lakers do it ... purge the team ... fire Brown and hire Kobe as coach for a year for $20m Lakers tank next year with Kobe as coach, get the #1 pick, and get Howard as free agent Next summer, Kobe re-signs as Player Coach for the vet minimum Kobe / Howard precede to win 2 rings Michael Jordan strangles David Stern for basketball reasons it could happen
Pau/Bynum/MWP for Dwight/Hedo/Duhon Amnesty Kobe Give away Eyenga to a team for a future 2nd rounder Session opts out Drop Hill, Goudelock, and Morris That leaves them with enough cap space to sign DWill. There's other variations that work as well.
Yea Kobe, Melo, Jr Smith, Amare to make the most dysfunctional team in league history. But none of this will happen. Kobe is one of the most popular players on earth, if jerry buss is all about ticket sales like they say he is, it would be suicide to lose jersey and ticket sales of a player who is literally on icon status. His value is far more than what he brings to the court for the lakers. but it would be fun to see a Nash, Kobe, Melo, Amare, Chandelor lineup under PJ but nash would not be good for the triangle, can't play D. Melo and kobe would be fine as would amare and chandelor, but still doesn't seem like a good fit in their games complmenting eachother
If the Lakers trade Bynum and Gasol, it will probably have to be done with a 3rd team involved. I've seen one poster suggest Atlanta, and I've seen another one suggest Philadelphia or Denver.
You all are coming at this the wrong way. Kobe is the one in desperation mode, not the Lakers. His time to catch Jordan is running out. He's not going to spin his wheels. He's not going to accept the status quo if they get swept twice. Remember he has demanded a trade before. The problem is getting someone to take on that insane contract.
So let's see if I got this straight, jo. You think that there's a possibilityThe Lakers are going to amnesty and dump Kobe Bryant, a player who is even now better than Deron Williams and is an absolute cash cow whom is not equalled by pretty much anyone else in the league and is at worst a top 4 Laker ever, and dump Bynum and Gasol, and as a result shed about 50 million dollars in salary in about a month, and will get Deron Williams and Dwight Howard. Riiiiiiiiiigggggggghhhhhhhhhttttttttt. And even then, your team looks like: Deron/Blake/Duhon/Goudelock Crap Turkoglu/Crap McRoberts/Crap Howard/Crap. What a terrifying team. Kobe has a NTC. What possible reason could he have to say to yes to being traded to the Nets?
Kobe's incentive to say yes to a trade is to keep from being amnestied and picked up by the Hornets or some other non-contender. Kobe could agree to be traded to Orlando along with Bynum or Gasol (probably Gasol) in exchange for Dwight/Hedo/somebody else going back to LA. LA could then use amnesty on RonRon and send the other big to NJ or some other team with cap space for a future first rounder. There's several different ways to make it happen. My point is amnesty could come into play if the Lakers decide they wnat to rebuild and want to bring in the Big D's.
