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Delay in hiring Rudy due to finalization of Shaq-Heat trade and Kobe resigning!

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by yao ming, Jul 10, 2004.

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  1. yao ming

    yao ming Member

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    http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2672429

    You and I know Rudy Tomjanovich could coach a team that didn’t have Kobe Bryant and Sha-quille O’Neal and still win.


    Yes, he’s that good at putting pieces together. He’s that good at mixing the right parts, making a compatible team out of diverse personalities and winning with simple above-average talent.

    He draws the best out of role players and the most out of complementary parts. He doesn’t need O’Neal or Bryant. But this is LA. Simply winning isn’t good enough. Above-average doesn’t cut it.

    Winning championships is the standard.

    Rudy T knows this. And while the basketball world believed the brief delay before making Tomjanovich’s arrival as Lakers head coach official was about ironing out contract details, the reality was Tomjanovich was making sure he’ll have at least one of the two cornerstone Lakers pieces next season and beyond.

    <b>He’ll have Kobe. O’Neal, meanwhile, will be traded to the Miami Heat.</b>


    Shaq dealt, Kobe appeased
    Here’s how a high-placed NBA source detailed the final hours of gritty negotiations involving Bryant and O’Neal before Lakers spokesman John Black officially announced Tomjanovich’s hiring Friday.

    Bryant spent Thursday afternoon entertaining club officials and offers from the Clippers, Nuggets, Knicks, Spurs and finally the Lakers at a Newport Beach hotel. Every team came with big promises and big money. They promised the world.

    But when Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak came in, he promised Bryant the two things he wanted most:

    1) The new Lakers coach would be Tomjanovich, whose up-tempo style suits Bryant perfectly. 2) O’Neal, whose relationship with Bryant soured badly in recent years, would be traded to the Heat in exchange for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a 2005 first-round pick.


    A calm voice in the storm
    The trade proposal made Bryant tingle at the possibilities as Odom (17.1 points per game in 2004) and Butler (9.2), each just 24, also thrive in an up-tempo style and with Bryant would reignite the Showtime Lakers.

    Grant, at 32, offers muscle, rebounding and — best of all — doesn’t demand the ball, although he averaged 11.4 points last season.

    Bryant got exactly what he wanted. The Lakers will be his team and his team alone. And he now has a coach who will make sure of it.

    Bryant and Lakers fans might have a hunch about what they’re getting with Tomjanovich, but if only they truly knew how good Tomjanovich will be for this often dysfunctional team. He will be the calming voice amid the storm.

    He will protect his players publicly, take the fall for them when things are bad and offer a style that suits them, instead of sticking a square peg into a triangle offense.

    Tomjanovich will give them everything they have been craving and, in all likelihood, make Bryant even better.

    The only thing that worries Tomjanovich and the Lakers today is, strangely enough, Carlos Boozer. He might have nothing to do with the Lakers’ plans, but Boozer’s agent, Rob Pelinka, recently double-crossed the Cavaliers when he convinced that club that Boozer would re-sign with them, only to take a $68 million offer from the Jazz. Pelinka also is Bryant’s agent.

    Kupchak has offered Bryant seven years and more than $130 million, the maximum allowed by the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Bryant told Kupchak on Friday, the source said, that he would indeed take it.

    We’ll see.

    If Pelinka reneges, both deals could collapse and Tomjanovich could be left with neither Bryant or O’Neal. But when Tomjanovich landed in Los Angeles on Friday, his first order of business was speaking with Bryant, reassuring Bryant of his hopes to build a title around him and giving him all the right complementary pieces.

    Chalk up Rudy T’s first big win for the Lakers. It was Tomjanovich, in fact, who made Bryant’s signing a reality by providing the impetus for the Shaq trade, including Odom and not Dwyane Wade in the Heat deal.

    Throughout the O’Neal trade talks it appeared the deal would not happen and, as a result, Bryant would leave LA. The three main teams in the talks — the Pacers, Mavericks and Heat — refused to give up key pieces. The Pacers didn’t want to part with Jermaine O’Neal, the Mavericks clung to Dirk Nowitzki and the Heat hoped to protect Wade.

    But once Tomjanovich became the clear choice as coach, he pushed for Odom instead of Wade.

    Already, Rudy T is doing what he does best, soothing personalities, mixing all the right parts, essentially pumping life into the heart of his next champion.

    Barring a change of heart by Pelinka or cold feet by the Heat, everyone finally will get what they wanted.

    Tomjanovich will have his dream job. Bryant will have his team. And Shaq will have the trade he demanded.

    Shaq is gone. But Showtime is back.

    What an off season!!!
     
  2. Mark

    Mark Member

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    I'm just glad Shaq's going to the East.
     
  3. oldman

    oldman Member

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    even though i hate the lakers they will be fun to watch.
     
  4. Williamson

    Williamson JOSH CHRISTOPHER ONLY FAN

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    You know, Lamar Odom really has the talent to be the Pippen to Kobe's MJ. But does Kobe have what it takes to be like MJ?

    Also, this trade is kind of sad to me. The Heat have been rebuilding for years and just when it looked like they had stock piled enough talent to build a respectable team they trade two of their most important pieces away. I'm sure they'll be a serious team in the Eastern Conference next year with Shaq, Wade and Eddie Jones but I don't think that's a championship contending team. Maybe I'm wrong though. Miami fans better hope so.
     
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