ESPN Insider: Phil in. Kobe out?

From Chad Ford's library of crap...

Chad Ford blog

It didn't take long for news of Phil Jackson's hire to travel from L.A. to Italy.
I was sitting in a gym at the Reebok Eurocamp watching a group of camp all-stars play the Israeli under-22 national team when the news broke.

The gym was filled with nearly 50 NBA scouts and GMs, and the chatter in the gym rose immediately.

The reaction of everyone here was the same -- is it time to rush back to the office and put together the best offer possible for Kobe?

Two scouts were openly speculating about a Pau Gasol-for-Kobe trade. That does not work under the cap, by the way (Gasol's a base-year player next year), but that wasn't going to stop anyone from debating it.

The consensus was that Kobe and Phil won't get along and, unlike last time, it will be Kobe who is shown the door if troubles continue.

By now you know that no superstar is safe from being traded. Last summer, both Shaquille O'Neal and Tracy McGrady were shipped off.

But in both cases, the team that traded the superstar got significantly less back in return. So wouldn't trading Kobe be a mistake?

"Probably," one GM in Italy told Insider. "I don't think you can get equal value for Kobe. Maybe you get 80 percent for him, but is that enough? I think one of the lessons people have learned from this summer is that trading a superstar never turns out well for the team that decides to pull the trigger. But the truth is that sometimes things are so unworkable that they have no choice."

That clearly seemed to be the situation in Los Angeles, Orlando and Toronto (when they kicked Vince Carter to the curb). Will it become the situation again in L.A.?

Not only is the relationship between Jackson and Bryant strained, but the team has other chemistry issues that aren't going away just because Phil walks back into the building.

The Lakers are very unbalanced in terms of talent, having no real point guard or inside game to speak of. They might be able to address one of those areas via the draft, but they'll likely have to make some sort of trade to alleviate a logjam at small forward and address some serious issues in the paint.

It could end up being Caron Butler or even Lamar Odom who is used as trade bait. But Kobe is the only guy who could bring a legit center to replace the one the Lakers traded away last year.

"Phil is only coming back if he thinks he can win," another GM said. "He can't win with that roster right now, so there are going to be changes. If the Lakers want to get good in a hurry, Kobe's the bait."

I doubt Kobe gets moved this summer. Buss has invested too much in Kobe to dump him this early. But with Jackson back in the saddle in L.A., the chances that Kobe stays in L.A. long term don't look very good.
posted: June 15, 2005 12:34:09 AM PDT | Feedback

Kobe: Open arms or closed fists?
Chris Broussard blog

Phil Jackson must really be in love. How else do you explain his returning to coach a Los Angeles Lakers team that is nowhere near contending for home-court advantage in the rugged Western Conference, let alone an NBA title?
I know, there are more than 10 million other reasons Phil went back to L.A. But for a man who's already obscenely rich, money should not be the major motivating factor, not when you're putting your cherished legacy on the line.

Do you know how many NBA types are waiting for "Big Chief Triangle'' to fall flat on his face, to finish ninth in the West next season, to show that his nine rings were really all about Michael, Scottie, Shaq and Kobe? To show that his incense burnings, book handouts and meditations were all a crock?

I understand Phil wanting to prove his critics wrong, but if that's the case, he should have gone to Cleveland, or even Minnesota, to do it. As desperate as already-embattled Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is, he would have opened up the vault. Phil coached the most dominant players of the last two eras (MJ and Shaq), and the next Great One was there for the taking too. King James is tailor-made for the triangle.

With LeBron as his new hub and $20 million to spend on free agents this summer, Phil would have eventually built the Cavs into a championship club. Since the Cavs, despite all their great potential, are currently bottom-feeders, Phil's critics would have been silenced, and the title-starved fans of Cleveland would have clamored to rename the city after him – Jacksonville, Ohio, perhaps. Phil would have gone down as the undisputed G.O.A.T.

But instead, he elected for more sparring sessions with Kobe Bryant. I would like to think Kobe has been humbled, and that if he could, he would undo all the senseless destruction he wreaked last summer. But I see no evidence of that.

If Kobe had really changed or truly seen the error of his ways, he would have been leading the campaign to bring Phil back. He would have been on every TV and radio outlet imaginable, begging for Phil's return. That would have shown contrition, shown that Kobe had matured and worked wonders for his image. The prodigal son theme might have even gotten him back into the good graces of McDonald's, Sprite and Nas.

But when recently given the chance to endorse Phil, Kobe was strangely indifferent. Asked if he and Phil could get along this time around, Kobe said, "We'll have to wait and see." What? The greatest player ever, and arguably the greatest center ever, loved playing for Phil, and you'll have to wait and see?

That tells me that Kobe still doesn't want to share the Lakers. He wanted Shaq out because he wanted his own team. Now, if the Lakers somehow return to title contention, Phil will get as much credit as Kobe. That's not how Kobe planned it. Looks to me like he's got boxing gloves rather than flowers and a Hallmark waiting for Phil.

I know what Phil's thinking (other than about Jeanie and the cheese). He's looking at the Lakers' roster – as underwhelming as it is – and seeing a poor man's Bulls. Kobe in place of Michael. Lamar Odom in place of Scottie. Caron Butler in place of Ron Harper. Chris Mihm is Luc Longley or Bill Wennington or Will Perdue. Brian Grant, if he ever gets healthy, is Dennis Rodman or Horace Grant, and Chucky Atkins is Craig Hodges or B.J. Armstrong. Very similar players stylistically.

But Phil, that's a very poor man's Bulls team. That's apartment life when you're used to the penthouse. And unless there's a major trade, that's pretty much what you'll be working with, since the Lakers are capped out for the next few years.

I like Phil, so I hope he proves me wrong. But even if he doesn't, a happy ending could still be in his future – maybe he and Jeanie will get married. In L.A.

 

But see xixi, the whole point is to grab his crap, post it on here, and contradict/spit/make fun of it.