Hosed? They get TMac. They give up Allen and unproven potential in Durant. Neither of them will likely ever be as good as TMac. If any team was getting the worst of the deal, my concern was that it was the Rockets, as none of the pieces they are getting back are as good as either of the players they are sending out. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though. Hmm, I don't know if I am underrating Durant, vastly overrating TMac, or you guys are crazy.
hahaha are you serious. Kobe on another radio show a few minutes ago, says he wants to stay. wtf? Kobe stfu please
What miracles did West pull? He drafted Magic Johnson-- a top pick. He drafted James Worthy-- a top three pick, IIRC. He drafted Norm Nixon-- a decent pick at mid-round one sent away when Byron Scott arrived. He drafted Vlade Divac-- dispatched in the Kobe trade. He drafted Byron Scott -- #4 overall IIRC. He acquired Kareem-- destined for LA. He found Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis. Most of his long-contributing draft picks have been Top or Top Three picks: Kareem, Magic, and Worthy. Scott, Nixon and Divac were very solid. Cooper and Rambis were great nuggets off the coal pile. Kobe was his only brilliant play and how many high-schoolers taken at #13 have flamed out instead? Most. No wonder Kobe thinks West hung the moon. It really helps to have LA's star power and upper echelon status working for you....
So Kobe says he doesn't want to go anywhere but he wants to be traded. I think he realizes he's looking like a moron and he's trying to cover both bases so whatever the outcome he'll appear successful.
Yes you are. tmac can be a top 5 talent but he isnt anymore i would almost say he isnt a top 10 anymore, top 15 for sure. his injuries have slowed him down considerably and unfortunately he doesnt have the same "killer instinct" as some of the other players in this league do to compensate. Durant is very unproven of course, but seeing his vast array of skills offensively and his athletic ability its hard for me to see him not do well in the nba at the very least an all star because he is also self motivated. in your scenario they also give up ray allen to the rockets which is their lone allstar and yes ray is on the wrong side of 30 but he is still very effective probably the top or 2nd best shooter in the nba and still can score very well. so in the end the rockets end up with a young beastly pf/c, a solid all-star scorer at the 2 and a hometown hero rookie at the 3 that looks to be the next (orlando) t-mac who probably sell more tickets for the rockets than tmac did. and the sonics get tmac as he is and they give up their all-star and the #2 pick. heck i am sure the sonics wouldnt even give up just the #2 pick for tmac right now.
I may be mistaken, But I don't think Jerry west drafted Magic, I believe he was with the lakers, but he was not in charge of the draft..anyone? Also, kobe demanded a trade to the lakers, so I don't know if you can gove him credit for someone wanting to come to your team because of a better shoe deal. Kareem? someone please correct me if I am wrong, but west didn't have much to do with that either...I believe it was before him as well. sorry if i am wrong.
anyone see this? Fake Kobe to Warriors news http://www.dallas-mavs.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30351 http://168.144.93.221/breakingnews/053107-bryant-warriors.html
Has it really come to this, that big newspapers would write an article about the son of the Lakers owner (no role in the organization) posting a "good luck, Kobe!" message on his MySpace.com account? http://www.newsday.com/sports/baske...,0,7623050.story?coll=ny-basketball-headlines Buss' son bids Kobe a farewell BY KEN BERGER ken.berger@newsday.com Kobe Bryant's supposed change of heart hasn't changed one important fact about his desire to force a trade from the Lakers: The official trade request that Bryant's agent, Rob Pelinka, issued to general manager Mitch Kupchak is still on the table. With Lakers owner Jerry Buss vacationing in China, the Kobe saga is expected to be quiet for another week or so. But his oldest son, Johnny, posted some intriguing comments to friends on Myspace.com. According to The Los Angeles Times, Buss wrote: "If you've been following the Kobe drama, I want to let you know it's not really drama ... sometimes we all need to make a change in our lives and that's all it is. "Popular or unpopular, when it's time, it's time. Good luck Kobe wherever you go!" Though the younger Buss has no formal role in the organization, his missive seems to confirm that the team isn't as optimistic about keeping Bryant as its public statements have indicated. Hardly anyone wants to admit it, but the Knicks and Bulls remain the most likely destinations if Bryant is successful in following through on his trade request.
I'm sure it has been said before but i really dislike Kobe, First he gets rid of Shaq because he wants to be THE man, and then when he is finally THE man on the team he wants to Quit because he doesn't have enough around him.
Economical? Tell me what kind of financial decision is it to get rid of your main breadwinner, then pay Brian Grant's mssive salary, even after he retires? Is that wise?
Shaq wanted even more money remember last season he re-did his contract with the heat for a bit less money, if he was still on the lakers he kept saying he wanted more. i dont know if it was that and kobe wanting to be the man, but i honestly think it was more of buss not wanting to pay shaq even more money than kobe saying he wanted shaq gone. the problem was that they had a pretty bad gm with a huge contract star and everyone knowing he was to be traded. pretty much regardless of who was going to get shaq the lakers were going to get hosed in the trade. taking on grant's contract was bad but imo trading butler for brown was even a bigger mistake. rumors in la have him going to chicago, i dont know/care where he ends up unless its in houston of course. man its going to be a wild off season i cant wait for the nba draft!
You're wrong. If Shaq wanted more money he wouldn't have taken a pay cut, and if the Lakers truly wanted to dump salary, all they had to do was A. Wait for Shaq to opt out the following season B. Work with Shaq like Miami did C. NOT pick up Brian Grant Jerry Buss never had a conversation with Shaq and is bad at dealing with his stars. He had Mitch Kupchak hold a freaking press conference saying they'll entertain offers for Shaq and they'll keep Kobe right after they fired Phil. (thats the real reason that they got hsoed, because no GM is dumb enough to publicly do something as stupid as that.) Looks like those were all terrible decisions. Shaq left and won a ring, they had to run out and hire Phil back for even more money, and now Kobe wants out. There is a conversation someone out here caught Kobe blasting the organization, Andrew Bynum, and Kupchak. Buss lied and said it was a business move, but he took on more salary, hired another coach for another what 20+ million or whatever they paid Rudy T, and none of that made any financial sense. Now what you have is the mess and the meltdown you have today. the coaching staff and head coach disagrees with the management. One guy in management is a handcuffed yes man, and a primadonna star who wanted all of the glory is once again having issues with someone else and complaining that he's not being pampered enough. Know what Shaq's response to this all was on Fred Roggins radio show last week? HAHAHAHAHAH. That's all he said.
Trade #1 Houston Trades: T-Mac, Battier, Head, Future Draft Pick Houston Receives: Kobe, Radmanovic, Vujacic Trade #2 Houston Trades: Bob Sura, Kirk Snyder, Vasilis Spanoulis, Future Draft Pick Houston Receives: Ron Artest New Lineup: Rafer, JL3, Vujacic Kobe, Vujacic, Artest Artest, Bonzi Hayes, Howard Yao, [ ] Does that make us better if we fill in pieces with MLE/LLE? Lakers should get comparable and/or better offers anyway.
