Posted by Caseloads:

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by TrueBlue:

dj with him coming otu saying this Lakers aren't in the hunt anymore to get any big chipper out there. What's the incentive for other teams to give their pieces away when Kobe wants out?

This has only 2 endings PERIOD. Buss doesn't buckle under pressure and waits till the storm settles some or they move quickly on trading KOME.

During the interview he said there's nothing they can say and of the 2 main reasons he wants a trade 1 of them has to deal with Trust. So why would Kome trust them that they could land K.G., J.O., ect etc

if i'm the lakers, there's no way i trade kobe. and i make a big time move packaging odom + bynum.

Odom is damaged goods right, he has about as much value as Marbury. Bynum is an asset but on a rookie scale salary which will make it difficult to move him without a miracle involved. Every outsider that has given input on the Laker situation so far has said they don't have any options and other GM's in the league see this.

Shard is also damaged goods.

I'm not in favor of trading for that Money Hungry Free Agent. I don't care what his asset could be for this team. I have standards as a fan and will not waver from them for no player period.

Posted by Caseloads:

i'd give craw and frye for shard in a second. Frye is never gonna be anything in NY. PERIOD.

with that said, crawford is a big part of isiah's plan so there's a very high chance he doesn't get traded.

Posted by Cookdcokehop:

He really backtracked what he said!!! What a bitch!!!!

[Edited by - cookdcokehop on 30-05-2007 5:31 PM]

Yep did almost a total 180 on the Dan Patrick show. This guy has mental issues seriously. I've never seen someone who truly thinks the world revolves around him.

now kobe on la radio says "this is my team. i don't want to leave."

Posted by Elite:

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/46306/20070530/kobe_has_$95_million_trade_kicker/

Kobe has $9 million dollar trade kicker this works for the Knicks favor cuz who the hell would pay 9 extra mill but dolan!!!!

If Dolan does that he will easily make it up with Jersey sales and increase ticket prices you name it any way you would look at it Kobe in NY would equal big dollars.

I highly doubt this BS talk that is going on its a non story that Espn is peddling hard. Just like the non story the post is doing with A-Rod.

kobe is ny ready....any other city is compromise.

zeke's finest momment is about to begin.....get'm zeke !

Posted by djsunyc:

now kobe on la radio says "this is my team. i don't want to leave."

LOW CHARACTER, ATTENTION WHORE, SELFISH P.O.S!

If Kobe wants out, where does he want to go?
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN Insider


OK, Kobe. Now that we've heard you say you want to be traded, we move on to the next big question:

Where?

I know you mentioned to Stephen A. Smith that you'd play on Pluto at this point, but Pluto does not have a team.

New York does, and Chicago does, and Phoenix does, and they all have the assets to get a deal done if they are on your short list of acceptable destinations.

So who's on your short list?

A source close to Bryant told me that such a list does not yet exist, but will be forthcoming soon. That was, however, before Bryant backtracked somewhat on ESPN Radio's "The Dan Patrick Show" and said he was "optimistic" he could stay with the Lakers.

One very important point to remember in the days ahead is this: Bryant, not the Lakers, is in the driver's seat here because of his no-trade clause. Yes, he's going to waive it at some point if he indeeds follows through on his trade request. But he's not going to waive it if the Lakers try to trade him someplace he doesn't want to be. He's going to tell the Lakers whom they should talk to, and the Lakers really will have no choice but to listen to him.

So let's go ahead and look at what Bryant's short list might be.

He is going to want to be in the spotlight, so take all the small-market teams off the list. He wants to compete for championships immediately, so knock the Celtics, 76ers and Clippers off the list.

I could see Bryant accepting trades to five teams (at most): New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Dallas and Miami -- and that last one is a bit of a reach.

So let's look at how each of those teams could get it done, since they'd have to offer a player or package of players whose salaries are within 125 percent (plus $100,000) of one another.

Bryant's salary this season was $17.72 million, and he has a 15-percent trade kicker, which must be included (unless Bryant were to waive it) in calculating the number to work off of for any trade that would take place between now and June 30. As of July, Bryant's cap number goes up to $19.49 million (add in the 15 percent kicker, and it's $22.41 million).



NEW YORK
Any package presumably would begin with Stephon Marbury, whose salary is almost an identical match with Bryant's, and then the Knicks would have to include a package of young players (David Lee, Channing Frye, Nate Robinson) and (presumably) their No. 1 pick in exchange for an additional player the Lakers would want to get rid of (Vladimir Radmanovic?).

Bryant has a good relationship with Isiah Thomas, who courted Bryant three summers ago when he was a free agent, and he could probably be sold on the argument that teaming him with a dominant offensive big man, Eddy Curry, would make the Knicks immediate championship contenders.



CHICAGO
It'd be difficult to put together enough salaries to add up to at least $16.2 million, which is the minimum needed to make the trade work prior to June 30 under the 125 percent rule. If you do it after July 1, you'd have to find $17.9 million worth of salaries to lump together.

You could do it by putting together a package of Tyrus Thomas ($3.5M), Ben Gordon (4.9M), Chris Duhon (3.3M) and Andres Nocioni (in a sign-and-trade deal in which the Argentine would get a starting salary of $6.2 million).

But would John Paxson be willing to give up that much?



PHOENIX
This is one of two places where the Lakers could get the most pound-for-pound value if the Suns were willing to give up Amare Stoudemire or Shawn Marion along with a sweetener or two such as Boris Diaw, the Atlanta Hawks' unprotected 2008 first-round draft pick or the 24th and 29th picks in this year's draft.



DALLAS
Straight-up for Dirk Nowitzki? The salaries are a match, so it'd be a question of whether both teams would be willing to do it, and whether Bryant wanted to play there.

Dallas is not as glamorous as New York or Chicago, but his chances of winning another championship would be higher with the Mavs than they would be with the Knicks or Bulls.



MIAMI
From the way Bryant was speaking with Stephen A., you almost got the impression that he'd welcome a reunion with the Big Fella. But there's no way the Lakers trade him to the Heat unless Dwyane Wade is coming back in return. And even if Miami were willing (and I don't think it would be), Wade is a base-year compensation player, which makes him next-to-impossible to move in a Bryant deal.

Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider

Posted by islesfan:

Any package that starts with Stephon Marbury gets rejected with extreme prejudice.

Now maybe if the Knicks had just torn it down and rebuilt through the draft, they'd have the pieces necessary to acquire a franchise player like Kobe. But Isiah chose to acquire overpriced underachievers with no trade value instead.

I think they'd have to go the following route:

JC
Frye
Jeffries
Balk or Lee
Nate Rob
(Malik Rose)

Actually, getting Marbury is not a problem in this deal at all. The players listed in Caseloads deal LA is not going to want (Jeffries and Crawford) because they have no long term value and undermine the pitch to LA which would be to get youth and under the cap. We are probably not going to be able to dump players like Jeffries to them because it makes no sense from the Lakers standpoint. Jeffries and Craw have at least 4 years left on their contracts and are overpaid.

The package I and Sheriden proposed is fine for them because it doesn't matter about what Marbury brings now for the most part. With he and Odom and the youngins they get from us and what they have they can have a semi-competitive squad, and in two years Steph and Odom come off the books giving them OODLES of cap space in '09 to sign players and an abundance of young talent to rebuild.

People say they wouldn't want our players? Ha! Look at the Lakers roster, besides Kobe it is worse than the Knicks, easily, especially with an injured and disgruntled Odom. Bynum isn't ready yet, and Evans has potential, as do a few other guys, but the Knicks youth have shown more ability on the floor than the Lakers youth.

Getting Marbury is more about clearing space which is a problem the Lakers have now. They get rid of their other sideways long term deal in Radmonivic, and would have no major contracts past 2 years. With Kobe nearing 30, do they really want to wait to see if Bynum develops in 3 years? Kobe will be gone by then, because he can opt out in 2, and unless LA can pull something out of a hat that may very well happen.

This relates to my beef about the cliche of bashing the Knicks team. Hello, the Lakers have a worse overall valued roster than the Knicks I think. Take Kobe away from that team and they are an absolute joke with very few tradable players. Take Marbury away or even Curry and we still have players that have value to other teams. You guys gonna deny that?

Sorry, DJ, Wilbon did not sound like someone who watches much NBA. He ignored all kinds of realities about making deals, cap space, etc. that the LA reporter had to correct. Wilbon (not saying he's your boy or anything) also looked bad in the pre-game show tonight trying to badmouth Kobe requesting a trade by putting George Gervin in an awkward position, where Dan Patrick even more awkwardly came in to save things. The ESPN pre-game show is awful btw. TNT whips their butts by a cool mile...

Anyway, the Knicks players are not junk. Sorry guys, this is a lot of hot air meant to play to the crowd that loves to hate the Knicks...basically the entire NBA and apparently half of the Knick's fans. Lee has no value? Curry has no value? Balkman has no value? Heck even Collins has value now, and Nate and Frye have some, especially when you look at the Lakers roster, which is godawful.

I'm not saying this has a good shot of happening at all, but if the Lakers did have to trade Kobe now, the Knicks chances are as good as anyone, IMHO.

[Edited by - PresIke on 05-31-2007 01:07 AM]

The Nets were supposedly offering Kidd for a package centered around Bynum.

Yeah, the Lakers players, aside from Kobe, have no value around the league.

But hey, who am I to stop you from going off on another diatribe.