Kobe - Not looking for love in all the wrong places
NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.
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Nobody loves me
The rift between Jerry Buss and Kobe Bryant grows ever wider until it appears like the Grand Canyon.
Kobe must go!
How do you do that when he has a no trade clause, a huge contract, is getting up there in NBA years, and worst of all is displaying a definite attitude problem.
Would other teams want to take on the Kobe act of defiance? Few would find it easy to turn down such an offer. Unfortunately, only the Bulls, Mavs, and Suns are on the table right now.
The owner has destroyed Los Angeles’ leverage on a possible trade, delivering an unmistakable message to the Bulls and Mavericks: Don’t bother throwing Luol Deng and Dirk Nowitzki in possible packages, because it’s become clearer that a peaceful co-existence of Bryant and the fledgling Lakers is less and less likely. source
To decode that message, Kobe’s trade value is dropping because he will become a free agent soon enough and the Lakers are not going to be a place where Kobe wants to stay. So why trade when you can just pay?
Jerry Buss seems to be at the end of his rope.
Maybe Buss was still livid enough with Bryant for calling him an “idiot” over the summer, but turning a peaceful training camp into a circus again because he wanted to tell everyone that he was willing to unload Bryant gave No. 24 a chance to re-cast himself as a victim, and check out of practice – if not his locker – for the week.
The most logical and most often named team to acquire Kobe’s services is the young, make that, oh so young Bulls. Being so young it is hard to evaluate if the core they have is enough to win a NBA Championship.
So far, they don’t know if this core can become a champion. Maybe Dallas knows it can’t win as currently constituted; after all, there’s a body of evidence building that says so. What if the Bulls do trade away Deng, along with a Tyrus Thomas and a Thabo Sefolosha and Bryant does start to have serious trouble with those aging knees? The Celtics had no choice but to trade its young players for Kevin Garnett. They had nothing to lose. But the Bulls? If the Bulls re-sign Deng and Ben Gordon to extensions, they have a contender for the next decade.
Mitch Kupchak somehow comes off all innocent in this debacle.
After GM Mitch Kupchak couldn’t pry Dwyane Wade in the Shaquille O’Neal trade, how could the Lakers now justify working deals with Dallas or Chicago that don’t include the best players on those teams, Nowitzki and Deng?
Even now, Kupchak doesn’t have the best returning player from the Shaq trade in his employ, Caron Butler, because he somehow moved him to Washington for Kwame Brown.
Let’s face it Kobe, you are history.
NBA Basketball Fan Question What team would be the perfect fit for Kobe?
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POSTED IN: Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Chicago Bulls, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
3 opinions for Kobe - Not looking for love in all the wrong places
Geoff Young
Oct 19, 2007 at 10:14 am
The Oakland Raiders. Oh, wait, wrong sport…
Dave
Oct 19, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I think Dr Buss was still very upset that he went all the way to Barcelona to meet with Kobe and Kobe still told him he wanted to be traded. I can understand Kobe’s frustrationg,but i think he needs to give the youngstrs a chance. I think this is a very taleneted young team.
james
Oct 19, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Kobe as a raider, hmm. 6′ 7″ leaping wide out with speed. just thinking.
Kobe is feeling desperate since he is aging and the young guys may not pan out.
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