lalakerlover

"As for Kobe, time to step up make it a goal of averaging 8+ assists a game and making your teammates better ! "

amen bro.

G1 & EX

4:07pm, CDT
Coincidentally, I've been working on some bear-resistant, zombie-detecting eyeglasses. They are quite something. Now, if I could only find them, because I'm blind without my glasses...

4:11pm, CDT
In other news, I'm taking some advanced yoga so that I can attain the head-to-colon contortion perfected by the most myopic of the Kobe-haters. I've been warned that it's advisable to remove one's glasses before entry.

4:44pm, CDT
It's dark in here. I'm starting to feel a strong, immutable dislike for really good shooting guards. Also, I can hear some mightly suspicious moaning and shuffling out there. I knew I should have brought my cricket bat.

Good point on one of the sports radio shows yesterday - with Elton Brand out for the season, playing in the west, the Clippers have a good shot at having the top pick in the draft next year. It will be interesting to see if they make a move in the next couple of months to try and replace some of Brand's productivity, or if they just stand pat and take a 25-win season.

TaosHum,

Because Kobe makes 20 million a year he is not entitled to express his concerns about the teams direction? You are absolutely right in saying that we are not an elite team. However, contrary to your statements, elite teams are the ones to reach the finals and win. Anomalies may occur once in a blue moon but that is the exception and not the rule. Look at the Cavs, do you think they would have reached the Finals if they played in the West? What does it tell you when the best team in the Eastern Conference can't even win a single game against the Spurs? Kobe has been up to the challenge of making this team better for the past three years. He plays hard on the court and works out every summer to improve his game. What more do you want from a guy who singlehandedly sells out Staples and leads the like of a Kwame and Smush to the playoffs? It is no secret that management has not done much to help the situation either. Yes, this team as currently constructed is not terrible, but just good enough to be 5-6 seed in the West at best.

I don't follow your logic when comparing Bynum and Mihm to Kaman in regards to Jermaine Oneal. Of course no one would trade Bynum or Mihm for Kaman. But JO is on a different stratosphere when compared to Kaman so I really don't follow what you are saying. But who knows, Bynum could become a beast or he could become a dud. Win now or win later? Either way, nothing is guaranteed but I like my chances with a proven talent in JO. Why wait for Kobe's prime to slip away in hopes that Bynum can develop? And no, I would not give up both Odom and Bynum for JO, that's just insane.

4:55pm, CDT

My Kobe-hating experiment had to be aborted midway. Damn Zombies. Nobody go in the small conference room for about 35, 45 minutes. No way I'm going back in there with these things roaming the hallways.

Let's give the man a break. We all know how some shady (media) people operate (our very own of course exempt lol). Like I said before, if Kobe were to say "Doo doo Dada" to his daughter, some media people will think that to mean he said, "Dr. Buss is a doo doo head."

The Hal Fishmans of the world are being replaced by such journalistic "integrity"....a shame really.

I would love for JO to come here...my only fear is injuries. Let's face it the man has not exactly been Mr. Durability...though I'm encouraged by his words that he's finally 100%. At the very least you have to love a guy that will play and give it his all even though he's not fully healed or healthy.

TOM DANIELS
"JO, at 19, put up numbers worse than Bynum's last year at 19 and was considered a bust in Portland. Then he developed in a good, not great, big man."

I AGREE WITH YOU ON BYNUM AND LO. THEY SHOULD NOT BE TRADED FOR A POSSIBLE RUN WITHIN A 3 YEAR WINDOW. WHICH I'M NOT TRULY SOLD THAT WE WOULD DO BETTER THAN 2ND ROUND EXIT.

BUT, YOUR STATEMENT ABOUT JO BEING A BUST IN PORTLAND. HE WAS BACKING UP RASHEED AND AT THE TIME, WASN'T GETTING ANY MINUTES TO THE LEVEL OF WHAT BYNUM IS GETTING EARLY IN HIS CAREER.

If the report from Cannon is right, that they want Bynum, Lamar, and luke for JO, then F$$k that trade. Bird is a slime ball if he wants us to uproot our entire team for JO. He wants two of the three guys that heavily contributed to our team last year. JO was right about Bird, that when he makes a trade, he tries to gut the entire team hes trading with.

This trade is on Kobe. If he comes out and absolutely says he will play his contract out, then the lakers leverage will go up. Bird is saying he wants those guys because of the situation with Kobe. I hope JO opts out of his contract, and sign a 5 year deal worth 60 million with the lakers. That way he gets a longer deal, and overrall he will make his money back and some, after opting out.

Larry Bird is a Bit*ch, if he wants us to give him out entire team. What a slime ball. I knew I never liked larry for a reason.

JJ,

If you're the GM of the Indiana Pacers and you have decided to trade Jermaine O'Neal, your franchise guy in his prime, you are signaling that you are taking your team in a different direction. Do you agree with that sentence?

If you agree with that sentence, what do you think the new direction would be? Replace JO with expiring contracts, young prospects, and draft picks OR bring in players with long, expensive contracts and players who will shortly receive big extensions?

I just want to see if we're playing fantasy GM from the same angle here.

Also, in your deal, not only did Indiana NOT move one of the other three atrocious contracts in Murphy, Dunleavy, and Tinsley, they added Jason Collins and his bad contract, Krstic who is going to be up for a big extension next summer, and the only cap relief they get would be Kwame and it doesn't matter because they'd still be over the cap!! Oh, and two of their brightest young prospects Granger and Diogu will be up for their own extensions when Krstic is. So now Indiana is more than likely paying a luxury tax for what could amount to the worst team in the league.

All I'm saying is that if you have a team trading it's franchise guy, think about the package they'd be receiving and think how you would feel getting that package for Kobe. If you feel that a package that resembles this:

Jason Collins, Nenad Krstic, Brian Cook, Kwame Brown, Jordan Farmar and Cash (Approx. $1mil)

would be enough for you to trade Kobe, then more power to you. But I'm guessing if someone came with that you'd laugh your ass off at them. That's how the Pacers feel about trading JO.

That breakin' video is krush!

You can't deal w/ the celtics or X-celtics for that matter. Mitch is sleeping on the job again. Over the past couple of years all of the trade rumors which involve elite players going to the Lakers have been with teams who have ties to the old celtics regimes. I can't believe Mitch is getting suckered into talks with these people...they ONLY want to get revenge on the Lakers for beating them for so many years.

Hey at the end of the day, we better do something to further change up the mix.
So if we walk away from the JO deal we need to be executing PLAN B immediately.

Whatever the plan is, PHASE 1 needs to be done before training camp.
Derek Fisher was not apart of the plan.
That was a gift from GOD.

1. It would be awesome if we could give Indiana our version of the Minnesota package that was sent to Boston for KG.

2. Bynum can be Jefferson in our deal, we can add in scraps trying to keep Evans and Crittenton if possible but if not oh well, and include 2 first round picks.
It would be nice to get 1 second round pick back though which would be a high one since Indiana will suck.

If we start drafting good we can find Ginobli's and Boozer's in the 2nd round.

JJ,

WRT your first trade, all of the things that you took into consideration are
very reasonable and I think your trade addresses them (i.e. Krstic and
a PG being things that Indy wants, Indy wanting to get rid of a big
contract, etc.).

The big problem with the trade is that it doesn't include a single player
who's nearly all-star level going to Indiana. The trade Indy had offered
to the Lakers had the Lakers sending them Odom (among other stuff).
The rumored trade with New Jersey had the Nets sending them Richard
Jefferson. There's no player of that caliber being offered to Indiana in
the trade you proposed.

Thus although you covered a lot of issues, you left out what was probably
one of the key ones.

i.e. Indiana was willing to do Krstic+Jefferson+Williams, but not
Krstic+Jefferson+Collins. Indiana was willing to do Bynum+Odom+etc
but not willing to do Bynum+Kwame+etc. If you want to be realistic
about making a deal that Indy will accept, it's probably going to have
to include + .

TO LAKERTOM, LAKER LOYALIST AND KOBE LOYALIST

This is an example kobe stepping up and being a man.

exerpts from Sam Alipourof ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2963592

"Still, some pundits believe that only the acquisition of Kevin Garnett -- whom the Timberwolves recently traded to the Celtics in a blockbuster deal -- would be enough to prevent Bryant from opting out of his contract with the Lakers in one year's time. For his part, O'Neal, who counts Bryant among his close friends, said he believes his arrival in L.A. indeed would be enough to keep Bryant in purple and gold. "

WHY DOESN'T KOBE CLEAR THE AIR AND SAY THAT ACQUIRING O'NEAL WOULD BE ENOUGH TO KEEP THE BIG MALCONTENT IN LA?

Don't you think Laker management would feel better about mortgaging the future (assuming Bynum and LO are traded away) if Mr. Hotshot makes an effort to calm the waters? I guess i shouldn't complain too much because kobe appears to be reaching out to O'neal......to be continued

KLBeast and lalakerlover:

You do of course realize that in order for Kobe to be scored with an assist, another player on his team must catch the pass and then score a basket as a result of the pass. If Kwame drops the ball, or Smush/BCook/Sasha et al miss the shot then poor Kobe gets no assist even though he passed them the ball when they were wide open! I doubt JKidd could avg 8 assists with what the Lakers put on the floor this past year!
Sometimes Kobe just can't win with the critics!

THAT' S IT.....I'VE HAD IT......I HAVE BEEN READING THIS BLOG FOR 3 MONTHS NOW AND I CAN NO LONGER REMAIN SILENT. I HAVE GROWN VERY TIRED OF READING THE RHETORICAL GARBAGE FROM POSTERS LIKE LAKERLOVER AND KL BEAST AND OTHERS WHO SHOW VERY LITTLE RESPECT FOR RATIONAL DEBATE AND KNOW EVEN LESS ABOUT BASKETBALL.

LAKERLOVER: PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS SIMPLE CONCEPT, KB IS A SHOOTING GUARD WHOSE ROLE IS TO SCORE. HE IS NOT A POINT GAURD. GIVEN THESE FACTS, HE STILL MANAGES TO LEAD THE NBA IN ASSISTS BY SHOOTING GUARDS. THIS IS EVEN MORE REMARKABLE WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT HE DOES THIS WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE TRIANGLE OFFENSE AND WITH INFERIOR TEAMATES WHO HAVE CONSISTENTLY PROVEN UNRELIABLE IN FINISHING PLAYS. SO FROM NOW ON, PLEASE FIGHT THE URGE TO PARROT THE NATIONAL & LOCAL MEDIA'S RIDICULOUS "DOESN'T MAKE HIS TEAMMATES BETTER" ARGUMENT BECAUSE IT MAKES YOU LOOK UNORIGINAL AND NAIVE.

KL BEAST: YOUR VITRIOLIC ANIMUS TOWARDS KB PREVENTS ME FROM TAKING ANYTHING YOU SAY SERIOUSLY. YOUR EMOTIONS BETRAY YOU, AND YOUR BACKTRACKING ON YOUR PREVIOUS IDIOTIC POSTS EXPOSE YOU FOR THE PARTISAN HACK THAT YOU ARE. DO YOU EVEN BELIEVE THE CRAP THAT YOU TYPE? I HAVE READ ON THIS BLOG SEVERAL TIMES YOUR BELIEF THAT "KOBE RAN SHAQ OUT OF LA". NEVER MIND THAT ALL 3 PRINCIPALS ARE ON THE RECORD AS SAYING THAT IT WAS JERRY BUSS' SOLE DECISION TO NOT EXTEND AND EVENTUALLY TRADE SHAQ. BRO, YOU HAVE NO SHAME. YOUR STATEMENT THAT YOU HAVE NOW REVISED YOUR MANTRA TO READ "NO ONE EXCEPT JERMAINE O'NEIL WANTS TO PLAY WITH KOBE" IS CLASSIC BACKTRACKING AND EXPOSES YOUR DISHONESTY ON THIS BLOG. YOU SHOULD FURTHER AMEND YOUR MANTRA BY ADDING J-KIDD, B-DAVIS, R-ARTEST, KG, AND S-MARBURY TO JERMAINE O'NEIL AS PLAYERS WHO HAVE PUBLICALLY STATED THAT THEY WOULD WELCOME THE OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY WITH KB.

KL BEAST.....YOU'RE WEAK.

OTHER MORSELS OF COMMON SENSE THAT SHOULD BE APPARENT TO ANYONE THAT GIVES MORE WEIGHT TO WHAT AN INDIVIDUAL HAS ACTUALLY SAID AS OPPOSED TO SPECULATION, RUMOR, AND INNUENDO:

1) JERRY BUSS HAS STATED CLEARLY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY THAT HE WILL NOT PAY LUXURY TAX UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES UNLESS IT IS FOR A SUPERSTAR. JO IS NOT A SUPERSTAR. JO IS AN ALLSTAR. KG IS A SUPERSTAR. LET'S ALL KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN WE SPECULATE ON POTENTIAL TRADES.

2) GIVEN NO. 1 ABOVE, ANY POTENTIAL TRADE SCENARIO FOR JO ABSOLUTELY MUST INCLUDE LO. THERE IS NO WAY AROUND THIS. THE COMBINED SALARIES OF OUR PROSPECTIVE BIG 3, ALONG WITH THE OTHER GARAUNTEED CONTRACTS ON THE TEAM, WILL PUT THE LAKERS OVER THE CAP. SPEAKING ABOUT THE CAP........ JO WILL MAKE 20 MIL NEXT YEAR. THE NBA'S CBA REQUIRES THE LAKERS TO SEND OUT AT LEAST 15 MIL IN SALARY. IF YOU DON'T INCLUDE LAMAR ODOM, THE ONLY PLAYER THAT CAN BE TRADED RIGHT NOW TO MAKE A DEAL WORK IS V-RAD. THE PACERS ARE ON THE RECORD AS SAYING THEY WANT TO DUMP SALARY AND POSSIBLY REBUILD. THIS IS CONFIRMED BY BIRD'S ATTEMPT TO UNLOAD MURPHY'S CONTRACT AND TO ACQUIRE BYNUM. THE PACERS DO NOT WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH V-RAD'S CONTRACT. IN SHORT, THERE IS NO CREDIBLE SCENARIO THAT HAS JO AND LO ON THE LAKERS NEXT YEAR. ALTHOUGH THEORHETICALLY ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, LO AND JO BOTH ON THE LAKERS NEXT YEAR IS EXTREMELY UNLIKELY.

3. THE CBA MANDATES THAT THE LAKERS CAN NOT TRADE WALTON OR FISHER UNTIL DECEMBER AT THE EARLIEST.

4. JO DOES NOT HAVE AS MUCH LEVERAGE AS EVERYONE SPECULATES FOR 2 MAIN REASONS: A) THE PACERS ARE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING THE BENEFIT OF ALLOWING JO TO WALK AND HAVING JO'S 20 MILLION OFF OF THEIR BOOKS IN 2009 AND BEING 15 MILLION UNDER THE CAP AND USING THAT MONEY TO SIGN A SUPERSTAR FREE AGENT. B) BY OPTING OUT OF HIS DEAL, JO WOULD BE WALKING AWAY FROM 43 MILLION. THERE IS A VERY REAL POSSIBLITY THAT IN 2008, NO TEAM IS GOING TO GIVE A 30 YEAR OLD INJURY PRONE CENTER A 2-YEAR, 43 MILLION DEAL.

THAT IS ALL. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. I APOLOGIZE FOR USING ALL CAPS SEEING AS HOW I THINK EVEN LESS OF THAT GUNNER MORON THAN I DO OF KL BEAST.

JJ - I have to agree with everyone who's saying C-Webb is done. He's shot, it's
over. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Kwame is far preferable to C-Webb, especially at center. Kwame actually tries at defense.

Plus, C-Webb is all about C-Webb. You bring him to Hollywood and I think he's going to spend more time flashing his smile trying to get movie roles than down in a defensive crouch.

Which brings me to my next point. Don't confuse: 1) People wanting out of their current situations and/or contracts and 2) People who want to come to Hollywood and get more media exposure/media opportunities with 'people wanting to play with Kobe.'

If I'm a girl and I decide to marry an older guy who's wealthy, I'm not going to come right out and say that's why I'm marrying him - to get his money. I have to say things like "he's sweet," or "I really love him."

It's a similar thing with people saying they want to play with Kobe. Very few people in the NBA will go out on the record as saying they don't want to play with Kobe, because then they might disqualify themselves from ever becoming a Laker and being part of a great franchise and have all the marketing opportunities of living in LA.

But you hear a lot of "off-the-record" chatter about players who don't want to play with Kobe. That's not an accident. Many seem to feel that way, but they (and their agents) can't come out and say it to the public or they hurt their own possible future prospects. Every now and then you get exceptions like Smush Parker, who just doesn't care and will call it like he sees it.

As far as O'Neal and his agent 'backpedaling' from this story, you have to consider the source. Arash Markazi is the second-biggest dot-com Kobe lover, behind only Sensei Ric Bucher. If you'll recall, Markazi was the first media person to watch the Kobe Rant video, after which he wrote a piece trying to poo-poo it's contents. Unsuccessfully, I might add.

What Markazi realizes is that now with Garnett out of the mix, Kobe is going to be pushing like crazy to get out of LA. So Markazi is doing what's known as 'advocacy journalism.' As a writer myself, I see this all the time. Advocacy journalism just means going from reporting the facts to taking the facts (the ones you like) and arguing/presenting them in such a way so as to help get the result you seek.

In this situation, Markazi wants Kobe to stay with the Lakers. So he's making it out to be that O'Neal is really pushing for the trade to LA (stuff like 'he's looking for a new house in LA, ...'), instead of 'well, I'd be happy to be traded to LA.' It's a matter of tone and emphasizing certain facts over others.

The reason why O'Neal and his agent Arm Tellum reacted immediately and decisively against Markazi's take is that they realized Markazi has his own interests (Kobe staying on the Lakers) at heart, and not O'Neal's (get the best deal/situation possible). O'Neal said what he said - which was dumb, from a leverage standpoint - but Markazi reported it in a certain way. But if O'Neal hadn't said anything, he and Tellum wouldn't have to be cleaning up the mess O'Neal made by giving Markazi the opportunity to write what he wrote.

Which is why players need to keep their mouths shut about negotiations and personal feelings about who they want to play with. Listening, Sir Radio Tour Kobe? You only hurt yourself with this stuff.

This is why Bucher wrote his recent piece trying to 'explain away' what Kobe said
on his radio tour. The difference is, nobody heard O'Neal's voice with their own ears, as they did repeatedly with Bryant. The spoken word is more lasting than the written word, in general. Just as images are more lasting than spoken words.

The bottom line is this --- no matter how much Markazi wants Kobe to stay in LA, Kobe (and Bucher) is on record as saying that O'Neal coming to the Lakers IS NOT enough to make him want to stay in LA. So even if Markazi can 'help' get O'Neal traded to LA, Kobe still isn't going to change his mind about wanting to leave, IMO. Markazi sees the writing on the wall, and like any good Apologist he's doing his darnedest to keep his Deity in purple and gold.

That's what all this brouhaha is about. Always know (at least when possible) where information is coming from when you hear it. By understanding the source of the information and their agenda, you can save yourself a lot of 'ups-and-downs' when trade speculation is discussed. A lot of what you hear is just posturing and positioning. This instance is not much different.

Okay, so I was wrong about JO not taking flack for his comments. He's not
as public a figure as Kobe, so they aren't quite as widespread, but I was
just reading an article from the Indiana Star that was criticizing his
publicly stating that he wants a trade.

http://tinyurl.com/2g97w4

BTW, here are some selections from some of the Indy locals that
commented on the article - you might find them enlightening about
what some of their fans feel about value of players being discussed
in the trade rumors -

IndySam -
"Just trade him to the Lakers already. We don't want or need Odom. Give us Bynum and Jordan Farmar, and Kwames expiring contract and I am very happy with that deal. We would have our future right there."

IU Guy 68 -
"Agreed, but maybe Critt instead of Farmar, or both. Also I would expect a couple draft picks."

tateton -
"O'Neals never going to lead any team to a title, he's simply not that good. He's not a Tim Duncan, Dwayne Wade, Steve Nash, type of player, the type that's going to win ball games in the playoffs by outplaying everyone else. He just can't do it."

JoHoWo -
"The initial trade offers at the beginning of summer were such lowballs, I mean Bynum, Brown (expiring contract), and Cook for O'Neal, no way! Jefferson and a returning from knee injury Krstic? I say if he wants to opt out next year, that allows this franchise to go out and find more quality then what has been offered. I am sick of this team making trades that seem to benefit the other team more than us."

ROGER VANDIVER -
"...TRADE HIM TO L.A. "IF" WE GET GOOD COMPENSATION. OTHERWISE, SEND HIM TO ANY TEAM WILLING TO GIVE UP QUALITY FOR QUALITY. WE NEED A TRUE CENTER. TRADE HIM TO NEW JERSEY FOR KRYSTIC AND OTHERS. HE'S A TRUE CENTER, THEN, WE HAVE THE OTHER PARTS ALREADY TO BE COMPETITIVE."

Brick Tamland -
"...If we can dump JO and get Bynum, Farmar, Critt and a draft...that would be great! Mix them with Ike D and Danny and the P's have a nice, young nucleus to develop."

Derek -
"If we can get Bynum, Rad, Brown, and one of the following: Critt, Farmer, or 08 1st round pick, then I would be happy. In fact I would like it muh better than Bynum and Odom."

edo bg -
"Honestly I would rather have kristic then jo. Kristic plays hard and keeps his mouth shut. It doesn't hurt that he is one of the up and coming big men that shows a lot of potential."

Z-Rey -
"It's OK if O'Neal goes to the Lakers. Then they will have two superstars that are not as good as they think they are."

Joseph -
"If the Lakers want JO I think they should be forced to take Tinsley. "

I was actually surprised at the ratio of negative comments about JO
to positive ones. It was almost the opposite of here where it's KL, Gunner,
and 1 or two others slagging Kobe while everyone else is mostly positive.
On the Indy site, it's like 5 posts saying "Jermaine isn't as good as he
thinks he is and we should trade him" to 1 post saying "We need to
keep Jermaine"

wow. i really like the alleged comments by o'neal saying he doesn't indiana to gut the lakers in a trade. hopefully that helps larry bird to realize that bynum and odom is asking too much. if you can keep a trio of kobe, o'neal, and odom together...i think they could be a pretty good team.

as for how well the three of them would mesh together? hard to say b/c from what i know of o'neal he's not a traditional banger down low and so you'd almost have three stars playing a midrange/perimeter game. but then again...im pretty sure finding a way for the three of them to mesh would be a welcome problem compared to the mess the lakers are in now in trying to bring in a big name.

The big key is how good can Andrew Brynum get?
Can he get as good as Oneal in 3 years?

Then a Odom& Brynum for Oneal is a steal for the Pacers.
Odom can match Oneals numbers in the weaker East.
If Brynum blows up to be a good player.
And Oneal in no KG. He will not dominate like Shaq.

The Lakers would do well enough to stand pat. And monitor these factors:

1. The development of Brynum. By this season they should know if they got a player or not.
2. The development of Farmar and Jarvis. Farmar has to develop a NBA shot or go home. Jarvis is just experience needed.
3. Can Odom be a factor inside? He seems to play too much outside.
4. Vlade, Cook has to prove some kind of worth for the contracts they received.

The Lakers FO has to realize that they can't keep making stupid moves and remain a contender.

You know what the moves were?

lalakerlover/KL

Ok, so now Kobe has to be the shooting guard AND the point guard? I see your point of you wanting him to be like Wade (a scoring point guard converted into a 2-guard) or Lebron (a point guard in a power forward's body).

Over the weekend, I watched an old Bulls game from their first 3-peat, and with the players around Jordan on that team, they (the role players) did something well that the current Lakers team does not know how to do, something that Jordan couldn't teach the Bulls or that Kobe can't teach this Lakers team: move WITHOUT the ball. It's something that the Lakers 3-peat team did well, and that this team hasn't opened the memo on. It's what makes contender teams CONTENDER teams. Think of Phoenix and how well they can freestyle with Nash running the show, and everyone else knowing where on the court to be. That's not all Nash, that's smart basketball players.
Moving without the ball is something this team needs to learn how to do better. Is that on Kobe? Given that he's not a point guard, NO.
As the leader of the team, should he look to give advice on what to do to improve upon that? YES.
Does he do it? YES
To the level of diplomatic satisfaction and political correctness that you and ESPN and half of the emotional pieback players that are in the league now? OF COURSE NOT, but then again, none of the above mentioned are at the practices or in the huddles. I'm just saying.

10milliondollarzen:

"Did anyone just see Bucher on ESPN----said if O'Neal goes to the Lakers it would have absolutely no affect on Kobe Bryant staying, Bucher said Kobe has decided that he wants to leave no matter what, he no longer has faith in the front office and doesn't trust the organazation in regards to himself----Bucher said no player coming or leaving LA will have any affect on Kobe any more....."

Do you really believe everything that jackass journalist says? It's ESPN, for crying out loud! Rick Bushit is a bum journalist who is trying to get some notoriety by claiming to be Kobe's right-hand man.

Why would JO say that he and Kobe had talked about joining the Lakers if Kobe will still leave no matter what?

Please don't believe everything you read from the four-letter network, especially if its not in quotes from someone other than an "anonymous source".

KLBEAST:

"WHY DOESN'T KOBE CLEAR THE AIR AND SAY THAT ACQUIRING O'NEAL WOULD BE ENOUGH TO KEEP THE BIG MALCONTENT IN LA? "

Because it would compromise the Lakers position in any trade negotiations if everyone knows they need to get JO to placate Kobe.

Jay Jay,

Yeah man Collins and Kristic for Bynum??? Are you kidding me????

You're trades are often mocked on this blog because they often make no sense for the other team, which this time you fixed. But then you give us Collins and Kristic for Bynum???

I dont know why you get mad at guys like Andrew Z. Its not like you came up with that trade idea in the first place. I came up with a Nets Pacers Lakers trade yesterday that was a lot better than yours..

Take it easy.

LakerBake,

You make a good point. We definitely need a plan B. I want JO, but if it doesn't happen what is Mitch's plan? There are still a few good FA's out there, and I think we have to pick up one of them. Some people are throwing Webber's name around but I think he's pretty much done as a starter. James Posey? I don't really like him, and I don't think he would be a great fit for the triangle. So who does that leave? Ruben Patterson!!!! The dude is an ex-Laker, and doesn't seem to be getting any offers (I haven't seen his name mentioned). His defense, and hustle could be just what we need. This roster is not as good as one with JO, but we could make some noise:

Fisher-Farmar-Crittenton
Kobe-Evans-Coby Karl
Patterson-Luke-Radmanovic
LO-Turiaf-Cook
Kwame-Bynum-Mihm

Just adding Patterson makes this roster better, because Luke can be moved to the bench, which make us much deeper, and our bench would be more effective. They keep saying we're one player away, and if it's not JO, then I think Patterson could be the player we need.