THE KOBE SAGA

by The Original JD, Six Pack Sports Report

With apologies to Henry Abbott who is the godfather of basketball writers (not limiting Henry to bloggers because he is that good) I am going to take a stab at talking NBA. It seems like the "Will LA trade Kobe?" movement has started back up again with some sites reporting that Kobe cleaned out his locker in LA, and other sites saying he hasn't been at practice and every site seeming to agree that Kobe and the Lakers might have to part ways just so I don't lose my mind hearing about this story for the rest of his career. I don't want to talk about how horrible the Lakers have handled this Kobe situation because it has been an abomination - and I don't think we need to mention how utterly enjoyable it was to watch Kobe play with Team USA over the summer because that goes without saying. What I do want to talk about is the perception that there is no way the Lakers could ever trade Kobe.

The argument that everyone always falls back on is that you cannot get equal value for Kobe. That's obvious because he's the best player in the NBA and as such there can be no equal to him. The real issue is that his marketability is through the roof, he sells out the building (or at least comes close) and he makes the team at least viable. The NBA needs the Lakers to be important just as much as Mitch Kupchick and Jerry Buss need the Lakers to be important and in order for that to happen the Lakers would need to get a player of similar name value in return if they do decide to trade Kobe.

This is where the problem always comes up for the NBA analysts and talking heads because they point out that frankly there is only a handful of players in the NBA who can even approach the level of Kobe Bryant in terms of talent and marketability. Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony are close in that they're both uber talented playmakers who you'd feel somewhat comfortable building a team around. However, they're both out of the question because Wade plays with Shaq who we're all pretty sure will have none of the Kobe show v2.0, and Melo plays in Colorado where once you rape one hotel worker you're banned for life.

Kevin Garnett might have been a player that the Lakers could at least entertain the thought of getting but KG wouldn't have gone to LA without Kobe there and with The Big Ticket playing in Boston right now that makes the entire point moot. What other super(duper)stars would you consider even viable options at this time? Dirk Nowitski doesn't carry a team so LA wouldn't do that, Vince Carter is on the downside of a pretty average career so I can't see that being a viable option. In my mind there is only two deals that could ever possibly make sense (now I'm not talking salary cap wise because I know my readers aren't ready to comprehend numbers so lets just take this all as face value).

Dwight Howard: Think about it - he's on the cusp of blooming into one of the next great big men in the NBA. You don't think Phil Jackson would love to have a baby Shaq type player on the floor to run the triangle offense through? Howard would give the Lakers a cornerstone player that they are lacking since Shaq Fu went to South Beach and even though they'd take a step back it would be a Paula Abdul move for the long run. I think Laker fans would be able to stomach a trade like this that brought in Howard and some spare parts because you'd at least see some potential for the future. In the Western Conference you're going to need size to compete because Greg Oden won't be injured forever, and you've still got the only legitimate centers in the league that play more then 40 games a season out West. On the flip side this trade would get Kobe out of the Western Conference so the Lakers wouldn't have be reminded about how they traded away the best player in the NBA more then once a year at home.

Lebron James: Face it, there is only one player in the NBA who you could feasibly trade for Kobe Bryant and that's Lebron James. The Lakers would replace 100% of Kobe's face value, plus they'd get younger. If you don't think Lebron would be an instant celebrity in LA then you obviously didn't see him host SNL a couple weeks ago. This guy has the smile, the personality, and we've all seen those Sprite commercials - he loves the limelight. He would be the perfect fit in LA because the fans would eat him up, and he's already used to playing on a shitty team so Luke Walton and Kwame Brown wouldn't be much of a distraction for him. If you don't think that Jack Nicholson would be renewing his season tickets in a heartbeat to watch Lebron play home games in the Staples Center you're crazy. He'd be the biggest thing in LA since Britney Spear's vagina (sorry that was to easy) and it's such a no brainer that you know it would never happen.

The thing that drives me the most insane is that people will tell you that Orlando would never trade Howard, and the Cavs would never trade Lebron. Why the hell not? You can't tell me that both of those teams wouldn't immediately be serious contenders with Kobe Bryant on their roster. I mean Lebron brought the Cavs to the NBA Championship last season and Kobe is better then Lebron - the Cavs would have won at least one game with Kobe out there - it's an instant upgrade and nobody can convince me otherwise.

I know that people will talk about the youth and the building process but the NBA doesn't really work that way. Young players either develop and leave for major markets, or just never develop. Sometimes a young player will develop exactly like you had planned but then the other teams in the league get better and you're superstar young talent is now just a small fish in the big pond. If you're the Cleveland Cavs and you have a pretty solid idea that Lebron is going to leave you when his contract runs out wouldn't you roll the dice on Kobe for two seasons knowing that it's an automatic upgrade over Lebron who you're probably going to lose anyways? Isn't it much easier to attract free agents to a team that has a legitimate shot at the NBA Championship every year? And wouldn't a Kobe led Cavs team have that shot to get through the East every season that he was there?

I think Kobe wants nothing more then to come East. He would love to go to Chicago because Jordan played there and he could have a solid young supporting cast. It's not realistic to think that deal would actually happen without the Bulls giving up Luol Deng which would make the supporting cast seem a little less appealing. Plus is Luol Deng really getting you excited if you're in LA? Are you going to pay thousands of dollars to sit next to the guy who played an extra in Northern Exposure and watch Luol Deng play? Of course not. But you would to watch Lebron James.

Some people will argue that Lebron doesn't make the Lakers instant contenders but that's really not an option at this point is it? The West is to strong, and getting stronger. They're not winning an NBA title with Kobe and he is pissed off and making life miserable. If you're going to send him packing, you need to move him out of the Western Conference and you want to get someone of equal value for him. This trade would make to much sense for both sides which is obviously why it would never work.

In my opinion the Lakers would be foolish to trade Kobe Bryant because he is the best player in the NBA. As a Celtics fan I fear he coming to the Eastern Conference because he can single handedly win a game for a team no matter who else is on the floor with him, and as someone who sometimes writes about sports during his down time I am sick of hearing about these ridiculous trade scenarios. However, if this thing was going to go down I think I have laid out the only two options really available to the Lakers. I'd love to hear from the NBA fans in the Nation on what they think the Lakers should do with Kobe.

(Originally published 10/17)