Ric Bucher thinks the Lakers should trade Kobe

GoatMilk16 wrote:

KeepBynum wrote:

LakersN4 wrote:How many of you would trade Kobe for westbrook + harden?

I wouldn't. You're talking about trading arguably the best player in basketball and a top 5 player of all time for an overrated, shoot first chucking point guard and a guy like Harden who is very good, but not great.

Westbrook needs to be moved to SG

im not saying he's kobe, but Russell this year and Kobe's 4th year are almost identical. main difference is TOs, but Russell has the ball more than kobe did

so in short, if you move russell to 2, even use harden at pg or get a decent pg, you have to do that deal

If Westbrook was in the triangle, he could play the 1 guard and focus mainly on scoring which he is great at. The Thunder are making the same mistake almost every team makes, which is to designate the smallest player on the court the ball handler and have everyone else watch. I've always been curious what would happen to them if they hired Phil Jackson. I think he could push that team over the top.

I wouldn't move Westbrook to the 2, he's too small to guard a lot of the bigger players.

Wow I cannot believe the amount of disrespect Kobe Bryant is getting in this thread. You're talking about a guy who has done so much for this franchise and the city and some of you want to trade him?

GoatMilk16 wrote:

KeepBynum wrote:

LakersN4 wrote:How many of you would trade Kobe for westbrook + harden?

I wouldn't. You're talking about trading arguably the best player in basketball and a top 5 player of all time for an overrated, shoot first chucking point guard and a guy like Harden who is very good, but not great.

Westbrook needs to be moved to SG

im not saying he's kobe, but Russell this year and Kobe's 4th year are almost identical. main difference is TOs, but Russell has the ball more than kobe did

so in short, if you move russell to 2, even use harden at pg or get a decent pg, you have to do that deal

Too small and will get eaten alive on defense. In short trading Kobe is just absurd.

lakefansac wrote:Kobe from 2007 says hi! Says "trade me" because he didn't want the Lakers to "keep Bynum".

First off, he wanted out because he didn't believe the FO was willing to put the necessary pieces around him to win a championship.

Secondly, Magic also demanded a trade at one point in his career, it doesn't make him any less of a Laker legend.

He said it himself, Kobe is owed almost 30 million in a season, what team is honestly gonna take that? And also, he has the no trade clause, soooooo yeah.....

He said it himself, Kobe is owed almost 30 million in a season, what team is honestly gonna take that? And also, he has the no trade clause, soooooo yeah.....

LOL even if for whatever reason we wanted to, how would another team match salaries without completely blowing their team up in such a fashion that Kobe would waive his NTC?

GoldHammish wrote:LOL even if for whatever reason we wanted to, how would another team match salaries without completely blowing their team up in such a fashion that Kobe would waive his NTC?

Rashard Lewis for Kobe. It saves us 4 million in cap room and 8 million in luxury tax.

I couldn't find the face palm smiley. Facepalm.

I hate it when ESPN decides to create "news" or a story. Reminds me of Tedy Bruschi going off on Chad Ochocinco last year. They force and/or pay one of their employees to say something outlandish just to have a full day's worth of speculation and BS.

I'm 100% positive Bucher was aware of Kobe's No-Trade Clause, and I doubt he truly thinks the Lakers should trade Kobe.

LakerFan1235 wrote:I couldn't find the face palm smiley. Facepalm.

Merry Xmas.....

I think if we can get 2 star level guards back & some depth you have to do it. Westbrook + Harden + depth, Deron + Brooks + depth, Wall + Crawford + Young + Blatche. I wouldn't take Melo straight up but Lin + Melo. I don't like any one for one swaps except Lebron & maybe Durant. If we give up a top 5 player we need to fill most if not all of our needs.You pair 2 young solid guards like Westbrook & Harden up with Gasol + Bynum.. Or Bynum + the pieces Gasol brings in long term.

I'll take Kobe over every player in the league right now & as long as he plays at this level. But you have to think about the future. Especially when we aren't winning

Doc Brown wrote:

LakerFan1235 wrote:I couldn't find the face palm smiley. Facepalm.

Merry Xmas.....

Can we have this here? let's steal this, mods, anyone, anyone

In related news, the Indianapolis Colts just released their 14 year starting QB. Professional sports are a business, run by business men.

Bucher's proposal of a Kobe trade is silly for all the reasons mentioned above, including the NTC; amnesty, on the other hand, may be seen to have many virtues, not the least of which is substantial cap room.

Kobe will not be traded..end of thread

Jporkel wrote:In related news, the Indianapolis Colts just released their 14 year starting QB. Professional sports are a business, run by business men.

Bucher's proposal of a Kobe trade is silly for all the reasons mentioned above, including the NTC; amnesty, on the other hand, may be seen to have many virtues, not the least of which is substantial cap room.

If the Colts are willing to let go of Manning, its not inconceivable that the Lakers would consider trading Kobe. A lot of you mentioned his no trade clause, but if you look at baseball, there are tons of players with no trade clauses and they are still able to make trades.

Never in a million years goign to happen, but suppose Oklahoma City came to you right now, and offered you Durant AND Westbrook for Kobe, would you take that offer and trade the Kobster?

LAKEROC wrote:Never in a million years goign to happen, but suppose Oklahoma City came to you right now, and offered you Durant AND Westbrook for Kobe, would you take that offer and trade the Kobster?

Hell yeah, I'd take that deal. Thats a no brainer. But Kobe wouldn't waive his no trade clause for that. He wouldn't go to the Thunder unless it had at least one of Westbrook or Durant.

If it was possible, I would trade the Lakers entire roster for Oklahoma City's entire roster. They are well positioned to win multiple championships if they get the right coach.

tttppp wrote:
If it was possible, I would trade the Lakers entire roster for Oklahoma City's entire roster. They are well positioned to win multiple championships if they get the right coach.

So go be a OKC fan?

therealdeal wrote:

tttppp wrote:
If it was possible, I would trade the Lakers entire roster for Oklahoma City's entire roster. They are well positioned to win multiple championships if they get the right coach.

So go be a OKC fan?

THIS! SMH..NO LOYALTY!!!!!

lakersin4 wrote:I think if we can get 2 star level guards back & some depth you have to do it. Westbrook + Harden + depth, Deron + Brooks + depth, Wall + Crawford + Young + Blatche. I wouldn't take Melo straight up but Lin + Melo. I don't like any one for one swaps except Lebron & maybe Durant. If we give up a top 5 player we need to fill most if not all of our needs.You pair 2 young solid guards like Westbrook & Harden up with Gasol + Bynum.. Or Bynum + the pieces Gasol brings in long term.

I'll take Kobe over every player in the league right now & as long as he plays at this level. But you have to think about the future. Especially when we aren't winning

Realistically no team will give up young superstars for an aging one. Kobe has at most 2, maybe 3 seasons left at this level, that's it. Kobe will be 35 when his final season on the current contract begins (2013-14). No team will pay through the nose for that. Personally, I want Kobe to finish his career with the Lakers and I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see him retire at the end of this contract. If he resigned with the Lakers for 2014 and beyond, he'd have to take less money. He'd be 36 when that deal begins so he couldn't sign for more than 2 years anyway. Finally have to consider that the Lakers might decide to amnesty him in 2013 if they want to get on the rebuild path while Bynum is still young.

lakersin4 wrote:I think if we can get 2 star level guards back & some depth you have to do it. Westbrook + Harden + depth, Deron + Brooks + depth, Wall + Crawford + Young + Blatche. I wouldn't take Melo straight up but Lin + Melo. I don't like any one for one swaps except Lebron & maybe Durant. If we give up a top 5 player we need to fill most if not all of our needs.You pair 2 young solid guards like Westbrook & Harden up with Gasol + Bynum.. Or Bynum + the pieces Gasol brings in long term.

I'll take Kobe over every player in the league right now & as long as he plays at this level. But you have to think about the future. Especially when we aren't winning

Realistically no team will give up young superstars for an aging one. Kobe has at most 2, maybe 3 seasons left at this level, that's it. Kobe will be 35 when his final season on the current contract begins (2013-14). No team will pay through the nose for that. Personally, I want Kobe to finish his career with the Lakers and I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see him retire at the end of this contract. If he resigned with the Lakers for 2014 and beyond, he'd have to take less money. He'd be 36 when that deal begins so he couldn't sign for more than 2 years anyway. Finally have to consider that the Lakers might decide to amnesty him in 2013 if they want to get on the rebuild path while Bynum is still young.

I don't see why people bring up the salary like people won't pay it. What did Dr. Buss say, Kobe earns him an estimated 90M a year? You're talking about Kobe Bryant. If you have the salary to send out without completely gutting your team, you do it no question.

Want to add a few deals to the list that I would consider.

Lowry + Martin + Budinger + Patterson for Kobe + Fish + anything we want to dump on them. It's tough because it really takes that much to come close to replacing Kobe. 2 starters & what would be our 2 best players off the bench. But that completely guts their team but we'd be putting a contending team on the floor.

Maybe we do the unthinkable & deal Kobe to Boston for Rondo, Allen, Bass + filler. 25 tear old top 5 PG & in my opinion the greatest shooter of all time. You want to talk about complimenting our bigs. Not to mention Bass becomes the best player off our bench & we aren't 1 injury away from being terrible. With Kobe Pierce KG Boston isn't completely gutted & I think they might even have room for a FA before they resign KG if they dump all of their non expirings on us.

CP3 + Blake + Foye.. Hahahaha how ironic would that be. No way Blake gets traded for anyone not named Lebron or Dwight though.

Speaking of Dwight.. What about Dwight + JJ + Jrich + Jameer + Anderson for Kobe + Pau? Or more likely, if Orlando doesn't prefer Pau you send him for a 3rd team & give them Dwill2. I could see the Cavs getting involved in a 3 way sending us Sessions. Need a great passing PG with those bigs. You want to talk about twin towers? I know noone will agree with me but I would love to see a frontcourt of Dwight - Bynum. Dwight isn't slow so we wouldn't really get killed in transition which is the major disadvantage with 2 big guys. Dwight is actually far more mobile than Pau. Of course we'll probably end up trading Bynum but I don't think that's a bad problem to have. We will get a good package for Bynum. Alot of people think it doesn't take much more than Bynum to land Dwight, so we should be able to bring in a star with him easily. If we already have Dwight + Anderson I'm fine with trading Drew for an elite PG + upgrade over JJ at SG or Metta at SF. Bynum for Wade straight up? haha it's hilarious but they'd be a better team after that deal.

These ideas are just for fun. I honestly don't want to trade Kobe because I have too much faith in him. I can see this guy still contributing at a high level 5 years from now. I'm just listing options if it comes to that point

tttppp wrote:

Jporkel wrote:If the Colts are willing to let go of Manning, its not inconceivable that the Lakers would consider trading Kobe. A lot of you mentioned his no trade clause, but if you look at baseball, there are tons of players with no trade clauses and they are still able to make trades.

The Colts have zilch to do with the Lakers. In the NFL, you can have partially guaranteed contracts...which is what the Colts had with Manning. They effectively declined their "team option" on him, and he's a free agent. The Lakers can't do anything like that with Kobe until his contract is up.

The Colts are "blowing it up". Ownership fired everybody. GM, Coach, down to the QB. They have the first pick in the draft.

That scenario has nothing to do with the Lakers...a team in a different league, in a different sport, with a totally different CBA.

You should read up on what Kobe's NTC actually is from the standpoint of his contract.