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Kobe Bryant is going to be a Los Angeles Laker for the rest of his life
- By Kylan Holt
- Published 11/2/2007
- Sports & Recreation
- Unrated
Kylan Holt
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Kobe Bryant is doomed to suffer inevitable mediocrity for the rest of the NBA '07 regular season. They are obviously not going to see any post-season action this year and maybe not next year, either. But let's talk about this year.
Kobe Bryant is undoubtedly one of the most amazing, thrilling, awe-inspiring basketball players the world has ever seen. Regardless of the alleged scandals and early-career sputtering, it was only a warm-up for better things to come. Kobe has been in basketball-limbo ever since his declaration to be traded back in the off-season. He has went back and forth about wanting to be traded and where he might possibly want to go. However, the thing is no one is going to be able to pay for Kobe and be able to make a worth-while trade in manpower to satisfy the Laker organization and Kobe Bryant at the same time.
Kobe has literally been doing by himself with substantial help from Lamar Odom and long-time teammate, Derek Fisher. However, that is not an ample supporting for the continually rising superstar that Kobe is. Kobe can be a lot of things, but he can't be all over the court at once. It can almost be compared to LeBron's situation in Cleveland. Outside of Larry Hughes, it seems the whole team kind of waits for LeBron to make a move and follow suit. Not to say Kobe is like Michael Jordan, but it is almost like it is a parallel universe. Kobe has very little on the support system, but Michael had at least three stars around him at all time. He had Scottie Pippen for years, Horace Grant, Bill Paxson, B.J. Armstrong, Steve Kerr. Heck, he even had Dennis Rodman in those "golden years" before the extremely outlandish behavior on (and off) the court. Kobe will never see a 70-win-12-loss season like the Chicago Bulls of yesterday. Not even the bulls now will see a year even close to that, even if they do somehow get Kobe.
No trade is going to be possible in this lifetime for Kobe Bryant. Regardless of whether he gets hurt, has a bad year, or whatever freaky possibility might come his way. He will be stuck until he can opt out of his contract in 2009 because there is no team in the league that is going to be able to give him what he wants. I'm sure that he wants to get paid, he won't get nearly what he gets now, but he wants to be in the ballpark. However, at this point he just wants to win. He is like the big three in Boston consisting of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. None of those three have seen a championship series (or a deep playoff run for that matter). Kobe has tasted victory and wants to scratch that itch that been plaguing him since the last championship ring got handed to him. He wants to make sure that there is a strong supporting cast, but no team is going to give up their franchise player for Kobe. That would be fulfilling what the Lakers want, but not give Kobe what he needs. No one in the West is going to trade for him because none of those teams want to play against
him that much in the regular season. That's just not the way a trade works. It's usually a trade with a team in the opposite conference where they will only meet a couple of times throughout the regular season.
The ideal trade that would benefit Kobe and the Lakers would be a trade to a select team from one of the up-and-coming organizations in the East. Namely the Bulls, the Nets, and maybe even the Pacers. He won't go to the Bulls because he sees potential in Luol Deng to be a superstar and he would be included in the trade to go to the Lakers. And Kobe obviously doesn't want that deal because he flexed his corporate muscle and vetoed that deal earlier this week. A trade with the Nets won't happen because, even though it might possibly be feasible, the Nets aren't willing to break up their team chemistry with their "big three" in Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson. But, if the Lakers would have just traded for Jason Kidd a long time ago, like they should have, then Kobe wouldn't be having the complaints that he has now. The Nets aren't giving up anyone. Even though they are a little older than most teams in the league collectively, They are quite possibly the best that they have ever been in all the years that they have all been together. It's the same situation with the Pacers. They have done a lot of trading up in the past to put the right supporting cast around Jermaine O'Neal. They are not going to let all their hard work be wasted by trading away all their support players for only Kobe Bryant. On top of that, Jermaine in not going to like the notion of taking a backseat to Kobe.
The only option left is that Kobe play his heart out and leave it all on the floor for the rest of season (and possibly next season if they don't get a good draft pick). All he can do is wait until he can opt out of his contract because he will still get paid. He will be a free agent at that point then it will come down to who has the best team at that time, who is willing to pay the most money, and what team has the greatest potential to make a championship. Just skip past the playoffs and go straight for the championship. The playoffs isn't enough, anymore. He needs another championship, and he will do whatever he can to get it. Hopefully, anyway.
Kobe is undoubtedly one of the best players in the NBA of all-time, thus far. He would be in my top 20 players in all-around skill and ability. He enforces his will on his opponents. Nobody has done that since Michael Jordan. That's where the comparison comes in. Kobe and Michael don't just go out on any given night and play basketball. They live basketball. There is no better place and no better thing they could be doing that playing in the NBA at that given moment. That is why we call them greats. That is why we put them in them in the Hall of Fame. But for right now, Kobe will just have to deal with his situation, as horrible as it is, and hope for the best when the draft comes around. Otherwise, he will be in the same situation he is in now. Then it's only a matter of time until he can opt out of contract. Then we will see what new color he will be wearing for the '09-'10 season.
That's My Word. Thank you for reading.
Kobe Bryant is undoubtedly one of the most amazing, thrilling, awe-inspiring basketball players the world has ever seen. Regardless of the alleged scandals and early-career sputtering, it was only a warm-up for better things to come. Kobe has been in basketball-limbo ever since his declaration to be traded back in the off-season. He has went back and forth about wanting to be traded and where he might possibly want to go. However, the thing is no one is going to be able to pay for Kobe and be able to make a worth-while trade in manpower to satisfy the Laker organization and Kobe Bryant at the same time.
Kobe has literally been doing by himself with substantial help from Lamar Odom and long-time teammate, Derek Fisher. However, that is not an ample supporting for the continually rising superstar that Kobe is. Kobe can be a lot of things, but he can't be all over the court at once. It can almost be compared to LeBron's situation in Cleveland. Outside of Larry Hughes, it seems the whole team kind of waits for LeBron to make a move and follow suit. Not to say Kobe is like Michael Jordan, but it is almost like it is a parallel universe. Kobe has very little on the support system, but Michael had at least three stars around him at all time. He had Scottie Pippen for years, Horace Grant, Bill Paxson, B.J. Armstrong, Steve Kerr. Heck, he even had Dennis Rodman in those "golden years" before the extremely outlandish behavior on (and off) the court. Kobe will never see a 70-win-12-loss season like the Chicago Bulls of yesterday. Not even the bulls now will see a year even close to that, even if they do somehow get Kobe.
No trade is going to be possible in this lifetime for Kobe Bryant. Regardless of whether he gets hurt, has a bad year, or whatever freaky possibility might come his way. He will be stuck until he can opt out of his contract in 2009 because there is no team in the league that is going to be able to give him what he wants. I'm sure that he wants to get paid, he won't get nearly what he gets now, but he wants to be in the ballpark. However, at this point he just wants to win. He is like the big three in Boston consisting of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. None of those three have seen a championship series (or a deep playoff run for that matter). Kobe has tasted victory and wants to scratch that itch that been plaguing him since the last championship ring got handed to him. He wants to make sure that there is a strong supporting cast, but no team is going to give up their franchise player for Kobe. That would be fulfilling what the Lakers want, but not give Kobe what he needs. No one in the West is going to trade for him because none of those teams want to play against
The ideal trade that would benefit Kobe and the Lakers would be a trade to a select team from one of the up-and-coming organizations in the East. Namely the Bulls, the Nets, and maybe even the Pacers. He won't go to the Bulls because he sees potential in Luol Deng to be a superstar and he would be included in the trade to go to the Lakers. And Kobe obviously doesn't want that deal because he flexed his corporate muscle and vetoed that deal earlier this week. A trade with the Nets won't happen because, even though it might possibly be feasible, the Nets aren't willing to break up their team chemistry with their "big three" in Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson. But, if the Lakers would have just traded for Jason Kidd a long time ago, like they should have, then Kobe wouldn't be having the complaints that he has now. The Nets aren't giving up anyone. Even though they are a little older than most teams in the league collectively, They are quite possibly the best that they have ever been in all the years that they have all been together. It's the same situation with the Pacers. They have done a lot of trading up in the past to put the right supporting cast around Jermaine O'Neal. They are not going to let all their hard work be wasted by trading away all their support players for only Kobe Bryant. On top of that, Jermaine in not going to like the notion of taking a backseat to Kobe.
The only option left is that Kobe play his heart out and leave it all on the floor for the rest of season (and possibly next season if they don't get a good draft pick). All he can do is wait until he can opt out of his contract because he will still get paid. He will be a free agent at that point then it will come down to who has the best team at that time, who is willing to pay the most money, and what team has the greatest potential to make a championship. Just skip past the playoffs and go straight for the championship. The playoffs isn't enough, anymore. He needs another championship, and he will do whatever he can to get it. Hopefully, anyway.
Kobe is undoubtedly one of the best players in the NBA of all-time, thus far. He would be in my top 20 players in all-around skill and ability. He enforces his will on his opponents. Nobody has done that since Michael Jordan. That's where the comparison comes in. Kobe and Michael don't just go out on any given night and play basketball. They live basketball. There is no better place and no better thing they could be doing that playing in the NBA at that given moment. That is why we call them greats. That is why we put them in them in the Hall of Fame. But for right now, Kobe will just have to deal with his situation, as horrible as it is, and hope for the best when the draft comes around. Otherwise, he will be in the same situation he is in now. Then it's only a matter of time until he can opt out of contract. Then we will see what new color he will be wearing for the '09-'10 season.
That's My Word. Thank you for reading.