JoMama
Bench
Another morsel from SI.com:
The Lakers' options with Kobe
Kobe Bryant's insistence on being traded by the Lakers -- reiterated in a recent meeting with owner Jerry Buss -- would leave the Lakers with two obvious options.
The first is to keep Bryant, despite his frustration, and prove that they're intent on building a contender around him before he can opt out of his final two years in 2009.
The other way to go is replace him by way of trade. Could Stoudemire be that replacement? His age and MVP potential would give the Lakers hope of building a contender around him.
I don't see the Lakers making a lesser move involving Bryant, such as the rumored deal sending him to Chicago for a package led by Luol Deng. The Lakers' mystique (and league-leading profitability) depends entirely on contending for championships with MVP talent. Buss moved Shaquille O'Neal to Miami three years ago for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and draft picks, and it's obvious that the Heat got the better of that one.
I don't see Buss making a similar deal in this case. If he trades Bryant, he'll want nothing less than to replace him with a fellow superstar, one way or another.
If they were to send Bryant to Phoenix for Stoudemire, it would probably initiate a two-pronged plan to build a champion. As one example, they could spend the next three years unloading salary and developing rookie-scale players with the goal of generating enough cap space to land LeBron James or Dwyane Wade when they can opt out in 2010.
At that time Stoudemire will be 27, James will be 25 and Wade will be 28.
While that kind of plan seems far-fetched, the Lakers aren't allowed to explore anything less than a championship scenario. They are the only franchise in the era of unrestricted free agency to sign a max player who led his new team to a championship (that player was Shaq, who won three titles after signing with L.A. in 1996). If they do trade Bryant, be assured they'll be seeking to replace him sooner than later with an equivalent dominant talent.
The Lakers' options with Kobe
Kobe Bryant's insistence on being traded by the Lakers -- reiterated in a recent meeting with owner Jerry Buss -- would leave the Lakers with two obvious options.
The first is to keep Bryant, despite his frustration, and prove that they're intent on building a contender around him before he can opt out of his final two years in 2009.
The other way to go is replace him by way of trade. Could Stoudemire be that replacement? His age and MVP potential would give the Lakers hope of building a contender around him.
I don't see the Lakers making a lesser move involving Bryant, such as the rumored deal sending him to Chicago for a package led by Luol Deng. The Lakers' mystique (and league-leading profitability) depends entirely on contending for championships with MVP talent. Buss moved Shaquille O'Neal to Miami three years ago for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and draft picks, and it's obvious that the Heat got the better of that one.
I don't see Buss making a similar deal in this case. If he trades Bryant, he'll want nothing less than to replace him with a fellow superstar, one way or another.
If they were to send Bryant to Phoenix for Stoudemire, it would probably initiate a two-pronged plan to build a champion. As one example, they could spend the next three years unloading salary and developing rookie-scale players with the goal of generating enough cap space to land LeBron James or Dwyane Wade when they can opt out in 2010.
At that time Stoudemire will be 27, James will be 25 and Wade will be 28.
While that kind of plan seems far-fetched, the Lakers aren't allowed to explore anything less than a championship scenario. They are the only franchise in the era of unrestricted free agency to sign a max player who led his new team to a championship (that player was Shaq, who won three titles after signing with L.A. in 1996). If they do trade Bryant, be assured they'll be seeking to replace him sooner than later with an equivalent dominant talent.
