http://www.nypost.com/seven/07012007...ter_vecsey.htm
GOIN’ NOWHERE
KOBE’S ESCAPE FROM L.A. WON’T HAPPEN
By PETER VECSEY
July 1, 2007 -- BEFORE I go away for the summer (to camp . . . at least that’s what my family is telling me), there are certain things I need to get off my community chest.
No, I don’t foresee the Lakers caving to Kobe’s egomaniacal demands for a trade; for no other reason other than the fact each time he runs his mouth, or delegates an ESPN correspondent to do his dirty work, his value increasingly diminishes.
Only losers like the Knicks, who cannot possibly give L.A. anything equitable in return, are psyched to headline Kobe’s act. I’ve lost count; with the arrival of Zach Randolph, how many desperados has Isiah Thomas invited down from their fences since James Dolan banned Latrell Sprewell and character-issue players just like him from the Garden premises?
Meanwhile, playoff teams such as the Bulls have backed off Kobe, knowing it’d take too many of their assets to secure him and mindful he’d be unhappy with the sharp dip in talent.
At the same time, Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal are looking at Kobe funny. Initially, they were pumped at the prospects of playing alongside such majesty. Now, I’m told, their deepest sympathy is with Shaq; how insufferable life must’ve been winning three straight titles.
Still, if nothing else, the Buss family is financially far better off holding on to its ace attraction/money maker at least for one more season, a year before Kobe is eligible to become a free agent. The insurgent compulsive repulsive may be a basket case, but he’s a living lock to show up in serrated shape and compete as if on a religious crusade . . . well, at one end, anyway.
Bottom line: Kobe has evolved into a fake franchise player . . . same as Chris Webber and Tracy McGrady and now Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal. They’re not conceited; they’re convinced they’re bad to the bone, all commanding max money - a lot more in K.G.’s (grandfathered) case.
All of ’em repeatedly failed to carry their respective teams to the Finals sans another superstar; McGrady can’t even get out of the first round with Yao Ming, as opposed to Allen Iverson and LeBron James, who reached the Supreme Court surrounded by role players.
Kobe blamed ownership for not providing enough help. I can’t recall if he has offered to cut his salary appreciably to provide management with salary-cap relief. I assume when he re-signed in ’04, he understood the roughly $18M he pockets annually would somewhat reduce management’s personnel options/maneuverability.
It’s not as if the Lakers haven’t tried to get bigger and better in the wake of Shaq’s trade - Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant, a first and second rounder. The problem is the team’s minimal margin of error. Minus Shaq to fall back on, every roster mistake is monumental; exchanging Butler for Kwame Brown, signing Vladimir Radmanovic to a mid-level exception deal, thinking Robert Horry was obsolete, not retaining Derek Fisher.
Clearly, the decision makers - the Buss family, Phil Jackson and Mitch Kupchak - folded under the pressure of time running out (the Zen Hen’s three-year contract) and Kobe’s volcano of aggravation and admonishment that erupted publicly a month after L.A. was swept by the Suns in the first round.
In all fairness to K.G. and J.O., at least they’ve maintained a covert campaign to seek higher ground. I’m positive O’Neal will be traded; had Marcus Williams been added to the Richard Jefferson-Nenad Krstic pot, he’d already be a Net. The tri-pod of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter (count on him re-signing for four years at $15M per) and O’Neal would’ve made Jersey the team to beat in the East.
Garnett was thisclose to becoming Steve Nash’s sidekick a day or two before the draft. Hawks GM Billy Knight (not one of his owners) nixed a three-way operation that would’ve harvested Amare Stoudemire. Marvin Williams, Tyrone Lue, ZaZa Pachulia and Nos. 3 & 11 would’ve wound up in Minnesota.
How could Knight reject the chance to obtain a First Team All-League, 25-year-old (Nov. 16), 6-10 forward? The Hawks’ home audience is apathetic. It’s a recurring lottery team that didn’t need to get any younger but just did by adding two underclassmen. Atlanta craves an established inside presence. Rebuffing that opportunity is unfathomable.
Even more unfathomable than the Suns’ judgment to junk Stoudemire following an extraordinary 61-win season, in which he played a dominant part. Then again, at least Phoenix would be replacing Amare with K.G.
Ownership (and new VP Steve Kerr) evidently believes the title window of opportunity is fading, so it makes sense to import a finished product (how ironic would it be if Garnett was almost finished?), someone more adept at executing Mike D’Antoni’s defensive half-court system.
I hear that’s definitely more of a factor in trying to trade Amare for K.G. than his lack of punctuality, whining about shots, whatever. On second thought, I guess Knight was right to pass on Stoudemire; you can’t afford to have an impact player like that dragging your team up pulling that kind of stuff.
By the way, will we ever get through a preseason, a season, or an offseason - let alone a draft - without a hired hand (or his hired hand) unleashing ultimatums about where he shall and shall not graciously agree to grace himself.
At least Kobe is certified USDA prime prima donna. At least Garnett and O’Neal have resumes. Yi Jianlian - taken No. 6 by Milwaukee - and his spiritual advisers decided even before the draft they didn’t want to the Bucks to stop here.
So much so that Senator Herb’s team wasn’t even allowed to show up at Yi’s private LA workout.
Nothing quite offers harmonic convergence like the quote by Bucks’ GM Larry Harris. “We gave them fair warning . . .”
Good for him. The last time I looked, when a player made himself available for the draft, he made himself available for the entire draft and didn’t quibble about where he wanted to play.
Just ask Kobe, er, John Calipari, and Kiki Vandeweghe and Steve Francis. What poetic justice that a guy who refused to play for Vancouver when the Grizzlies drafted him is back in the Northwest as a Blazer.
GOIN’ NOWHERE
KOBE’S ESCAPE FROM L.A. WON’T HAPPEN
By PETER VECSEY
July 1, 2007 -- BEFORE I go away for the summer (to camp . . . at least that’s what my family is telling me), there are certain things I need to get off my community chest.
No, I don’t foresee the Lakers caving to Kobe’s egomaniacal demands for a trade; for no other reason other than the fact each time he runs his mouth, or delegates an ESPN correspondent to do his dirty work, his value increasingly diminishes.
Only losers like the Knicks, who cannot possibly give L.A. anything equitable in return, are psyched to headline Kobe’s act. I’ve lost count; with the arrival of Zach Randolph, how many desperados has Isiah Thomas invited down from their fences since James Dolan banned Latrell Sprewell and character-issue players just like him from the Garden premises?
Meanwhile, playoff teams such as the Bulls have backed off Kobe, knowing it’d take too many of their assets to secure him and mindful he’d be unhappy with the sharp dip in talent.
At the same time, Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal are looking at Kobe funny. Initially, they were pumped at the prospects of playing alongside such majesty. Now, I’m told, their deepest sympathy is with Shaq; how insufferable life must’ve been winning three straight titles.
Still, if nothing else, the Buss family is financially far better off holding on to its ace attraction/money maker at least for one more season, a year before Kobe is eligible to become a free agent. The insurgent compulsive repulsive may be a basket case, but he’s a living lock to show up in serrated shape and compete as if on a religious crusade . . . well, at one end, anyway.
Bottom line: Kobe has evolved into a fake franchise player . . . same as Chris Webber and Tracy McGrady and now Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal. They’re not conceited; they’re convinced they’re bad to the bone, all commanding max money - a lot more in K.G.’s (grandfathered) case.
All of ’em repeatedly failed to carry their respective teams to the Finals sans another superstar; McGrady can’t even get out of the first round with Yao Ming, as opposed to Allen Iverson and LeBron James, who reached the Supreme Court surrounded by role players.
Kobe blamed ownership for not providing enough help. I can’t recall if he has offered to cut his salary appreciably to provide management with salary-cap relief. I assume when he re-signed in ’04, he understood the roughly $18M he pockets annually would somewhat reduce management’s personnel options/maneuverability.
It’s not as if the Lakers haven’t tried to get bigger and better in the wake of Shaq’s trade - Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant, a first and second rounder. The problem is the team’s minimal margin of error. Minus Shaq to fall back on, every roster mistake is monumental; exchanging Butler for Kwame Brown, signing Vladimir Radmanovic to a mid-level exception deal, thinking Robert Horry was obsolete, not retaining Derek Fisher.
Clearly, the decision makers - the Buss family, Phil Jackson and Mitch Kupchak - folded under the pressure of time running out (the Zen Hen’s three-year contract) and Kobe’s volcano of aggravation and admonishment that erupted publicly a month after L.A. was swept by the Suns in the first round.
In all fairness to K.G. and J.O., at least they’ve maintained a covert campaign to seek higher ground. I’m positive O’Neal will be traded; had Marcus Williams been added to the Richard Jefferson-Nenad Krstic pot, he’d already be a Net. The tri-pod of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter (count on him re-signing for four years at $15M per) and O’Neal would’ve made Jersey the team to beat in the East.
Garnett was thisclose to becoming Steve Nash’s sidekick a day or two before the draft. Hawks GM Billy Knight (not one of his owners) nixed a three-way operation that would’ve harvested Amare Stoudemire. Marvin Williams, Tyrone Lue, ZaZa Pachulia and Nos. 3 & 11 would’ve wound up in Minnesota.
How could Knight reject the chance to obtain a First Team All-League, 25-year-old (Nov. 16), 6-10 forward? The Hawks’ home audience is apathetic. It’s a recurring lottery team that didn’t need to get any younger but just did by adding two underclassmen. Atlanta craves an established inside presence. Rebuffing that opportunity is unfathomable.
Even more unfathomable than the Suns’ judgment to junk Stoudemire following an extraordinary 61-win season, in which he played a dominant part. Then again, at least Phoenix would be replacing Amare with K.G.
Ownership (and new VP Steve Kerr) evidently believes the title window of opportunity is fading, so it makes sense to import a finished product (how ironic would it be if Garnett was almost finished?), someone more adept at executing Mike D’Antoni’s defensive half-court system.
I hear that’s definitely more of a factor in trying to trade Amare for K.G. than his lack of punctuality, whining about shots, whatever. On second thought, I guess Knight was right to pass on Stoudemire; you can’t afford to have an impact player like that dragging your team up pulling that kind of stuff.
By the way, will we ever get through a preseason, a season, or an offseason - let alone a draft - without a hired hand (or his hired hand) unleashing ultimatums about where he shall and shall not graciously agree to grace himself.
At least Kobe is certified USDA prime prima donna. At least Garnett and O’Neal have resumes. Yi Jianlian - taken No. 6 by Milwaukee - and his spiritual advisers decided even before the draft they didn’t want to the Bucks to stop here.
So much so that Senator Herb’s team wasn’t even allowed to show up at Yi’s private LA workout.
Nothing quite offers harmonic convergence like the quote by Bucks’ GM Larry Harris. “We gave them fair warning . . .”
Good for him. The last time I looked, when a player made himself available for the draft, he made himself available for the entire draft and didn’t quibble about where he wanted to play.
Just ask Kobe, er, John Calipari, and Kiki Vandeweghe and Steve Francis. What poetic justice that a guy who refused to play for Vancouver when the Grizzlies drafted him is back in the Northwest as a Blazer.
