The truth about Kobe

The NY sports machine is using Kobe's inevitable departure as just another reason to dump on Isiah. Not only is this unfair, it's a red-herring.

Here's the truth about the Kobe situation as I see it.

Unless Chicago believes that Kobe is as good as MJ then they aren't trading their youth for a guy who couldn't carry the Lakers past round one. In other words, Chicago has invested far too much time to break up a talented team that has no use for Kobe. Chicago can already get into the playoffs and shine.

And Kobe is no Michael Jordan. And Chicago is a notoriously thrifty franchise. They aren't running a team to showcase Kobe any time soon because if it is not a sure thing in LA, it could deteriorate the franchise in Chicago.

Now, what Kobe is is a good role superstar player. In other words a very, very expensive vet who brings good things to the table as long as you have a guy like, say, Randolph patrolling the paint. Ben Wallace on the other hand, was a refreshing over-achiever who is on the back-slide of his career. Would Kobe be happy on a perennially struggling team gutted of the young talent that makes them exciting? He's already on one.

Furthermore, Buss can get a great deal in NY - we know it and he knows it.

That fact that Isiah isn't talking is a two-fold discretion. First, why tip your hand to begin with? There's no bidding war going on for Kobe. It is Buss who will try to up the ante, not the GM's offering a deal.

But Isiah, is also confident enough to know the Knicks are at a tipping point - they are brimming with hungry talent that is ready to explode upon the scene. Kobe would just make them radioactive. So why discuss trade possibilities with guys who are preparing to go all the way with you? That would be demoralizing.

The idea that Kobe wouldn't want the cover that the Dolan, Isiah soap-opera offers is silly. Kobe would look like a choirboy in NY - exactly what he needs to refresh his image and diminishing career prospects.

Finally, Isiah's silence is loudly telling us a deal may be in the works.

Curry or Randolph, Crawford, and a handful of youngsters could get the deal done easily. LA won't get Lee but they might get a Chandler or Balkman and LA may pry Mardy Collins away.

Don't blather saying that kind of deal isn't enticing. If Frazier thinks so highly of Collins you know Phil Jackson is no fool - a Knicks trade offers an instant rebuild of the Lakers AND gives Phil Jackson a Knicks West team to stick around for.

The Knicks may get stuck with Odom or Kwame along the way and the Knicks will look a lot more like a veteran team. Allan Houston would be sure to stick and LA would have to take back a Jerome James to compensate any bad contracts coming this way.

IMO, (and I'm not wishing it), Kobe is closer to being a Knick than a Bull for better or worse. And Dolan, for all his faults is the Joker in any KOBE deal - Knicks can afford it, they're crazy enough to do it, and in NY Kobe can do it his way.

Book it.

Assuming Kobe Becomes a Knick

I can't help but wonder if Marbs, Kobe, Curry, and remainders could go Tripadelic while in their prime years matching or surpassing Riley's Jax's feat with Shaq and Kobe in LA.

Could happen.

Update: I was trying to avoid using the triplet phrase that's copyrighted by Pat Riley (I think). This blog has the lowest priority of a few that I'm responsible for so I'm usually doing it last and tired. My apologies. The sentence came out reading as though Riley had something to do with LA's three titles in a row when all I wanted to pun upon was the copyright.

The Kobe Watch - The Rain in Spain...

Kobe wants out and it makes sense. LA is going nowhere and Buss is sounding like Chip Stern preaching "patience". Kobe is not a young man anymore tho he is still a franchise. But Kobe knows full well that his star-status is melting faster than the arctic icecaps. It ain't the same without Shaq and it ain't the same being treated like a lecherous villain. Kobe's LA days are in the rear view mirror whether he stays or not.

The papers say Chicago or New York. And they structure some pretty compelling Chicago trades to consider. Chicago could destroy the chemistry of their team by trading Gordon, Deng, and others. But I have to ask if that's what Kobe is really looking for - playoffs in Chicago.

Kobe may be looking for the thing Sprewell found in NY and would find nowhere else - personal salvation. NY needs Kobe and Kobe needs NY. It's not about sneakers, it's about the Big Apple and it's about evening the score with Shaq. Shaq won with Miami - that's got to sting. And sitting out the playoffs for months... That can't be sitting well either.

Chad Ford, in full Chad Ford Knicks-hater gallop, pooh-poohs what the Knicks can offer LA for Kobe but destiny may be guiding this transaction. If Shaq could hand pick his destination, it would be profoundly insulting of LA to deny Kobe that same courtesy. The choice is up to Kobe and no one else.

And if that's not true then the disconnect between Kobe and the LA management is cancerous.

It's Getting Legs

The Kobe to the Knicks speculation is gaining steam.

But Kobe holds a lot of cards. His no-trade clause means he can veto any deal, and the Lakers will not trade him to a West team.

That leaves the 15 teams in the East, and only two of them - Chicago and New York - are comparable in market size to Los Angeles. Kobe won't downsize his market, with the possible exception of Chicago.

Once the Bulls cobbled together enough salary to match Bryant's ($17.7 million plus a 15-percent trade kicker if he's dealt before July 1), Kobe wouldn't be any closer to contending for a championship than if he'd stayed in L.A.

The Knicks could offer young players (Channing Frye, David Lee, Nate Robinson, for example), the 23rd pick, and a starting point guard in Stephon Marbury. The Lakers would have to include one other contract to make the numbers match.

Right now, the deal-killer for the Lakers would be Marbury, whom Jackson would not take. But if the Lakers traded Bryant, do you think Jackson would come back next season?

"New York should be on the phone right now," the Eastern Conference assistant said.

The Knicks could offer Bryant the only media market bigger than Los Angeles, plus an elite post scorer in Eddy Curry. Last time I checked, Kobe won three championships with an elite post scorer.

As for Bryant's trade kicker, which would scare almost every other team in the league? Jim Dolan would have three words for that: "Cash or check?"

A long shot? Yes, in every sense. But if the Knicks want to go from ordinary to elite with one move, this would be it. It would mean the kind of basketball being played in Cleveland, Detroit and San Antonio these days would return to the Garden again. Only better.

I'm okay with a Kobe trade but I have to ask if he's not all done?