How To Fix The Kobe Bryant Mess
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by user JasonComack
So once again we have reports that Kobe Bryant met in Spain with Jerry Buss and reiterated his demands for a trade. The Los Angeles Lakers have very little around Kobe, but they have tradeable assets. Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown and Lamar Odom are all players most teams in the league would be interested in. However the Lakers, who were on the verge of trading for Jermaine O'Neal, seem to have cooled off in their pursuit in light of Bryant's trade demand. Why would they trade for a aging borderline superstar with a big contract when you might be in re-building mode.
The T-Wolves have a similar problem with Kevin Garnett. They have very little around him, very little tradeable assets, and one unhappy superstar. Much like the Lakers they refuse to trade KG because it's impossible to find equal value for such a mega-star. However the team is in quicksand right now because they simple don't have the ability to build a good enough team around KG to be a threat in the West.
Or do they?
Since I should rule the free world I have come up with a completely insane/sane 3-Way or if you want to go crazy 4 way Trade that solves all of the problems for the New York Knicks, Wolves, Lakers and Phoenix Suns!
Ok, Now Here's the 3-way version of the trade, courtesy of ESPN.com's trade checker
Here's the 4 way version including the Suns Let's break it down for each team:
Why would the Lakers do it
The Lakers need to get a mega star back for Bryant, in this case they get back KG. Also they are getting Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford from the Knicks back in the deal. Crawford in the Lakers triangle offense could even play the point. KG and Curry would give the Lakers the most dominant post presence in the entire league. They would cause mismatches with every team. Also an added benefit of this trade is cap relief. They get rid of dead weight Vladimir Radmanavic in the trade and really don't take back any bad contracts in the deal. In fact if you look at the Laker's roster after this trade they are a team completely devoid of bad contracts.
After this trade they could send out this starting lineup
Eddy Curry - Kevin Garnett - Luke Walton - Jamal Crawford - Smush Parker
Plus they would have money to use the mid-level exception if they choose, they also have the 19th pick in a deep draft. Where they can add someone like Nick Young or Acie Law. I think this is a championship caliber lineup. I don't know how you stop them down low, it's perfect for Walton, and Crawford is a dangerous enough scorer to benefit from double teams down low. Add in the benefit of cap flexibility and I think this is a no brainier.
Why the T-Wolves do it.
The T-Wolves are a mess. They have one promising young player; Randy Foye, An aging mega-star in KG and not much else. They have a plethora of awful horrible contracts and in this deal they get to fix all there problems. They dump Marco Jaric and Hudson's awful contracts, they also swap Mark Blount for James's contract (even though Blount is more useful his contract runs a year longer than James's). In the deal they also acquire Odom, who's a very solid player and Bynum and Brown who both have immense potential. Acquiring Steve Francis's contract is negated by the fact that they get to dump Jaric and Hudson, Francis's contract only has 2 more years left on it. Plus a change of scenery may bring him back to life. With this trade they can trot out this starting lineup;
Andrew Bynum - Kwame Brown - Lamar Odom - Randy Foye/Rick Davis - Steve Francis/Randy Foye
They also hold the 7th pick in the draft. Now they have alot of options with that pick, they can add another big man to rotate in with Bynum and Brown. They can add a point guard like Mike Connely, they can add a SF/SG Like Cory Brewer and play Foye at point. They can take a flier on Yi Jianlian if he falls. The fact is they have options, a ton of options in fact. Another crazy scenario for them could be packaging Kwame Brown, Ricky Davis (expiring contract) and the number 7 pick to the Suns for Shawn Marion. They then could put a small, athletic, quick lineup to run with the best of them. Bynum - Odom - Marion - Rashard McCants - Foye
That's a fun team.
Once again the team acquires more flexible salary, an established player and young players with massive upsides. It's a package that gets great value back for KG.
The Suns would do that trade because it provides them cap relief, both Brown and Davis's contracts are expiring as well as acquiring the number 7 pick. In fact Brown might blow up in their offense and Davis could certainly be a serviceable role player.
Why the Knicks would do it
Kobe sells out MSG every night. As I have written before if Bron Bron James and a cast of misfits can make the NBA Finals Kobe and company should run through the East. Look at the lineup the Knicks would put out
Blount - Fyre - Q-Richardson/Jared Jefferies - Bryant - Marbury
That sounds pretty good to me. We'd have some depth off the bench, with Lee and Q-Rich or Jefferies. We'd keep some of our other young developing players like Renoldo Balkman and Robinson. Yes we'd be taking on a ton of longterm contracts but when has that stopped us before. Were never going to be under the cap anyway, we have money to spend...so let's spend it. Plus we can use the Allen Houston rule to eventually get the players off the books at least in terms of luxury tax.
I don't see why with that lineup and decent depth we can't make the east finals right away.
Unfortunately this trade will never happen...but it should. It fixes all 4 team's problems.
I need to be an NBA GM.
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