Kobe Has To Go - and the Bulls Have to Take Him

The Lakers shouldn't trade Kobe Bryant.




When you trade away the best player in the world, you of course can't get eqaul player-for-player value back. In addition, Kobe draws a bigger crowd than any NBA player, so from a business standpoint a trade doesn't make much sense either.





Unfortunatly, the Lakers have to trade Kobe Bryant. Make no mistake, Kobe wants out, as his not-so-subtle press conferences have revealed. In addition, if they want to get anything close to value in return, they need to complete a trade sooner rather than later. Sure, they can hold onto him for two more years, but can they really let the best scorer of this generation walk for nothing? Of course not, and with Kevin Garnett poised to wrap up his career in New England, there doesn't seem to be any viable suitors with whom to team Bryant in LA. So trade him they must, and if they learned anything from the Timberwolves's debacle, they'll trade him ASAP, to avoid ending up with a slew of unproven and useless players in exchange for their superstar. Waiting until the 2008 off-season only lessens the potential value since teams will be aware how desperate the Lakers will be to get something for Kobe.





With that said, I'm not convinced Kobe has played his last game in a Lakers uniform. Trades in the NBA take time, and Kobe is smart enough to not just sit on the bench until his demand is met. He'll play well, and he'll play hard, and he'll do his best to end up on a team that doesn't suck.

There are a few potential suitors, including the Suns, the Knicks, and the Pistons. The problem with all of those deals is that while no one can be expected to match Kobe's popularity and talent, no one talked about with those teams comes even close. The Mavericks actually make a litte bit of sense if Dallas was really looking to move Dirk, but that seems highly unlikely, and while the Lakers would probably have to jump at that deal, I'm not sure they'd be thrilled about it. Then, of course, there are the Bulls.

Much as I want to break the trend of sports thinkers over the past 36 hours, I must say that Chicaog does seem to be the best possible suitor for Bryant, given the team's slew of young talent and Bryant's desire to play there. The Bulls should take any reasonable offer, up to and including a package that includes Ben Gordon and Luol Deng.

Listen, Deng is a nice player. Nice, and as of right now, nothing more. Certainly, as a very young (he's just 21) player, Deng has tons of room for growth, but the Bulls have been growing for a decade. It's time to start winning.





There are those who say a Kobe-for-Deng & Gordon-trade is unreasonable. I'd like to know what games they are watching. Sure, Gordon can score (so can Tony Delk and Bobby Jackson), but when you factor in what he gives up on defense both in terms of size and ability, he only accounts for 12 or so positive points. Deng is suffering from Swollen Value Syndrome, an ailment found often in fans who haven't seen true contenders for 7+ years. Many Bulls fans are actaully reluctant to give up Deng because of what he might do down the road. Yes. Luol Deng and Kobe Bean Bryant. This is like turning down the lead role in the new Marty Scorsese movie because the TV show your uncle Herb is putting together on his Mac might really take off. Getting equal value would mean Deng turns into the best scorer of his generation, which no one believes, of course; there isn't even any guarantee that Deng will ever be a top 10 player in the NBA. It just doesn't make sense to hold onto him. Look, if anyone out there believes that this Bulls team as is can win a title this year, then hang onto them. However, while this team is good and will win a lot of games, they lack a go-to scorer and a reliable back-to-the-basket big man. They simply don't have the players to win a championship in today's NBA.





None of this is to say that a trade is imminent. The money is complicated. Any deal to the Bulls not involving a third team almost certainly requires Deng and/or Gordon to agree to a sign and trade. The only way to get a deal done without doing that would have to involve Ben Wallace heading to LA, which the Lakers can't be excited about and wouldn't accept (unless it was Deng, Gordon and Wallace). So getting a deal done will not be easy.





Kobe on a Deng and Gordon-less team doesn't by any means pencil the Bulls into the Finals. However, it makes the team more exciting, makes them more money, and gives them a chance to truly compete for a ring. What more could Bulls fans ask for? Listening to talk radio on the way to work this morning, I heard several Bulls fans arguing against Kobe coming to the Bulls. Their main point seemed to be that they've stuck with this team, watched it grow, and they want to see how far it can go. I appreciate that sentiment, but part of the reason you grow as a team is so you can have players to use in a trade to get a superstar.





The Bulls may have a chance to aquire the best player of the post-Jordan era with at least two years of outstanding basketball left in him.





Sorry, but that sounds a whole lot better to me than the Bulls hanging on to Luol Deng, the all-star.





Personally, I'd love to see Danny Ainge just make a call to Dr. Buss and try to convince him that a Pierce & Rondo package is good value.





'Cause you know, come the end of the NFL season, those Boston fans aren't going to be used to losing any games.