Well yeah, thats why they were strongly looking at O'Neal. The problem is (for the Lakers), most teams are trying to take advantage of the situation so no realistic trades have been seriously discussed. Every team in the league knows that the Lakers either need to get a star player or trade Kobe. So while trading Odom and change for Jermaine would be a realistic trade, the Pacers know they may be able to squeeze Bynum out of the Lakers as well because of their predicament.
Lakers brought it upon themselves when they decided to trade Caron Butler for Kwame Brown, have Smush Parker start for 2 straight years and not try to build a championship contender. Now they have this ultimatum, and the right thing to do is trade Odom and Bynum and that 1st round pick. The last time we had 2 all stars on our team we were in the championship. What are they waiting for? Get rid of them!
Originally posted by Lord Evolution
Lakers brought it upon themselves when they decided to trade Caron Butler for Kwame Brown, have Smush Parker start for 2 straight years and not try to build a championship contender. Now they have this ultimatum, and the right thing to do is trade Odom and Bynum and that 1st round pick. The last time we had 2 all stars on our team we were in the championship. What are they waiting for? Get rid of them!
Wasn't it not too long ago when you refused to give Bynum alone to get Kidd? 😛
Originally posted by DanZeke25
I wonder which has more 13 year old girls? Chicago or Phoenix? Surely whichever place has the most is where Kobe will want to go. 13
The hell are you talking about?
You must getting your stars mixed up. When did Kobe ever touch someone underage?
Never seen someone call Kobe a pedophile.
not sure how many listen to espn radio in the morning (greenberg and golic are fuggin hilarious!) but they were discussing comments made by robert horry. horry told yahoo news that his spurs would kill the teams from the 80s, namely the lakers and celtics. his argument was that all the athletes today are just a lot better than they were 20+ years ago, and as great as those teams were then, they couldn't win like they did NOW.
needless to say, horry po'd a lot of people.
so, what do you guys think? could teams from 25 years ago compete today? how far back do you think you need to go before the teams have no chance? and could these spurs beat those lakers/celtic teams??
Originally posted by Lord Evolution
Lakers brought it upon themselves when they decided to trade Caron Butler for Kwame Brown, have Smush Parker start for 2 straight years and not try to build a championship contender. Now they have this ultimatum, and the right thing to do is trade Odom and Bynum and that 1st round pick. The last time we had 2 all stars on our team we were in the championship. What are they waiting for? Get rid of them!
While i agree with most of that Odom and Bynum is too high a price to pay for JO, the ironic thing is that if Kobe had kept quiet we could have got him for much less.
Kobe and JO is far weaker than the last time Kobe was paired with an O'Neal and we had solid role players at that time to. With JO's injury history i dont see us getting any further than the last 2 seasons, that why we have to play hardball and try and keep Lamar. Lamar is naturally a third option on offense, the only thing he is inconsistent in is scoring. He is always solid with the rebounding and playmaking. If we can keep him to set the tables for Kobe and JO and to do the intangibles then we could be talking about a deep playoff run. Unfortunately this is probably not possible with Kobe's outbursts and makes me think that he just wants out of LA anyway.
If Kobe didn't come out and say something we wouldn't be talking with Indiana right now. I don't care if we keep Lamar or not, but if it is him or Kobe then Lamar has to go. Kobe + Jermaine O'Neal is much stronger than Kobe + Lamar + whatever we have right now. We would make a deep playoff run with them two, then we can build around them in the coming years also.
Kobe's rants were necessary. We haven't done anything in the past 3 seasons, what makes you think they were going to do something this offseason? Now they desperately trying to find a way to keep Kobe but the baffling part about it is that they as it stands right now, would rather have Bynum and Odom than Kobe. If that is the case then **** the franchise because they would be ****ing us over if they pulled some dumb shit like that.
When kobe came out and said what he said, I clapped my hands because it is what almost all Lakers fan have been saying for the past 3 years. They have been sitting on their asses and needed a push in the right direction.
I can almost guarantee you we wouldn't be in talks with Indiana if Kobe didn't say anything. Remember they were building for the future, not the present. So how does Jermine O'Neal or Jason Kidd or even Kobe fit into that?
We don't need Lamar, I know you like him but we certainly don't need him. He isn't going to all of a sudden stop being inconsistent. I would rather have a player like Artest. But keeping Lamar while having Jermaine O'Neal wouldn't make that much of a difference if any at all. Trade his ass.
I feel like they only want to keep Kobe to put asses in the seats.
Im not trying to change your opinion Evo and i agree with some of what you are saying but its not about choosing Lamar and Bynum over Kobe. Its about making good trades and Lamar, Bynum and who ever else we need to make up JO salary is giving away too much imo. If it were KG i wouldnt have a problem with it but JO is not on KG's level and KG has proven himself in the much tougher western conference.
JO has wanted out of Indy for some time, i remember reading quotes from Kobe while the season was still in progress saying that he would love to have JO on board. So chances are we would be having these trade talks now but we wouldnt be in such a weak position from Kobe's interviews. Just so you know i have no problem with what Kobe said, it needed to be said but there is also a consequence and we are seeing that now first hand.
I personally dont think we would go deep into the playoffs with Kobe and JO, there are too many teams that were close to making the playoffs this year that will improve and the elite western teams will be fine tuning their rosters to try and win it all. JO would be a huge upgrade for sure but previous experience should tell all Laker fans to be cautious in taking the first available offer (see Shaq trade).
I want Kobe to stay with the Lakers but as ive said before he doesnt seem to want to be a Laker anymore. He made his trade demand then backed off now he still wants to be traded, this doesnt seem to me like a player that will wait and see if any moves can be made in the off season - his mind seems to be made up. Of course the Lakers could just refuse to trade him but as great as Kobe is i dont want him on the Lakers if he wants to be elsewhere. From all the articles i've been reading it seems like Kobe wants to be traded to the Bulls, out of all the offers i have seen that looks like the best (remember you never get fair value when trading a superstar) and if he wants to go then thanks for the memories #24 and we'll miss you.
Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum have done nothing to warrant any kind of hesitation on trading them. That is in no way giving up too much. What are we giving up? What have we done with Odom? He hasn't done enough to be even called a solid #2 guy. We have nothing, but we would be giving up too much? Would you rather go into this season with the same roster we had the last? or one without Kobe, or one with Kobe and Jermaine O'Neal? Seems like an obvious answer to me.
I have been a Lakers fan all of my life, but this organization is so ****in stupid they are pissing me off right now. We would not be better off without Kobe, and how can you compare getting Odom, Grant and Butler for Shaq to getting Jermaine O'Neal for Odom and Bynum?
That is 2 useless players for a superstar!
2 superstars on one team.....again....2 superstars on one team!!!!!! PULL THE ****ING TRIGGER!
again......2 superstars on one team!!!!!!!!
PULL THE TRIGGER!!!!!!!!
We build around Kobe and Jermaine O'Neal. We don't have to be contenders next season, but if we continue to build around those two players then we have a championship team.
How does this sound?
Farmar
Kobe
Walton
O'Neal
Mihm
Then the season after that we continue to add to it. All Kobe wants is the organization to at least try. They haven't been and they are paying for it at this time.
I don't want Gordon, I want Kobe. I don't want Deng, I want Kobe. The Bulls can hardly contend in the East, what makes you think that sending Gordon and Deng would make us better off? We would wouldn't be a playoff team until we drafted OJ Mayo, you know, once we have the worse record in the NBA next season. Then we would have to wait for him to develop.
Any GM who trades a hall of famer for breadcrumbs doesn't deserve to be allowed to watch an NBA game. Any GM that trades 2 hall of famers within four years, doesn't deserve to be alive.
Mitch is a joke, Jerry Buss is a joke, the whole front office is a joke. Trade Kobe and you will be the laughing stock of the NBA. But hey, we might get Olawakandi this time!!! Exciting huh?
JO has wanted out of Indy for some time, i remember reading quotes from Kobe while the season was still in progress saying that he would love to have JO on board. So chances are we would be having these trade talks now but we wouldnt be in such a weak position from Kobe's interviews.
I also remember reading Ron Artest wanted out of Indiana, Jason Kidd wanted to come to LA, Carlos Boozer also wanted to come to LA, how did that work out?
Not even making a serious attempt on those players is what ultimately screwed us.
Believe me, we were never going to have a serious chance at Jermaine O'Neal unless Kobe did what he did because the organization is too stupid to realize what needs to be done.