Thoughts on Kobe and Trade Machine Fun

Ok, let me quickly tell you what I think about the whole Kobe "get me out of LA plea". I don't blame him for feeling this way because the Lakers' organization just isn't putting any talent around him. However, the way he went about handling things was obviously all wrong.

However, I think the harsh reality in this for the Lakers is that they may need to start seriously looking at trading Kobe Bryant. Sure, he is widely considered the best player in the NBA but they aren't winning with him and he's become an off-court parasite. The Lakers need to do what is best for the Lakers and that means either surrounding Kobe with a lot more talent or trading him if the trade is right. Something tells me that if you surrounded Kobe with some more talent, probably a good, young post player that he would be content to stay in LA and continue to basically run the team(Kwame Brown is a joke, Lamar Odom isn't the answer, and Andrew Bynum showed some potential but didn't really improve last season). He said he wanted to go but I don't believe he does. He wants to stay and bluff his way to some help on the court. However, whether or not he was serious a trade may be in the best interest of the Lakers. While it might be in their best interest however, look for Lakers' GM Mitch Kupchak to try his best to avoid being the guy who traded away Kobe and Shaq.

So in recent light of Kobe's shenanigans I was recently inspired by WBRS Sports Blog to head on over to ESPN.com and play around with the Trade Machine. Now keeping in mind Kobe, my lowly Bucks, the Cavs need for someone to compliment LeBron, and the TWolves and KG this is what I have created. Now, I'm going to lay it out for you but it is much simpler to just CLICK HERE to view it in the trade machine.



lose: Michael Redd (to TWolves) and Charlie Villanueva (to Cavs)
get: Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum (from Lakers)





lose: Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum (to Bucks)
get: Kevin Garnett and Randy Foye (from TWolves)





lose: Randy Foye and KG (to Lakers)
get: Michael Redd (from Bucks) and Donyell Marshall (from Cavs)




lose: Donyell Marshall (to TWolves)
get: Charlie Villanueva (from Bucks)


Ok, keep in mind first of all that I like the Bucks a little, and that I took this trade machine thing about as serious as I take the NBA: only a little bit during the playoffs. Anyways, Kobe gets outa LA and gets to completely and totally run the show in Beertown along with the raw Andrew Bynum. The Lakers get KG and Randy Foye to replace Kobe and take Smush Parker's spot giving them a better chance to win now. The Cavs get Villanueva which gives them somebody other than King James who can perform and makes them an even more serious contender next year and the TWolves get the silently disgruntled KG out and get good star power from Redd and another pretty decent player in Donyell Marshall.

This trade would never really work because Kobe has a no-trade clause and I somehow doubt him choosing to come to Old Milwaukee, but who knows. I was just messing around and trying to incorporate some disgruntled players, my favorite team, and some needs I see in the Cavs right now. It was fun.

So what do you think about the Kobe situation and my trade that I created? Also play around with the trade machine a little and lemme know what some of your trades look like.