Submitted by AtlKnicksfan, Jun 25, 2007 10:36

JH - If you were anyone else I'd say you're nuts. But since it's you, let me just say I have a few questions / thoughts, esp re: the K's ability to land Kobe.

If by some miracle this were to happen, admittedly the K's would have to give up a bunch of young pieces. But let's assume for a moment that the only untouchable on the roster is Eddie Curry, which is probably a fair assumption.

LA won't want Stephon (because he makes to much money for the production he delivers, because he's a shoot-first PG, because he doesn't make his teammates better, yada yada yada)

LA won't want Q-Rich (because of his back, his salary, etc.)

LA will probably want Frye or Lee but not both, since they play the same position. Assume they will insist upon Lee.

LA will probably want Jamal.

LA will probably want draft picks, lots and lots of draft picks (altho I think there is a rule that you can't trade your first round pick 2 years in a row, presumably to save GM's like Isiah from themselves).

So assuming that these players leave, along with whoever else must be included to make the salaries work, plus whoever else on the roster LA wants - what are the K's left with? A starting line-up of:

Marbury

Bryant

Richardson

Frye

Curry

So you're saying that line-up can't compete in the Leastern conference?

As long as the K's don't give up Curry, why wouldn't Kobe want to come to NY? Aside from the fact that he'd be treated like royalty in the biggest market on the planet the minute he stepped off the plane, he'd have an above average center in EC whom he can push and cajole into better play. Kobe knows the value of a strong inside presence on a team, and who has a better offensive center in the East than NY? It's like having a Shaq-lite player. That way he gets the benefit of having a very good player who can help but who is not the outsized personality Shaq was. If the K's start to win, everyone will know it was because of Kobe. As has been said before, MJ wanted the Bulls to win, but he also wanted to be the reason the Bulls won.

Marbury is still good enough to worry other teams offensively, as he showed late last season, and his defense is far, far better than it's ever been. Q-Rich is still a formidable weapon the perimeter, an above average rebounder, and a strong defender. PF is a little shaky. Frye... we'll see. Maybe it was just a sophomore slump (and BTW who says Bernagni won't have one?) Balkman... we'll see. He can be a robo rebounder, and on a team with Curry, Kobe, Stephon, and Q-Rich all starting, that's all they'd need him to be.

So PF is shaky, the bench is shaky (but both can be fixed relatively easily, esp if all you need out of your PF is defense and rebounding), and health is a huge factor (esp. Q-Rich's). The K's may need to draft a good SG/SF who can shoot.

Still, this looks like a win-win to me - except in the short term for the Lakers, who lose Kobe for pennies on the dollar. But Kobe goes into a perfect situation for him - a strong but not dominant big man, a team that immediately knows who the leader is and accepts that, a team that will respond to his formidable will, a coach who completely, 10,000% supports him, and a crowd that will worship the air he breathes. And if there is anywhere you want to be to repair your reputation (say for example after forcing your way out of LA via trade), it's NY.

Whereas if he stays in the West, he won't sniff the WCF until Bynum starts shaving. This is even more true now that Oden and Durant are in the west, and the Lakers have absolutely no answer for either of them, and won't for the foreseeable future. Plus the Lakers have no answer for Yao / T-Mac, and TD / Parker / Manu, Nowitzki, and now Boozer, AI / Carmelo / Camby, on and on and on. And he has a GM who is afraid to pull the trigger. Whereas if he comes to the East, he is immediately the biggest fish in the pond and can will his team to at least the 2^nd and possibly the ECF rounds. Frankly, if he ever wants to win another ring, on paper at least, he'd be insane to stay with LA.

The Knicks would immediately contend. They would become exciting and relevant and competitive, and will sell out the entire season the microsecond Kobe signs. The only real downside is losing all those draft picks, because drafting players is the one thing Isiah does better than most GM's in the NBA.

The Lakers get a bunch of good but young players, draft picks, tons of cap room, and the right coach – exactly what you need if you want to rebuild quickly (see Toronto).

So I'm not sure this is such a losing proposition for Kobe. If he comes East, he'd only have to beat SAS / Phoe / Den / Utah / Hou / Dal four times to get his next ring. If he stays West, he'll have to beat at least three of them to even have a shot at a ring. He's just playing the percentages.

If I'm Kobe, I'm holding out with an "injury" until a trade happens.

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