Kobe needs a superstar Center

[BC867]

From Bill Plaschke's column about Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in the Los Angeles Times (courtesy of the Arizona Republic):

"In games featuring O'Neal but not Bryant, the Lakers are 36-8. an .818 winning percentage.

"In games featuring Bryant but not O'Neal, the Lakers are 53-45. a .541 winning percentage.

"Bryant hasn't been able to save the Lakers during their current 1-4 stretch that has featured only 14 minutes from O'Neal.

"During this time, Bryant has thrown up 111 shots, making only 50, in an offense that has featured lots of standing and watching.

"After more than one-third of the season, Bryant has already taken 100 shots more than any other Laker.

"He has also missed more shots than anyone, as he ranks last among the Lakers' five starters in shooting percentage."

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Enough talk of Kobe coming to the Suns. He would be more of a disruption to the team than a savior. What do you think?

 

[NDSunsfan]

i'm not a kobe fan, at all. in fact, i would be forced to decide whether or not i'd remain a suns fan if he became a member of the suns. but, having said that, that article is bunk.

it does show a couple of things.
1. shaq is almost unbeatable all by himself. if he plays, his team has a good chance of winning.

2. the lakers are horrible once you get past shaq and kobe. plus, this time, there's no mailman either. payton is getting old and not someone who can be counted on offensively, so without kobe, the lakers are very bad offensively.

3. he is forced to shoot a lot due to the rest of his team's lack of offensive pop. heck, he could average 50 ppg, and the rest of his team (w/o shaq and malone) would have trouble scoring another 40-50 pts IMO.

i'd like to think that the suns roster is far superior to the lakers less shaq, kobe, and malone. obviously, with those three, the lakers might be close to unstoppable. but, put kobe with amare, marion, barbosa, jj, and that's a pretty potent offense.

with all this, put me in the 'just say no to kobe' group. might be too individual, and might slow down the growth of the young suns.

brad

 

[sunsfn]

I do not want the suns to go after Kobe.
With the "ME" in his play we do not need him here.

I really do not think that the suns will go after him.

 

[fordronken]

What, a really good power forward wouldn't be enough? It has to be a center?

And on a side note, maybe Amare and Marion need a superstar center! What are we going to do?!?!

 

[Chaplin]

Gee, 28 other teams ALSO need a superstar center!

Too bad they don't exist anymore.

 

[newfan101]

Originally posted by fordronken
What, a really good power forward wouldn't be enough? It has to be a center?

And on a side note, maybe Amare and Marion need a superstar center! What are we going to do?!?!

LOL

I guess we shouldnt consider Tony Parker either, because he also needs a superstar center.

 

[Wally]

As I said in aonther thread....

I really don't think you'll see Kobe as a Sun because his ethics (or lack thereof) will keep JC from giving the green light. Even if he is acquitted of the rape charge, he has admitted that he has committed adultery and that's enough for JC to just say NO to any Kobe deal. Forget Kobe.


What the Sun's NEED to determine is...

1. ?Will Lampe be our answer for a starting C?
2. ?Will Milos Vujanic join the Suns and will he be a major piece of the puzzle?
3. ?Will Amare, Zarko & Leandro develop into the players we believe they can be?
4. ? Will the Matrix return to his old form?
5. ?Will JJ ever be somewhat consistent?

Those are the questions which NEED to be answered.

What they should already know is...

1. At C, Jake is a good one to keep & White is overpaid ( but he only has another next year) and Williams is a positive infulence on the team.
2. CJ was a mistake (I'd keep Eisley at his overpaid rate over CJ at his rookie rate). Someday I may have to eat my words, but but I think his good points are he reminds everyone of Dan Majerle, his wife is a beautiful woman and SOMETIMES he can shoot. I will say he is one of the smarter players we have on the team and he does take the ball to the basket when his shot isn't falling. Perhaps he would be another Jeff Hornechek (?spelling?) if he went to Utah. I wish him luck - he's a nice guy.
3. We don't need this many picks in one year, especially this year when we already have a lot of good young players to develop.
4. Tom Gugliotta should either be traded or on the IL (I think his back spasms are worse than Lampe's)

Next year should be really exciting..... the rest of this year should be really interesting. So far, I even like the coach.

 

[CardNots]

Bryant has thrown up 111 shots, making only 50,

Lets see, that comes up to 45% shooting from the field. With the Suns shooting pathetic from the floor, why would I have a problem obtaining Kobe?

At least the other team would have to double team Kobe, resulting in good things for the other players. Currently the Suns have no players which require double teaming.

 

[fordronken]

I think Suns fans have been spoiled by the fact that some of their rookies have paid immediate dividends and been extremely successful early on. It seems to make fans much more eager to give up on players far too early. What's the big problem, exactly, in giving Jacobsen another year or two to develop? He hasn't been downright bad and has shown some good flashes at points throughout the season. Some players take three or four years to really develop and end up being solid contributors for their teams.

 

[jbeecham]

Well Amare requires double teaming, but all that does is clog up the lane and force us into outside shots (which isn't a strength).

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

i'm in the sign kobe camp.

and haven't we already hashed kobe enough on this board? we need some new fodder. trade someone else already!

 

[Joe Mama]

The problem isn't necessarily that O'Neal is missing. I mean he is definitely the guy that makes the Lakers a championship caliber team. The problem is that without Shaquille O'Neal the Lakers don't have any frontcourt. This year they also have Karl Malone, but he's been injured longer than Shaq (thanks to Scott Williams' Randy Livingston impersonation). My guess is that with Malone healthy they would be just fine.

Joe Mama

 

[Dr. Dumas]

Originally posted by CardNots
Lets see, that comes up to 45% shooting from the field. With the Suns shooting pathetic from the floor, why would I have a problem obtaining Kobe?

At least the other team would have to double team Kobe, resulting in good things for the other players. Currently the Suns have no players which require double teaming.

Another point here, is that Kobe is shooting 45% with no Malone and no Shaq. With both of them out, teams are making there focus on stopping Kobe. Even with this, the guy is still shooting 45%. I'd have to say that I would love it if he played for the Suns.

 

[fordronken]

Looking at the Lakers this year, is anyone else wondering how they even got as far as they did last year without Payton and Malone? I mean, even with those guys, you're counting on Kareem Rush, Derek Fisher and Slava Medvedenko for all your bench points.

 

[Wally]

Originally posted by fordronken
I think Suns fans have been spoiled by the fact that some of their rookies have paid immediate dividends and been extremely successful early on. It seems to make fans much more eager to give up on players far too early. What's the big problem, exactly, in giving Jacobsen another year or two to develop? He hasn't been downright bad and has shown some good flashes at points throughout the season. Some players take three or four years to really develop and end up being solid contributors for their teams.

It's true to a certain extent but I'm not ready to give up on JJ yet because he at least looks good even when he isn't (if that makes sense) where CJ looks like he runs around in a frenzy most of the time. He had sucess at Stanford, but really hasn't been a "shooter " for the Suns where the NBA defense is a level above college.

 

[slinslin]

And the 45% are not even what Kobe usually does. He is just heating up this month a little and getting his percentages up.

All other stars like Pierce, Lebron, TMac are shooting ~41%.

But I have to say that if we can't get Kobe I am not sure I would save all of the money we have. Kwame Brown among a few others could be very good options.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I've been thinking through this Kobe speculation. I really believe the Suns have no intention of signing Kobe.

He would have to be totally exhonerated in the rape case. Maybe they have people who know something that we don't.

 

[frdbtr]

Originally posted by slinslin
And the 45% are not even what Kobe usually does. He is just heating up this month a little and getting his percentages up.

Kobe is a 45% fg shooter. 33 from the 3 point line. He is not "just heating up" He is shooting his normal percentage.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by frdbtr
Kobe is a 45% fg shooter. 33 from the 3 point line. He is not "just heating up" He is shooting his normal percentage.

I don't get it. As a Suns fan, since when does a player that shoots 45% mean a BAD thing??

 

[frdbtr]

Originally posted by Chaplin
I don't get it. As a Suns fan, since when does a player that shoots 45% mean a BAD thing??

Did I say that it was a bad thing? I just pointed out that Kobe is not "heating up" he is shooting his normal percentage. I think that you are remembering that I have argued that Kobe is a selfish player in the past chap

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by frdbtr
Did I say that it was a bad thing? I just pointed out that Kobe is not "heating up" he is shooting his normal percentage. I think that you are remembering that I have argued that Kobe is a selfish player in the past chap

That must be it.

 

[slinslin]

He shot 45% and 38%3s last season. 47%FG the previous season.

He has not even reached his limits yet. There are very few perimeter players with good scoring abilities that shoot that good of a percentage.

Marbury shoots what 42%? Pierce 41%? TMac 41%? Lebron 40%? Davis 39%? Iverson 38%?

And who shares or owns the record for consecutive 3 pointers and 3pt makes in a game? Kobe

Plus Kobe is an all-nba defender.
He is averaging 30/7/5/3.4 in january which is simply amazing considering the circumstances.


It is ok when you say that Kobe has character issues. But when you say he is not an improvement for this team you are only kidding urself.

Kobe is a top 5 player in this league and he would sell out AWA.


He would definately fit in. You could either play Joe Johnson and Kobe together in the backcourt or Barbosa and Kobe. If you got Kobe that would give this team a definate plan of what to do with the roster because you would have 2 pieces set in stone.

 

[frdbtr]

Originally posted by slinslin
He shot 45% and 38%3s last season. 47%FG the previous season.

He has not even reached his limits yet. There are very few perimeter players with good scoring abilities that shoot that good of a percentage.

Marbury shoots what 42%? Pierce 41%? TMac 41%? Lebron 40%? Davis 39%? Iverson 38%?

And who shares or owns the record for consecutive 3 pointers and 3pt makes in a game? Kobe

Plus Kobe is an all-nba defender.
He is averaging 30/7/5/3.4 in january which is simply amazing considering the circumstances.


It is ok when you say that Kobe has character issues. But when you say he is not an improvement for this team you are only kidding urself.

Kobe is a top 5 player in this league and he would sell out AWA.


He would definately fit in. You could either play Joe Johnson and Kobe together in the backcourt or Barbosa and Kobe. If you got Kobe that would give this team a definate plan of what to do with the roster because you would have 2 pieces set in stone.

Then again, maybe we would have to trade Amare because Kobe would start crying that Amare was getting more touches then he is, since Kobe wuold believe that he is the real superstar on the team. Kobe is a selfish player and I think that he would be a disruption on the team. Not to mention all of the phoenix away games we would have to deal with all of the opposing fans yelling that Kobe was a rapist.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by frdbtr
Then again, maybe we would have to trade Amare because Kobe would start crying that Amare was getting more touches then he is, since Kobe wuold believe that he is the real superstar on the team. Kobe is a selfish player and I think that he would be a disruption on the team. Not to mention all of the phoenix away games we would have to deal with all of the opposing fans yelling that Kobe was a rapist.

You're basing everything on opinionated theories.

A just as valid theory would be that you are wrong, and Kobe Bryant and Amare Stoudemire lead us to multiple titles. That is just as valid as your speculation, right?

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by slinslin
Marbury shoots what 42%? Pierce 41%? TMac 41%? Lebron 40%? Davis 39%? Iverson 38%?

I think it's a little early to tell how well LeBron James will shoot. This is his rookie year, and already he is the focus of the most defenses. Also, I think Tracy McGrady is a better shooter than Kobe Bryant. McGrady is really suffering this year as teams are doubling and triple teaming him regularly. Over his career he is a solid 45% shooter.

The more we talk about Kobe Bryant the more I think he is not coming to Phoenix. I mean there is always the chance that he will not opt out of his contract like he originally planned. Remember that when he made the announcement he would enter free agency this summer he was not planning on being a defendant in a rape trial.

Joe Mama