What About Next Year?

[ASUCHRIS]

Originally posted by Ouchie-Z-Clown
amazingly enough, i agree. though more so with denny than with mike.

Yay! We should start a club!!! We can call it the optimistic, but realistic club!! Supporting losing teams makes you think and act in strange ways....

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by scotsman13
Kobe one of the greatest shooting guard in nba history? are you kidding me? he doesnt even rate in the top 50 players. all of which have shown that they can win on their own. everytime that shaq has been out the lakers take a dive. without shaq kobe is a loser, period. sure he can score a bunch of points but then so could cedric ceballos if you gave him the ball enough.

I'm not even sure Kobe Bryant is the best shooting guard in the NBA right now. It's between him and Tracy McGrady with Paul Pierce coming in a somewhat close third. If you can forget about rape trials, bad backs, etc. I think McGrady is probably the best shooting guard in the game. It's close though.

I don't think it's very fair to knock Kobe Bryant for the Lakers' failures when Shaq is injured. Shaquille O'Neal is capable of carrying a bad team by himself to a decent record. Without Shaq, Kobe Bryant was probably playing the worst team in the NBA though.

Joe Mama

 

[cly2tw]

Shaq makes like what? 25mil? That's half of the team salary. When you add Kobe's 13mil, what kind of team can you assamble with the remaining cap room? Let me say if Kobe were to play in the Bulls' dynasty replacing Jordan, i.e. with Pippen, Rodman in their primes, he'd win championships with that team too!

Joe,

as to McGrady being a better SG now, it's really not fair to Kobe. Kobe plays 2nd fiddle to the most dominant center of all time. He doesnot have the same freedom to do whatever he likes as McGrady can. But I guess this kind of fan opinion was part of the reason he wanted out of Shaq's shadow to prove his own legacy in the NBA history.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by cly2tw
Shaq makes like what? 25mil? That's half of the team salary. When you add Kobe's 13mil, what kind of team can you assamble with the remaining cap room? Let me say if Kobe were to play in the Bulls' dynasty replacing Jordan, i.e. with Pippen, Rodman in their primes, he'd win championships with that team too!

Joe,

as to McGrady being a better SG now, it's really not fair to Kobe. Kobe plays 2nd fiddle to the most dominant center of all time. He doesnot have the same freedom to do whatever he likes as McGrady can. But I guess this kind of fan opinion was part of the reason he wanted out of Shaq's shadow to prove his own legacy in the NBA history.

This is a classic argument. Is it easier to star when the team revolves around the player and he gets all the touches he wants. Or is it easier to star on a strong team because opponents cannot focus their defense on that one player?

Unless they just switch places, it is hard to say.

 

[scotsman13]

Originally posted by cly2tw
Shaq makes like what? 25mil? That's half of the team salary. When you add Kobe's 13mil, what kind of team can you assamble with the remaining cap room? Let me say if Kobe were to play in the Bulls' dynasty replacing Jordan, i.e. with Pippen, Rodman in their primes, he'd win championships with that team too!

Joe,

as to McGrady being a better SG now, it's really not fair to Kobe. Kobe plays 2nd fiddle to the most dominant center of all time. He doesnot have the same freedom to do whatever he likes as McGrady can. But I guess this kind of fan opinion was part of the reason he wanted out of Shaq's shadow to prove his own legacy in the NBA history.

ok here is a question for all of you people that think that kobe is so great. the first time jordan retired what happened to the team with only one real star (pippen aka kobe)? pippen carried them to a 50 win season and into the playoffs? what has kobe done when shaq isnt there? dont give me the salery line, new york and portland have brought in players without worry of the salery cap. this year the lakers have had malone and payton along with kobe and shaq so they have had a lot of very skilled players.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by scotsman13
ok here is a question for all of you people that think that kobe is so great. the first time jordan retired what happened to the team with only one real star (pippen aka kobe)? pippen carried them to a 50 win season and into the playoffs? what has kobe done when shaq isnt there? dont give me the salery line, new york and portland have brought in players without worry of the salery cap. this year the lakers have had malone and payton along with kobe and shaq so they have had a lot of very skilled players.

Actually, the Lakers did not have Malone and Payton last year when Shaq was hurt. In any case, Pippen had a better supporting cast than Kobe had last year.

The ultimate question is whether he would be worth what it would take to get him. Would he add to the pieces the Suns have, or conflict them? Would the financial committment make it harder to solve the other weaknesses of the team? Would the financial committment hurt the team's ability to re-sign their developing players? Even after all the discussion on the subject, I am not convinced it would work.

Since I think there is less than a 1% chance that it even could happen, it is probably not worth worrying about.

 

[Chaplin]

Without Shaq, Kobe, Payton or Malone--heck, without Kobe or Shaq in previous years--the talent on the Lakers was pretty much the worst team in the league. The absolute worst.

Look at that Laker team without Shaq and just Kobe for a moment. Look at the supporting cast, and compare that to the Phoenix Suns. There is such a huge difference, it's hardly worth trying to explain. Any sensible person could tell the difference!