Well in fitting fashion I have chosen perhaps the most overblown sports topic of the Fall (with the possible exception of the Pats Video-gate) to return to the blogging scene, Kobe Bryant. Now I am lucky enough to live in the great city of Chicago and my focus is on the sports teams of this fair metropolis so the video tape thing didn’t affect me much aside from dulling my senses and increasing my hatred of the Patriots. However, with the Bulls being tossed around as one of the likely landing points for Bryant I can’t really duck this one.
There are basically two schools of thought on the Kobe to the Bulls scenario. One says that the Bulls are an up and coming team, one of the tops in the East, and shouldn’t break up a still developing core for a malcontent superstar. The second school says Kobe is the most dominant player since Jordan and that you shouldn’t pass up a chance to land an all-time great. I can’t really say I am 100% in one camp or the other but I am going to use this space to explore a few scenarios in which I’d be ok with the Kobe deal. In this effort I am going to try and be fair to both teams. Most people who are building “theoretical” deals are pretty much aiming to get Kobe for 60 cents on the dollar let alone taking the salary cap into account. Others are predicting scenarios in which the Bulls sign P.J. Brown to a ridiculous contract throw in or trading Ben Wallace, neither of which will happen because P.J. is likely retired and Kobe would veto a deal that involved Wallace. Taking all that into account here are the two deals I’d make to fulfill Kobe’s dream of becoming a Bull.
1) Pre December 15:
Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas, Adrian Griffin, Victor Kryapa
for
Kobe Bryant, Ronny Turiaf
Because of base year compensation (BYC) rules the Bulls are really limited in trading options right now because Hinrich’s deal is only worth $6.25mil and they supposedly can’t deal Wallace. In this deal the Bulls are forced to rely on Chris Duhon, Thabo Sefelosha, and JameOn Curry or Gardner in the backcourt along with Kobe but the front court stays intact and is bolstered by an underrated player in Turiaf. If the Lakers would accept it the Bulls could swap Joakim Noah and Aaron Gray for Thomas. The Lakers rebuild their backcourt in one fell swoop and add a player to pair up front with Bynum. Hinrich, Gordon, Odom, Thomas, Bynum could make the playoffs out West and the Bulls would be the favorites in the East.
2) Post December 15:
Andres Nocioni, Ben Gordon, Joe Smith, Thabo Sefolosha, Victor Kryapa
for
Kobe Bryant, Ronny Turiaf, and possibly the rights to Marc Gasol
The Bulls spread the damage out a bit more and move Noah and Thomas into more prominent roles. BYC comes back to bite them again because Nocioni’s new deal is worth only $4.25mil in a trade this year. An alternative would be exchanging Smith and Thabo for Tyrus, Griffin, and Curry. That might be the most likely deal since Tyrus' potential is a major selling point. The Lakers would get a scoring replacement for Kobe in Gordon, a combo-forward ideal for the Triangle offense because of his range in Nocioni, and young talent in either Sefolosha or Thomas. The Bulls would again vault themselves to team-to-beat status in the East. This is in my opinion the more likely of the deals because it allows time for both teams to feel out their respective situations and brings Nocioni and Smith into plays as trade chips.
I am certainly not dying for the Bulls to make either deal, but I don't think either would be a back breaker, they might be within the Lakers asking price, and most importantly they actually work under the cap. The Bulls would be in full on WIN NOW mode and could ride a player like Kobe to the finals since he'd have a lot more talent than LeBron has around him. We might not be as good for as long, but who wants to be just really good for a while when you could win a title? It’s an important thing to consider because while the Bulls might currently be the class of the East, where would they rank out West? 6th maybe 5th? (behind the Mavericks, Suns, Spurs, Rockets, and maybe Jazz) We are still very young but if we are just going to keep all the pieces we have right now it's all going to get very expensive. Next year when the (potential) extensions for Deng and Gordon are in full swing, Deng/Gordon/Hinrich/Nocioni/Wallace will take up somewhere around $55mil in the salary. And then just as we might get Wallace off the books it'll be time for Tyrus' extension. I have a hard time believing we'll be able to keep everyone and add enough depth behind them with how badly Riensdorf wants to avoid the luxury tax.
This team still needs another player to make "the leap" to truly compete for a title, especially with Wallace in decline. Last year we couldn't get past Detroit, and there's still Cleveland and Boston out there plus the other young teams that are getting better like Orlando or Raptors. Unless you have an all-time great player like Jordan, Duncan, or Magic title windows are very small and with this team not ready to peak for probably another year or three my concern would be the window passes us by. That's why I don't think it's crazy to seriously consider a Kobe trade. And why I’d O.K. either of the deals I proposed. Most Bulls fans would call me nuts but I think we might have fallen in love with this young scrappy bunch a bit too much and forgotten what it’s like to have a Superstar in town. Still if I was a betting man I’d wager nothing happens until next off-season at the earliest.
1 comments:
I'm one of the biggest Bulls fans you will come across. I live and die with that team, particularly this incarnation because they are soo easy to root for. They play hard, they're the "plucky underdogs" or whatever, and they constantly surprise the "experts" who count them out. They play my kind of ball - lots of passing, lock-down defense and all-out hustle. Even though they've only won a single playoff series, they've been one of my favorite teams to back in my life.
Here's the thing. I can't friggin' stand Kobe Bryant. I hate the way he behaves on the court. He bitches at the refs more than Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton combined - thinking he's never committed a foul. He's a baby when things don't go his way (look at Shaq's departure and his behavior over the last couple seasons). People are saying that if he came to the Bulls, he'd behave because it would be a fresh start and in the East they would be contenders. But I will never be able to root for the guy.
Yes, I want the Bulls to win a title. We all do. But at what cost? I can not root for Kobe. If he is on the Bulls, he will be the team's dominant player. Therefore, I will not be able to root for the Bulls. My only hope is that the Lakers continue to ask for players that would essentially gut the team because Pax would never make such a mistake.
I say no to Kobe - even if we get him for nothing. Because it would be the most tragic thing that could happen to the Bulls. They would become a team I can no longer support. I would have to start rooting for someone else. And frankly, I don't want to have to choose from the rest of the NBA. I want my Bulls to keep being my Bulls. Maybe that's selfish, but I like to think I just understand the game a bit better than the average fan, and that I appreciate them more.
Post a Comment