here's where we mention the salary discrepancy between the two. kobe made his bed, now he's tied to it while the room's on fire. I actually don't fault his play on the court right now. the team is just terrible. awful. however, he played a part in that by not taking a Duncan/dirk type deal. those teams will be in the playoffs, but he will have 24 extra million dollars or so, so it's not like I don't understand his reasoning. but I'm not going to feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for us. because this is next year, too. I only hope we don't have to cough up the 6th pick in the draft on top of this travesty.
I hear you. I do understand Kobe's point about undervaluing your worth, but even as a "kobe zealot" I was disappointed by the 24 million and I keep imagining the team we would could have put together with more money. I'm still glad to see that Kobe is still Kobe, that may end up being the only bright spot of this season.
Kobe scored 31! in like 28 minutes? Holy cow. He looks like an old man, but he can still score even with double teams.
We had a max slot, we offered it. No one's coming to this team under the new CBA. In fact, almost no one is changing teams via Free Agency if their own team can offer a max deal. We had the ability to sign many other players for less, but they didn't sign here. If you have an idea of what the move should have been, let us know. Nash is off the books and there's a max contract available next year, too, btw.
I think we could have had Isaiah Thomas and Lance Stephenson via FA. Weigh the two: Isaiah Thomas, Lance Stephenson, Nick Young, Ed Davis, Wes Johnson, the rest of the small/1yr deals with Nash and the 1 yr deals coming off the books, probably not leaving enough for a max contract summer 2015 (no marc gasol). vs Hill's 1yr, Lin's expiring+Hou pick, Nick Young, Ed Davis, etc leaving only Kobe, Nick Young, and i think kelly on the books, meaning enough for 2 max contracts summer 2015. Hindsight...now we probably get to keep the top 5 protected pick. I like package 1.
Yeah ... People really need to stop thinking Duncan is in a way better situation very late in his career than Kobe is just because of luck ... One took a paycut AND took a step back on the floor understanding he can't be the main option of his team anymore ... The other earns the top salary in the entire league and still thinks he's the best player in the league
He should go for the scoring title. We won't win anything anyway why not add to his legacy by outgunning everybody. Ha!
LA was seemingly not at all interested in Stephenson. So although I was cheerleading for him, it wasn't an option the Lakers apparently pursued, so that's not Kobe making his bed. That's management making weird decisions. Now, they could have had Thomas, but they didn't seem that interested - and once Lin was here it was deemed redundant. Given all that, it's management. Not Cody Bryan.
Understood and agreed. I was just answering your question to abeer, (what moves should have been made). I wasn't speaking to the "kobe made his bed" argument.
@Punk-101 It's important to say this: it's one thing to say we had options (agreed). It's another to say it's Kobe's fault things panned out as they did (disagree). So I'm on board.
