2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

@abeer3 brought up the KG deal that wasn't. imagine kobe and kg together. like kobe and pau gasol on steroids.

 

KG did an interview about that time period and he said he tried getting a hold of Kobe but Kobe never hit him back.

Could Kobe have secretly not wanted KG to come? Thinking KG would be like the new Shaq? And Kobe would still have the tag that he can't win without another MVP on his team? Makes you think a little.

Unless KG is lying, why wouldn't Kobe hit him back?

 

I think time was of the essence in that KG phone call, something like less than three hours for KG to decide and move on and he couldn’t get hold of Kobe, who probably was on his 666 program because it was the summer.

 

Kobe should have been on the *69 program. Kobe and the Lakers pass the C Bags in titles if he answers the phone. They pass the C Bags in 2010. Lakers probably win in 11 or 12 too.

 

Only issue was, KG was already breaking down in 09. I think it’s fair to say we get 2 rings, maybe 3 if we still got Bynum and Odom. But I’m not sold that we have that much more success with KG than we did with Pau.

However, we probably get a Kobe vs Lebron final at least once, maybe twice. The ramifications are huge, maybe Lebron doesn’t leave Cleveland if he made the finals twice? Maybe Bosh joins him in Cleveland and Wade stays in Miami and Lebron is ok with that because they think they’re so close. What does that do to Kobe’s legacy if he has 6 rings and beats Lebron twice in the final. The C Bags big 4 team doesn’t get formed without KG, where do Paul Pierce and Ray Allen go? Do they join Wade? What about Pau - who trades for him? If no big 3 gets formed in Miami, does OKC win a ring? And if so does Harden get traded still, or do they most likely win a couple and become the next Spurs? Talking about Spurs, what happens with them?

I honestly think KG coming to the Lakers is a sliding door moment that changes the 2008-2016 landscape of the league.

 

Loved it

 

Hit the nail on the head, Mitch has no charisma. Dr Buss was the charisma and after he passed and Jerry left it left a lot to be desired in that department.

I remember Jerry talking about just how hard it was to be the Lakers GM because he was so emotionally invested in the team. I wonder if FAs were effected by how his departure was handled as well?

 

KG was out for the year in 2009. Question is, who would have been in the package for KG? Likely at least Odom and/or Bynum?

Do the Lakers trade for Pau if Bynum doesn't get hurt since the Lakers had the best record in the league and Bynum was playing lights out?

The ifs are unrelenting.

 

Deng contract is more of a tax burden then a hindrance to spend on fa, we're over the cap team, his $5m dead $ does nothing to free up $ for future FA

 

well deserved

 

WUT?

kevin garnett stats NBA

 

I will go to my grave believing if the CP3 deal goes through and the Lakers get Dwight, Kobe retires with 8-9 rings.

 

The biggest if in the world is Shaq and Kobe together forever

 

how are these not the same in the case of a bird rights FA for a team operating over the cap? we were willing to offer caruso 7-8 million per WITH deng's money pushing us way over the tax. that math suggests that without deng, we would have very likely paid the same as chicago did, as lux tax concerns were frequently cited as the reason we demurred.

i think the league instituting the zone and then no-touch perimeter rules were a clear message that they weren't interested in shaq dominating anymore. plus, he fell off a cliff physically by 2007-8, and we really only missed maybe 2 prime-ish shaq years due to the trade. and that's stretching it a bit maybe.

this i can get on board with. i don't think dwight becomes a problem if he's got cp AND kobe there. i don't think kobe gets injured with cp there to help carry the load. and i don't think anyone beats that team.

 

Especially if Phil stays on coaching and we didn't go through the s*** show roster of them after he left the 2nd time.

 

Shaq is traded in 04. 5 seasons later he is playing 75 games averaging 18/8.4 in Phoenix.
Kobe would take over as Shaq dominance would start to be less a reality.
I think it is the best duo ever and with a solid supporting cast, couldn't be beaten in 7 games


I think prime Howard is overrated. He took advantage of a time the league was transforming and finding the next big thing, there weren't many contenders at the time

 

you cherrypicked his only decent season post-2007. and howard would have been our rich man's tyson chandler with a prime chris paul, near-prime kobe backcourt.

not close, imo. we'd have been capped out with a vastly declining shaq and not much in the way of trade fodder or prospects. sucks that the shaq trade happened how and right when it did, but again, we really only lost two years of real value and probably zero titles.

 

Maybe he saw this interview and never fact checked the stats. Only possible explanation, other than Mitch tried to fight fire with fire and wean off his addiction to skittles by taking bath salts instead.