Brian Schmitz has had it with the Kobe rumors:
Enough already.
For those excited Magic fans who have alerted me that Jerry Buss, Lakers owner and Hugh Hefner wannabe, claims he'll deal Kobe Bryant if the season unravels.....
If you want Kobe, it will cost you all-star center Dwight Howard in a trade.
Hello?
Still there?
As much as you may not want to believe it, he's right. There's no way anyone, much less the Lakers, will take Rashard Lewis and his oversized contract in a trade. Thus, Howard is the Magic's only bargaining chip in any attempt to land Kobe. Here's how the trade would probably look.
Every team should want Kobe Bryant -- he is, after all, the best player on the planet -- but not at the cost of its future. KB24 is nearing 30 years old and is at his peak; that is, he's not getting any better. Dwight Howard, on the other hand, is not yet 22 and is nowhere near his zenith.
Mortgaging your future rarely wins championships, as the Miami Heat can attest to. They unloaded Caron Butler and Lamar Odom to get Shaquille O'Neal and they won a title two years later. Now, the Heat are, for the most part, washed-up or injured. Their run is over.
Further tempering this trade scenario is Kobe's no-trade clause, which he would have to waive to be traded. I highly doubt he'd give a Magic trade his approval; Orlando is a small-market town and doesn't have enough complementary pieces to win a title. Why come here when he can go to Chicago, which is a big city and can offer enough talent to please the Lakers while still keeping enough talent to contend for a title?
Fact is, there's no way Kobe Bryant will be traded to the Orlando Magic. We should focus on more likely trade scenarios, ones which don't require us to trade our franchise player.
Poll
Should the Magic try to obtain Kobe Bryant?
This poll is closed
-
23%
Yes, even if it involves parting with Dwight Howard.
(5 votes) -
42%
Yes, but only if Dwight Howard is not part of the deal.
(9 votes) -
33%
No.
(7 votes)