Is Bynum Worth Losing Kobe Bryant?

By Craig Kwasniewski

Kind of a stupid question, right?

But it's not a stupid question if your name happens to be Jim Buss. I'll explain later...

News out of Barcelona (huh?) points out that Kobe Bryant still wants to be traded. Jerry Buss flew out to the Iberian Peninsula to have a one-on-one session with Kobe to iron out any differences. Normally such a visit from the Laker owner would calm down an explosive situation, but not this time. Kobe wants out simply because the Lakers haven't done enough to convince him that they're interested in competing at a championship level as promised.

As an eight-year season ticket holder, I can't blame Kobe one bit. Since the 2004 season, the Lakers traded away Shaq, fired Phil Jackson, traded Gary Payton, drove Karl Malone into retirement, traded future All-Star Caron Butler for Kwame Brown, started Smush Parker at point guard for two seasons... I can keep going and going for hours. Just an ass-load of bad deals.

But the Lakers also turned down trade offers for Baron Davis (New Orleans virtually gave him away), Carlos Boozer and Jason Kidd. The Kidd deal fell through simply because the Lakers couldn't part with Andrew Bynum.

So three seasons have passed since the Lakers played in the NBA Finals and Kobe Bryant's stuck with the starting line-up of Smush Parker, Luke Walton, Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown. Again, can you blame the guy for wanting to be traded?

Just last Friday there was a report that the Lakers deal for Jermaine O'Neal fell through because the Lakers didn't want to part with Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum.

There's that Bynum name again!

Andrew Bynum is Laker "President" Jim Buss's guy and I can't see him admitting that he was a horrible pick (horrible in the sense that he doesn't mesh with the Ko-Jack era). Jimbo still holds on to the notion that the Lakers were a decent team in January and beat the Spurs 2 out of 3 times. (Which is highly flawed considering the Lakers opened with 14 of their first 19 games at home.)

I can hear ole' Jimbo Buss crapping out the words, "we had a winning record against the NBA champs so we really don't need to make any major changes."

So Jimbo, who's only an NBA exec simply because came out of the vagina of Jerry Buss's ex-wife, is banking the Lakers future on 19-year old Andrew Bynum.

Despite his upside (soft hands, patience in the post offensively, youth and decent athleticism), for the second year in a row Bynum has faded because of poor conditioning. Not a good sign if you're trying to earn a starting spot. So is he worth trading away one of the greatest players in our generation?

If the Lakers front office needs any reminding:

81, 65, 62, 4x50, 2 All-Star MVP's, 2 scoring titles and 3 NBA titles...

TRADE BYNUM NOW!!!!

Comments

[Brett]

Nice job, couldn't agree more. I had "Will the Lakers Choose Andrew Bynum Over Kobe Bryant" as my headline, but yours is even more to the point.

JESUS they better not trade Kobe.

[Kobe WOW]

guy with a video claims kobe is cursing out BYNUM!!! if this is true, its alllll over. someones getting traded!!!!

www.thekobevideo.com

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6kt9DBMMwCM

www.myspace.com/thekobevideo

Unbelievable.

[Apophis]

Haha is that Jalen Rose in that picture? That guy has some pretty bad luck, he goes from playing in Toronto to sitting on the bench in Phoenix. He probably should have just stayed with the Pacers.

But as for Kobe, where does he think he's going to go that will be better than LA? Does he hope to go to a championship calibur team? Teams like Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio are happy with the players they have, that's what got them that far. If he's traded I don't see him going anywhere that enhances his chances at winning another title.

[Craig]

That picture is from the 81 game. Jalen did a lot of watching in that game... on the floor after Kobe blew by him.

[basketbawful]

See...I told you the Pacers would want Odom and Bynum *at least*.

This situation is crazy. I love it!

[shithead]

Someone should write an article titled, "Kobe or Mitch" or "Ditch Mitch". The real problem is not bynum it is Mitch Kupchak, who doesn't know his hand from his ass when it comes to making trades and moves. I've said it every year, "this GM sucks!!!"

[zachery hazuki]

TRADE BYNUM not KOBE BRYANT.... KOBE IS ALSO A young star when he first got into the NBA.... But unlike BYNUM, KOBE SHINES STILL UNTIL now.... WE never know if bynum will shine after loosing KObe bryant ... so don't hesitate....... TRADE BYNUM NOW!!!!!!!!! TRADE BYNUM WITH ODOM FOR JERMAINE TO PREVENT KOBES TRADE... REMEMBER KOBES SCORES THIS PAST FEW YEARS!!!!!!!!! TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....TRADE BYNUM NOW..... TRADE BYNUM NOW.....DX

[Anthony]

Kobe Bryant is maybe the greatest player in the game and they talking bout trading him to keep Bynum thats crazy! If kobes traded it'll be a riot in L.A. Just trade Odom and Bynum to get Jermaine or Baron Davis!!!!!!!!!!

[Chelsei]

man Kobe does not need to trade i'm his bigggest fan i don't think that he should please stay on the Lakers