What If Kobe Bryant Was Traded To The Chicago Bulls In 2007?
Basketball, J. Tinsley — By J. Tinsley on March 7, 2012 at 2:30 am
“I would like to be traded, yeah. Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there’s no other alternative, you know?” — Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant’s public demand to be shipped out of town in 2007, while a guest on The Stephen A. Smith Show, was a ground-breaking story. Here was Bean, arguably the League’s best player at the time, stuck in the phase of his career where pundits doubted if he’d ever win a title without Shaq (who had won one with Dwyane Wade in Miami a year before). There was panic in Kobe. He knew, as an 11-year veteran, more seasons were behind him than in front, and something had to change quick, fast, and in a hurry. The image of the Kobe we see now - the possessed work-a-holic whose determination to win conjures memories of Michael Jordan – was preceded by the “selfish superstar who would never trust his teammates enough to be called champion again” stage. Yes, people, there was a time when Kobe was the only player in history with three rings and none of them meant jack sh*t in the eyes of many.
We all know how the story played out. Kobe never left L.A. – and why would he? He’s the king of that city. The Lakers eventually got it right and traded a lifetime cannabis club membership and a pack of wine black and milds (which became Marc Gasol) for Pau Gasol. Kobe, Pau and the crew eventually go on to appear in three consecutive Finals, winning a pair. But let’s have fun and play the greatest game sports ever conceived, because it’s March, and the playoffs don’t start for another month and a half. I present to you the “what if” game.
1. The Makeup Of The Chicago Bulls
So Kobe’s traded to Chi-Town for Loul Deng, Tyrus Thomas and, maybe, Ben Wallace. It’s not equal compensation, but at least the Lakers get something out of the deal and building blocks for the future (which we’ll get to later). This means Bryant’s looking at a tentative lineup of Kirk Hinrich, himself, Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden and Joakim Noah. Ben Gordon coming off the bench, too. That’s not enough to win the East (especially since Boston snagged Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett that same summer), but it does make Chicago instantly more competitive and an attractive pick for nationally-televised games. Plus, there’s the entire “Kobe in Chicago going shot-for-shot with Jordan’s legacy” dynamic, which you know for a fact he would have relished. Wearing #24, too? I almost wish this would’ve happened.
Now, keep in mind, Chicago probably ends up in the playoffs that next season with Kobe landing in the MVP conversation. The Bulls have their first true megastar since Mike Jeffery and Harold’s Chicken somehow finds a way to name a sauce after him. All seems well and they appear one more piece (maybe Gasol comes to Chicago? It’s a reach, so what?) from a legitimate championship contender. This mean’s one thing that you may have forgotten in my babbling…
2. Derrick Rose Likely Ends Up In Miami
Yeah, there’s no way Chicago snags the number one overall pick in 2008, which means the Miami Heat land in that spot. Suddenly, things get crazy once you picture a Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion trio in South Beach. Now, with all due respect to the season Michael Beasley put together at Kansas State in 2007-2008, franchise-esque point guards (which Rose was touted as) only come around once in a blue moon. Suddenly, these Bulls/Heat match ups in 2008-2009 have storylines oozing out the edges with Kobe vs. Wade and Wade/Rose returning to their hometown.
Given how Rose’s career has progressed over the years, it wouldn’t have been a bad pick at all for Miami, and the possibility of a Rose/Wade fast break is pretty damn cutthroat. Suddenly, we’re looking at power struggles out East with Kobe’s Bulls, Wade/Rose’s Heat, the “Big Three’s” Boston (plus Rondo), Dwight’s Magic (that 2009 team should have never removed Rafer Alston from the starting lineup in the ’09 Finals) LeBron’s Cavs and Detroit’s last stand. Sound like the world’s greatest cluster*ck yet? Of course, it does.
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11 Comments
Goodness. The possible combinations and permutations are infinite. Kobe was fortunate to stay where he was. It’s tricky to build a champion around Kobe because he wouldn’t have tolerated a 2nd alpha dog. You can’t pair him with an all star PG. (Interestingly, MJ never played with one either). Gasol and Bynum were perfect teammates. Gasol didn’t care about publicity or credit and Bynum was too young to challenge Kobe’s authority or demand the ball.
Noah was still with Florida in 2007. He and Horford beat Oden, Conley and the Buckeyes for their 2nd Championship. That would have made Kobe’s Bulls even weaker.
Good point about Noah, but I think Chicago would’ve been able to make more moves and acquire some help for Kobe in Chi-town. Regardless, its something about playing in Los Angeles that is almost inherently unfair. Kobe leaving that support system would’ve been as big a challenge as anything he’d face.
We at least know that Kobe wouldn’t have had his nose broken by Dwyane Wade. But, I think every Laker fan would have thought to themselves, “can we be the 7th/8th seed if we wind up with LeBron in 2010″ had that trade gone down. The move also means that if Bron does indeed go West, do the Thunder grow into being the West’s top team two years after?
And does it also mean that we get a LeBron/KD West Finals every year with the impending thought of Kobe bring what is LA Midwest back to the Finals? Lakers/Bulls Finals?
Crap, I see why we love Bill Simmons now and almost kill ourselves thinking of the possibilities.
The whole damn landscape of the NBA would have changed, that’s for sure. One of the greatest players in the history of the game moving to another conference, it would have been earth-shattering. There’s really no telling where the league would be at now, what the makeup of these teams would be. The effects would have been lasting, that’s ford damn sure.
kobe still sucks
http://itsmyurls.com/djo10
Kobe woulda been traded their in the summer of 2007 and Noah was in the 07 draft. Or am I misunderstanding what y’all are saying? I probably am lol.
You’re right. I was thinking 06-07 but you meant 07-08. My bad. Memories of the Buckeyes losing two National Championships to Florida in the span of three months clouds my thinking. I still refuse to drink Gatorade. As far as I’m concerned, Urban needs to deliver two titles before I consider us even.
Not sure Kobe and Rose could coexist, at the early stages but now they would be a good dynamic duo as they could very well be Jordan and Pippen in the later days.
I don’t necessarily think Derrick Rose would’ve ended up in Miami.
Miami already had the best chances to land the number 1 pick in 2008 regardless.
So, if anything, assuming Chicago makes the playoffs, you would slide the Nets down into that 9th best chance of getting the top pick that Chicago had, so perhaps the Nets would’ve had the top overall pick instead.
The Nets had just traded Kidd for Harris the previous season, so maybe thinking Harris is their point guard of the future, they take Beasley and Rose does in fact end up in Miami.
The other thing is, this trade doesn’t go down if Deng goes to LA. Not even in some parallel universe.
In fact, that’s probably what mostly killed the deal was LA’s insistence on getting back Deng, Chicago’s reluctance to part with him and most importantly, Bryant demanding that Deng remain in Chicago so they could play together.
Uhm, yeah… My head just exploded.
My work here is done.
**drops mic, grabs cup of Henny and walks off stage**