My trade proposal with the Bulls is theoretical but makes perfect sense to me, because acquiring Kobe Bryant would make the Bulls the hottest franchise in sports. Besides, it’s not like they have a championship roster anyway. So yeah; Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, and Joakim Noah if you want to throw him in there in exchange for Kobe and Pau. The United Center would be on fire every night. Kobe and some role players in Chicago would be ideal and would probably help the NBA become relative again.

You think the Lakers are going to accept a deal for a 30 year old, offensively deficient center who is owed almost $30M after this season to move Howard? Only a Knick homer would think thats a viable situation. Theoretically, the Knicks could trade for Howard, but so could the Wizards. Its not going to happen.

Well the New York media is known for being the opposite of harsh, right?…

“These players on my team are old, declining, and overpaid. Therefore, the team should trade them away for young All-Star talent. C’mon, it’s so easy!”

“Dwight Howard for Chris Bosh – helps both the Heat and the Lakers with what they need. Heat get a good center, Lakers get a stretch 4 who can shoot all the way to the 3-point line.”
That trade helps the Miami Heat’s defense and rebounding, so I think they’d be interested so they’re a defense-first team. Spoelstra would have to abandon small-ball, of course, but Dwight takes care of their size issues.

However, that trade kills the Lakers’ defense. The Lakers are the league’s worst-defense whenever Dwight is on the bench, and they rise to league-average when he’s on the floor. Chris Bosh has improved defensively since coming to Miami, but he can’t anchor the Lakers’ defense by himself the way Dwight has.

“Then, in 2014 – when Bosh’s contract is up, Lakers can look for other options (LeBron is available, Kobe may retire…).”
Bosh’s contract in 2014 is a player-option, not team option.
Bosh could decide not to opt out if he really likes playing for the Lakers, in which case the Lakers would have to keep him.

So the move doesn’t really keep the Lakers’ future flexible, and while it helps their offense, it kills their defense. I also doubt Miami breaks up its championship core after 2 consecutive Finals appearances.

If he did, he’s not going to accept less money than he asked for before since the Lakers’ franchise is even more desperate than they were before.

Theoretically, the Lakers could amnesty Gasol this summer and open up another $19 million. If Howard leaves, that puts them down near $49 million for the team cap, with another $30 million to spend before they hit the luxury tax threshold. Doesn’t seem like doom and gloom to me. If Howard signs, that means they could still amnesty Gasol and make room to sign a free agent or make a trade, assuming that luxury tax threshold is accurate. Who knows.

Regardless, t’s in Howard’s best interest to stay anyway, financially and for his image. He knows that if he leaves this team, after what he did to Orlando, his reputation would likely never recover and he’d lose a lot of credibility in the eyes of fans, coaches, and general managers. He has a lot more to lose than just the extra money. Not to mention that there is no guarantee that the situation he leaves for will be any better than the one he’s in now – keep in mind that this situation is bad partly because of the way he’s handling it, and that will carry over to anywhere he goes.

Kobe won’t be traded, nor should he be. It will cause even more turmoil for the organization since Kobe will have to agree to the trade – that will be an ugly process that the team will not want to go through. You might not be able to surround Kobe with enough talent to contend (even though they tried like hell to do so), but the idea that he might sign a new cap friendly contract and be to the Lakers in 2 years what Tim Duncan is to the Spurs right now is very intriguing. I doubt he retires. I bet he signs for another 2 years and becomes more of a role player or 3rd option for those last couple years, allowing the team to sign another good player to match up with Dwight… or if Dwight leaves, they sign a free agent or make a trade for a new guy to build around.

This season is lost, but the Lakers still have some good things going for them. They’re just losing out on being able to take advantage of Kobe’s last few good years. In the long run though, that’s not necessarily the top priority.

Why don’t the Bulls throw in Taj Gibson and Noah along with Coach Thibodeau as well???

Lets trade a young .600 team for the oldest part of a .415 team… and throw in our MVP.

Keep dreaming.

This is why people call Laker fans delusional.

Every team is looking to trade younger/cheaper talent for older more expensive players to the Lakers…SMH.

I highly, highly doubt Howard would agree to resign with the T’Wolves so there is no way Minnesota would agree to this trade unless he would agree to resign. They would also never trade Love for Gasol. Love is a young/entering or in his prime PF who they have locked up for the next few seasons. I’m a fan of Gasol but no way would the T’Wolves trade Love for the quite a bit older Gasol.

bingo. i think we start talking % of ownership. well heck, he is with the daughter, so PJ is already family!