[::OFFSEASON OVER. Lock Please.::]

[CP1708]

If you are in this thread advocating for a 35 going on 36 year old player, entering into his 19th season, 15 months removed from a torn achilles, to ask for the max when he can take a huge paycut, for 1 yr, and then get his max ON TOP of all the luxuries the Lakers would be able to add, you should be ignored, banned, tarred and feathered in that order.

NOBODY is a bigger fan of Kobe than myself. But the Lakers franchise is bigger than Kobe Bean Bryant.

Get that thru your thick *** skulls. You do NOT mortgage the welfare of the team for one player, no matter how great that player has been, might be, or will be.

The 350+ million Kobe has made as a member of our franchise should hold him over for 12 months. At the end of that 12 months is a 19.5 million dollar thank you check.

GET A ******G CLUE PEOPLE.

We aren't asking him to play for free for a 6 year contract. He will get just under TWENTY million dollars at age 37 in his 20th season. It is a fair trade off and benefits Kobe, the team, and the future players of this organization.

Get, familiar.

 

[mrdieselfuel09]

I'm waiting for the day Kobe retires.

Lets see whose still on this boat by then.


Kobe Stans need to realize if you want to see the boy Kobe cook up rings 6 and 7, he needs to make sacrifices. There's no way in hell he will see ring number 6 if he's demanding max money. This team will be stuck like how it is now if he does that.

2014 rolls around and you sign Kobe and another superstar to a max...taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

 

[thachosen123]

If you are in this thread advocating for a 35 going on 36 year old player, entering into his 19th season, 15 months removed from a torn achilles, to ask for the max when he can take a huge paycut, for 1 yr, and then get his max ON TOP of all the luxuries the Lakers would be able to add, you should be ignored, banned, tarred and feathered in that order.

NOBODY is a bigger fan of Kobe than myself. But the Lakers franchise is bigger than Kobe Bean Bryant.

Get that thru your thick *** skulls. You do NOT mortgage the welfare of the team for one player, no matter how great that player has been, might be, or will be.

The 350+ million Kobe has made as a member of our franchise should hold him over for 12 months. At the end of that 12 months is a 19.5 million dollar thank you check.

GET A ******G CLUE PEOPLE.

We aren't asking him to play for free for a 6 year contract. He will get just under TWENTY million dollars at age 37 in his 20th season. It is a fair trade off and benefits Kobe, the team, and the future players of this organization.

Get, familiar.

Nah, let's just throw him max money next year, and be average for the remainder of his contract......IT'S THAT SIMPLE

 

[essential1]

Yall know I love Kobe but if he wants the Lakers to put the pieces around him to get for his 6th championship, he needs to go down to the Duncan/Garnett salary range.

Nah he'd have to go further down than that..

Duncan and to a lesser extent Garnett had a team with all the pieces already in place..

Duncan had Parker, Manu, Splitter, Green, Kawhi all on the team before he needed to sign..

Kobe has ___________________. If he had another star and role players in place, no one would be bothered if he wanted 2yr/$30mil.

But he doesn't.. If he wants a title... He needs to be at the mini-MLE level or lower for a year. Then after we have all the pieces in place in 2015. Then he can get his final hoo-ray with a max deal.

You need to ask yourself.. What is more important to Kobe.. *Waiting 1 year for the $10mil with a real shot at a championship* or *Getting all your money now, and blowing the biggest asset we have flexibility*. If his answer is not #1.. He has got to go.

 

[scotthallwithapick]

CP is that deal technically legal? It sounds like the CP3 thing where you give him a minimum to max him next year, which was for sure illegal.

 

[essential1]

CP is that deal technically legal? It sounds like the CP3 thing where you give him a minimum to max him next year, which was for sure illegal.

The Lakers can't mention anything about a max deal in 2015..

If they don't promise him a max in 2015.. It is legal.

 

[scotthallwithapick]

But if he gets one you don't think that will raise eyebrow in 2015? I mean yea you'll have your players and maybe win a title but you don't think there will be long term consequences from the league?

 

[essential1]

But if he gets one you don't think that will raise eyebrow in 2015? I mean yea you'll have your players and maybe win a title but you don't think there will be long term consequences from the league?

Gotta prove it...

All Lakers need to say is to pretty much stop all the investigation.

"We signed Kobe to a 1 year deal.. We felt it may have been his last season, as did he, and took a pay cut and set his own terms for the money.. He wanted to win, so he took as little as the CBA offers, as many stars have done before him in their final years. In the final months of the 2014-15 season, we were made aware of his desire to return for a final 2 years. We offered the highest amount we had available because despite his commitment to take less money, we felt it was our obligation to handsomely compensate a player of this franchise for 18 years, leading us to 5 titles, and being arguably the greatest player to wear this franchise's historic uniform."

The league would have to prove that the words take a minimum then take a maximum were said by the Lakers.. Which will be almost impossible to prove. It would be a witch hunt that wouldn't produce any tangible evidence.

 

[girlslovewaffles]

If you are in this thread advocating for a 35 going on 36 year old player, entering into his 19th season, 15 months removed from a torn achilles, to ask for the max when he can take a huge paycut, for 1 yr, and then get his max ON TOP of all the luxuries the Lakers would be able to add, you should be ignored, banned, tarred and feathered in that order.

NOBODY is a bigger fan of Kobe than myself. But the Lakers franchise is bigger than Kobe Bean Bryant.

Get that thru your thick *** skulls. You do NOT mortgage the welfare of the team for one player, no matter how great that player has been, might be, or will be.

The 350+ million Kobe has made as a member of our franchise should hold him over for 12 months. At the end of that 12 months is a 19.5 million dollar thank you check.

GET A ******G CLUE PEOPLE.

We aren't asking him to play for free for a 6 year contract. He will get just under TWENTY million dollars at age 37 in his 20th season. It is a fair trade off and benefits Kobe, the team, and the future players of this organization.

Get, familiar.

No **** the Lakers franchise is bigger than Kobe.

I'm just telling you that if Kobe doesn't retire at the end of next year, he's going to ask for the max. Whether or not the Lakers pay him the max is another question entirely.

Point is, I'm not advocating it. I'm just telling you that it's going to happen, and if Lakers aren't going to pay him, he's either going to find another team or just retire.

 

[scotthallwithapick]

That's a load of bull and you know no one is buying that

Especially after this comment

 

[essential1]

That's a load of bull and you know no one is buying that

Especially after this comment

It is bull... But the problem is you have to prove that the Lakers promised him future compensation..

It will of course smell fishy.... But you still have to have proof.

If you can't prove that the Lakers promised future compensation... Lakers can appeal, and they'll win.. Because appearance is not proof. Now if they had a document, or an actual recording of the conversation then they could seek punishment..

 

[noblekane]

screw that. the league owe us one for ******g us over on the chris paul deal anyways....

time for them to turn a blind eye and let mark cuban and all the niketalk haters cry and complain

 

[ValarMorghulis]

He'll come around.

Or he'll be gone.

#Simple

Thought about it...

If CP or Essential are the GM, he's gone

... but Mitch is, he's definitely retiring a Laker. for.
Alot. of. money.

 

[5am6oody72]

Mitch's job at GM is to win titles. Not to reward Kobe for a nice career, not to appease his fans or make sure he retires a Laker. To. Win. Titles. Sure it would be ideal if he retires a Laker; he's given a lot for this franchise. At the same time, if he loves the team and truly cares about winning, he needs to realize that getting a max deal is detrimental to both. If he doesn't, Mitch needs to cut him loose. Which would you rather have: Kobe playing his swansong year in a Laker jersey while the team is mediocre for the next 5 years, or Kobe retiring with another team but we win a couple titles over that same span? Easy answer for me, and Kobe is my favorite player and was a big reason why I'm even a fan of the Lakers. It's up to Kobe whether or not we get to see a contending team with him on it over the next couple of years. Hopefully he makes the right choice and isn't pennywise but pound-foolish.

 

[licensed to ball]

Ugh.

I see why P keeps his mouth closed more often lately now.
Everything is stretched into something totally irrelevant.

No one ever said pay the 35 year old Kobe the Max as if he was 19...

All i said was the guy even at 35 will deserve far more than the VETERANS MINIMUM.
At 33 the guy still played like he's 26. Even when he comes back from the Achilles injury, we all damn well know the only thing different about Kobe will be his explosiveness. We all know he will find a way to score his 25 a game, and still shoot 45% from the field, and still will his team to wins if he has some help around him.

Thats not a vet minimum contribution...whether at the age of 34 or at the age of 64...anyone who can contribute that much isnt going to take a vet minimum contract whether we like it or not.

I never said give him a max. I just said there has to be a middle ground, a contract that pays him what he deserves for his age and contribution...still allowing us to go out there and be flexible and pursue Max Contract player(s). But its not going to be no DAMN VET MINIMUM...so stop saying it.

Would i love for him to take that? Sure. But cmon man...BE REALISTIC.
He isnt going to ask for a max contract...but he isnt going to take a vet minimum either.
The reason he says he wont take a pay cut is strictly for business purposes...but its OBVIOUS he is going to take far less money than he is making now.

He just has to allow himself a little wiggle room to still make a decent amount of money for the contribution hes going to make to the team.
Whether thats 6 million, 8 Million, 10 million, 12 million... its gonna have to be something in between there to both appease him and his agent...as well as give the Lakers a chance of pursuing elite players.

If Kobe takes a vet minimum contract, even at the age of 34/35, while hes still producing like hes 27... it messes up everything the players association works for. It messes up negotiations for many other players who are still producing but getting up in age. Then everyones expected to "Take one for the team" and sign a vet minimum contract so they can pursue younger, fresher players. The Players Association is NOT going to be cool with that. Not every one has a bankroll like Kobe Bryant. Others still need big contracts, even as they approach their 30s... if they deserve it, they gotta get paid. Kobe taking a vet min contract when hes not a vet min player might help the Lakers tremendously, but it screws with a lot of other players and their contract negotiations.

So you can say hes being selfish for not taking a 26 MILLION DOLLAR PAY CUT... but if he did, hed be selfish in the sense where hed mess things up for many of his colleagues as they try to get paid and feed their families.

There HAS to be a middle ground, a fair middle ground, which is why he said what he said.
Even if he takes a pay cut, negotiation tac tics still MUST BE USED.

It is a business guys.
This aint the damn YMCA basketball league.
You cant expect a player of Kobes caliber to take the same contract as Darren Collison whether hes 35 years old or whether hes 25 years old.
As long as he can produce better than 90% of the league, which he still will, he will have to be paid like it... or in this sense, close to it.

And before you go on me, of course id love him to take a cheap contract and help our franchise.
It would be great. Id love it.
But its not realistic.
There is a players association for a reason, its so situations like that dont mess things up for the rest of the league.

He'll take a pay cut.
Im sure of it.
He has to, he'll never make 30 mill in a season again obviously.
But it aint gonna be no dam 29 million dollar pay cut.
Nor should it be.

Hopefully he'll sign for about that range i said, 6-10 mill...and we'll still have a lotta flexibility to pursue our future studs.

 

[pmatic]

(._. )

 

[CP1708]

You don't get it...

Min in 2014.. Max in 2015.. Averages out to $10.5mil a year. And it plays to get us the most talent on the Lakers in 2014 and beyond.


But if you want to hamstring the team, go ahead.. But nobody should be calling for Tanking at the same time as disdain for playing the loopholes in the CBA.

Y'all dudes really have hoop dreams in this thread. Just spoiled

Y'all want to tank, get a #1, sign lebron and Melo, sign kobe to some bull, and still win a championship every year for the next 10 seasons.

I just hope Kobe retires after this yr man. Dudes don't even wanna see him eat for filling up the seats and selling jerseys if he stays

^
LTB, not you brotha......

 

[licensed to ball]

Thank you CP.
DaddyRabit finally someone with some sense of reality.

I'd rep you 100 times if I could.

I'm starting to see why people joke about Laker fans living in fantasy land. Not everyone, but many people really do

 

[CP1708]

Yeah, now you're missing the point LTB.

What that dude typed is a bunch of ********.

You guys flat out aren't getting it.

 

[8tothe24]

Dudes want kobe to play for the minimum

Disgusting...

Seriously though... Cats talking about Kobe taking a 1 year vet min contract and saying it with a straight face at that.

 

[CP1708]

 

[CP1708]

CP is that deal technically legal? It sounds like the CP3 thing where you give him a minimum to max him next year, which was for sure illegal.

When I get to work I'll reply. Can't answer properly on my phone. Gimme a lil bit.

 

[licensed to ball]

Yeah, now you're missing the point LTB.

What that dude typed is a bunch of ********.

You guys flat out aren't getting it.

You gotta be kidding man.
For once I thought we were on the same page about something.
Why can't we just agree on something for once?

Im honestly afraid of your response. You might as well not even post it brah.
I don't feel like doing the whole back and forth thing at work today, i actually wanna be productive.
All you gotta say is that you disagree, I can pretty much read between the lines and figure out what kind of essay you're going to write CP. Save us hours of debate bro

 

[licensed to ball]

SOUR CANDIES OBVIOUSLY WIN THE CANDY DEBATE.

IDEAS FOR NEXT POLL?!

Keep it Fun. We have plenty of time to get to basketball polls...let free agency finish before we do polls on records, points per game, kobe, etc.

Gimme another fun idea.

 

[ValarMorghulis]

I'm with you L2B.


In a perfect world, we'd have Kobe for a cheap salary to end his career, but its not going to happen.

I'm not going to hold it against him for getting what he can get and I'm not going to blame management for signing him to a large contract.



He's our best player since Magic and he will break the scoring record, hopefully win a title, and retire in a Laker uniform.





This caveat tho, lets say he reinjures his achilles or blows out a knee. Then, and ONLY THEN, can I see him taking substantially less or the Lakers moving on.

As for the poll... favorite laker role player from 2000 on.