Lakers struggles have Kupchak ready to make moves

[Neurotic Guy]

Mitch is just bluffing to light a fire under their ***. In case a trade is made, I would completely trust him to do it. I would like to do Bynum and filler for Melo and a decent center. Bynum's value is very high now. Gasol's not being traded.

I am scratching my head.  You think Bynum can get Melo and a decent center?  I really don't pretend to know much about how GMs value particular players, but common sense tells me that Bynum is a role of the dice -- and no team will send certain value away in order to get back an expensive, cap-busting question mark like Bynum.   He is a high risk/high reward gamble -- and for a superstar like Melo, why would you trade for high risk when you could get low risk/ high reward in return? 

Bynum will cost 15 million next year and 16 mill to keep him the following year (or lose him for nothing).   Other than 2006-7, Bynum's top number of games played is 65, a mark he already can't achieve this year.  Lakers could certainly get value for him, but not a superstar.

[Fafnir]

No, he's the franchise to them as far as marketing goes. The Knicks lack the pieces to get Melo, they aren't getting Kobe.

Faf, agree with first sentence, as I said in my post, not totally with the second. I'm not sure how much they lacked the pieces as much as it was that the Knicks weren't ready to almost gut the franchise for Melo. I think they would for Kobe.

If you're trading the a key player on a contending team you better getting a young player with MVP potential. Instead they'd be getting a couple of maybe all-stars who probably won't make an all-nba team even.

The Knicks don't have the talent for Kobe or Melo. For all the Melo bashing that people have engaged in, Melo has just as much value if not more than Kobe. He's much younger and brings a very similar skill set.

I would agree that Melo has more long term value. I disagree about skillset. Melo loves contested shots but hits an average % of them. Kobe loves contested shots but hits a high percentage of them.

Kobe can also pass. And Kobe can defend quite well.

Melo also elicits no fear in the playoffs. None.

Sometimes the 'similar skill set' concept can be tough when there are only so many skills you can have in basketball.

http://bkref.com/tiny/G6AVk

http://bkref.com/tiny/nfzDa

Given the vast differences in the offenses they're being asked to run I'm not surprised that Kobe gets more assists than Melo. But other than that they're very similar players, I also think you're bagging on Melo's defense unfairly. He's a decent defender now. Kobe is better but not by such a huge margin that their age doesn't impact their trade value to equality.

[Surferdad]

Mitch is just bluffing to light a fire under their ***. In case a trade is made, I would completely trust him to do it. I would like to do Bynum and filler for Melo and a decent center. Bynum's value is very high now. Gasol's not being traded.

I am scratching my head.  You think Bynum can get Melo and a decent center?  I really don't pretend to know much about how GMs value particular players, but common sense tells me that Bynum is a role of the dice -- and no team will send certain value away in order to get back an expensive, cap-busting question mark like Bynum.   He is a high risk/high reward gamble -- and for a superstar like Melo, why would you trade for high risk when you could get low risk/ high reward in return? 

Bynum will cost 15 million next year and 16 mill to keep him the following year (or lose him for nothing).   Other than 2006-7, Bynum's top number of games played is 65, a mark he already can't achieve this year.  Lakers could certainly get value for him, but not a superstar.

Well if the Nuggets could get fair value for Melo, they would have done it already.  Now they stand to lose him for nothing in the off-season so it's just a matter of getting as much back as possible.

[Bankshot]

I keep bringing this up, but I'm telling you the Lakers miss Sasha.  He was the only player on their bench that played with some toughness, or at least "fake" toughness. 

[Moranis]

Mitch is just bluffing to light a fire under their ***. In case a trade is made, I would completely trust him to do it. I would like to do Bynum and filler for Melo and a decent center. Bynum's value is very high now. Gasol's not being traded.

I am scratching my head.  You think Bynum can get Melo and a decent center?  I really don't pretend to know much about how GMs value particular players, but common sense tells me that Bynum is a role of the dice -- and no team will send certain value away in order to get back an expensive, cap-busting question mark like Bynum.   He is a high risk/high reward gamble -- and for a superstar like Melo, why would you trade for high risk when you could get low risk/ high reward in return? 

Bynum will cost 15 million next year and 16 mill to keep him the following year (or lose him for nothing).   Other than 2006-7, Bynum's top number of games played is 65, a mark he already can't achieve this year.  Lakers could certainly get value for him, but not a superstar.

Well if the Nuggets could get fair value for Melo, they would have done it already.  Now they stand to lose him for nothing in the off-season so it's just a matter of getting as much back as possible.

they will just sign and trade him to the Knicks, pick up a huge trade exception and a young player or two this summer.  Which isn't much different then what they could get for him now.