I'm here to see the infamous "Kobe Video," which has taken the world by storm it seems. The 24-second video clip was shot in late May, a few days before Kobe Bryant went public with his trade demands on national radio. It catches Bryant criticizing Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak for not pulling off a mid-season trade that would have sent Andrew Bynum to the New Jersey Nets for Jason Kidd.
"It's been crazy," says Ron, who introduces himself as a representative of "The Kobe Video Guys," a couple of college-aged guys who talk to Bryant in the video but wish to remain anonymous in fear of the backlash they might get from Lakers fans. "Everyone wants to see it."
I meet Ron, who appears to be just out of college himself, wearing a backpack and nervously looking around, inside of a nearby bookstore. "Let's go upstairs," he says, being followed by two well-built dudes who he jokingly (I think) calls his bodyguards. "I don't want anyone else watching."
He then pulls out a laptop from his backpack and places the computer in front of me and hands over a set of headphones. "Are you ready?" he asks after I put the headphones on. "Here it is."
The video, which was taken on a digital camera by a friend who was taking pictures of Bryant talking to the two inquisitive fans, begins with Bryant, standing in front of the Newport Coast Shopping Center and wearing a red shirt and sunglasses. He is talking about the trade that the Lakers reportedly turned down last season that would have brought Kidd to the Lakers for Bynum.
"Andrew Bynum? What the f---?" Bryant says in disgust. "Are you kidding me? Andrew Bynum? F---ing ship his ass out. Are you kidding me? We're talking about Jason Kidd. But they didn't even want to do that. Now we're here in this f---ed up position."
The tandem then asked Bryant what he thought about Bynum's potential. Bryant smiled and started to shake his head as if he was about to go on another tirade.
"You know what man? Let me tell you something. Mitch Kupchak had the nerve to ask me..."
At this point the 24-second video clip ends abruptly and we are left to wonder what Bryant says next. "The Kobe Video Guys" say that Bryant went on to say, "How good do you think Andrew Bynum is going to be in 10 years? Are you f---ing kidding me? I'm trying to win this s--- now."
A week later the duo again ran into Bryant in Newport Beach, after he had made his trade demands public, and pulled out a cell phone and recorded one of them telling Bryant, "Please tell us you're staying." Bryant responded by saying, "Get a Bulls uniform fellas."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/arash_markazi/06/19/kobe/index.html
Am I the only one who actually DOESN'T want Kobe to come to NY?? Yes, he is arguably the best player in the game, and yes, he could probably lead the Knicks to the Finals. But personally, I don't like the guy. I think he is a whiny bitch and a spoiled brat.
I would much rather keep the players that we have now, and continue to build chemistry and develop our young guys then have to root for a rapist to bring NY a championship. Is giving up Lee and Balkman, players that I actually respect and enjoy to watch, really worth it?? The Knicks, in my opinion, would have more integrity if they brought in Rasheed Wallace and Ron Artest then Kobe Bryant.
If we end up giving all of the players on the Knicks that I like for a bitch like Kobe, I unfortunately will have to stop being a Knick fan. I'll have to start rooting for another team.
Kobe is the best player in the NBA today. PERIOD.
Theres no counter agrument here. Get him on the Knicks. This isn't even worth being debated anymore. Frye, Lee, Stephon, Curry and anyone else on the team WILL NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER be on the same tier as Kobe.
Wake the hell up people. We're blessed that Kobe wants to be in NYC, cause other than Lee- the lakers wouldn't even want to touch any of our overpaid players with a 10 foot pole
I mean seriously- No to a Kobe trade???? what planet are some of you from?
I know I have been gone for a minute, but I cannot believe what the fuck I am hearing from some of you people. KOBE is the best player in the NBA. We should be grateful such a player of his talent wants to even come to the cesspool that has become the New York Knicks. Now with Frye already have been traded out for Randolph I think it is possible he can be used as trade bait to the Lakers....
But whom I think we really need to get rid of is Marbury. And then try and get Jason Kidd to come play for us at the Garden. Marbury will never lead a team to a playoff series win. Period. It has not happened yet, and it's not like that streak is just based off of one team...it's based on several.
Marbury will never be the type of point guard we need to be successful and Nate Robinson is too erratic as a point guard. David Lee was the most valuable of those 3 picks, he proved that this past season. And in his rookie season he was quite solid as well.
If we cannot get Jason Kidd...someone else point guards in the NBA are a dime a dozen you do not need great ones to win a title...case in point Avery Johnson.
I would be willing to part with Crawford, Balkman, player to be named later to get Kobe. Even though I'm pushing Steph to leave...I think if he is teamed up with Kobe his attitude will make him a brand new citizen.
it all breaks down to where kobe wants to go....if we get artest for next to nothing, nyc will b the ideal place for kobe to go.....kobe dosent want a good team to give all of their good players for him, then he would be playing on the lakers with a different uniform, he wants to go to a team where he sees that idf the roster hardly changes, he still can make a difference. kobe can lead us to the championship right now
can i come live in your fantasy world?:crossfingers:
the knicks cant offer up what other teams can....kobe has no real say in the matter, as the lakers dont have to trade him at all. hes under contract, and unless he plays it out, he remains under said contract. the bulls have a lot of young talent that they could make an offer, and then still have a quality team. do you think the lakers are going to just give up the scoring champ, in his prime, for next to nothing?
while the east is bad enough that with our roster with the addition of kobe we could go deep into the playoffs, but by no means are we anywhere near a championship with or without him.....unless the nbaimplodes and were the only team left.
yeah i dont see how anyone can not want kobe....hes a winner and has a killer instinct. that kind of attitude is what we need. as a person i hate him and his ego but i have the utmost respect for him as a player on the court. my proposed trade in lieu of the randolph deal would be randolph, lee, nate/fred jones, a sg - either q or crawford, and probably a first or second rounder. i would do this in a heartbeat. huge upgrade at sg in terms of size, defense and shooting, balkman or jeffries can play the 3 and focus solely on shutting down the other teams star. our offense can be marbury and kobe shooting and driving and kicking to curry inside. the only issue might be coacing but who knows maybe we could lure phil to come back to ny...remember he was deciding between ny and la. with kobe our team would be way better than LA and i think he might come over.
i think the trade only happens if they find out kobe really is serious, closer to the beginning of the season if he starts holding out of camps and the season, forcing him to trade him. i think if they have to trade him or keep him angry and holding out from the team, our offer doesnt look too bad....two starters pretty much and a pick. i highly doubt theyll trade him anywhere west, especially to a playoff contender like phx. i think that the pieces chicago would have to give up would make them an undesirable team...they would lose at least two starters and probably would be worse than we would be after trading him. i think kobe would want to go to chicago in order to prove hes better than MJ, i think thats why he changed his number to 24. bulls gm paxson said as much on a realgm article that the pieces they would lose (i would say ben wallace, ben/deng and thomas/nocion) would leave them their pgs, ben gordon or deng, nocioni or thomas, and kobe. thats still a good team but they lose a lot of depth and im not sure if ben gordon can coexist with kobe. hinrich kobe deng thomas isnt bad but its not a super team.
im not sure if they would want marbury but if they did i would do that and put craw at the point or maybe try one of the new guys from portland as a ball distributor. when he had the job, dickau didnt do a bad job (in boston i think) of just taking care of the ball and setting up people.
we would win... a lot... with kobe... respect the game... he has his issues... but... he's a winner... if he can guide a laker team that has far less talent than we do to the playoffs in the western conference... then kobe + randolph/curry (whichever one we can keep) or both would make us the beasts of the east...