Kobe Bryant Deals All Over The Places

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I've been closely watching the Kobe Bryant trade situation and it has exploded into several new directions today, with the Lakers and Bulls the only two constant things in the developments. I have already posted a discussion here about Kobe's possible future with the Chicago Bulls, and just a few hours ago, a couple more rumors trickled in, one involving the Phoenix Suns and the other, well, involving the Sacramento Kings. Both scenarios have Bryant going to the Bulls. The first trade possibility is a Lakers-Bulls-Suns three-way deal. Kobe, as I have said, goes to Chicago. The Phoenix Suns apparently want to know how much the Bulls are interested in trading youngster Thabo Sefolosha (the 23-year-old Swiss player picked 13th at the 2006 NBA Draft), but given the most likely trade pawn they'll be dealing in for this trade (Shawn Marion), they'll probably want a lot more than just a young player, after all with Nash nearing the end of his prime years they had better try to win a championship sooner than later. This trade should send Marion, at least, to the Los Angeles Lakers, but I doubt that'll be a good fit unless he is to play power forward alongside Lamar Odom at the three position. The Suns were apparently set on drafting Sefolosha at the 2006 draft, but Bulls' general manager, John Paxson, made a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers who picked Sefolosha. I don't exactly know who the Bulls would give up in this kind of a deal, but if this goes down I can see them giving up Sefolosha, Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni and/or Tyrus Thomas. The other deal rumored in the Windy City is the one involving the Sacramento Kings as the third party between the Bulls and the Lakers. As part of the deal, Bryant goes to Chicago, Kirk Hinrich and/or Ben Wallace (of Chicago) alongside Ron Artest (of Sacramento) goes to the Lakers, and finally Ben Gordon and a signed-and-traded PJ Brown (both from Chicago, the latter out of retirement) goes to the Sacramento Kings. Of the two rumored three-way deals, this one seems more plausible. The Bulls essentially lose Gordon, Hinrich, and Wallace for Bryant (PJ Brown's a relatively non-factor in the deal due to his retirement situation); that should be fair enough. Sacramento gets Gordon and Brown for Artest in what looks like a fair enough exchange, as well. Finally, Wallace/Hinrich plus Artest gives the Lakers a decent enough pair (or trio) of players to replace Bryant, all of which they should be able to rid themselves of in a year or two just in case they need to clear salary space if they decide to go for youth movement given their superstar player loss. I can't tell whether one of two mentioned deals would go down soon, but Phil Jackson himself already implied that whatever happens should happen sooner than later. I could understand where he's coming from, because if there's something suffering from all of this, it's the Lakers organization. This is not to say they are not to blame for whatever's happening, for they should take responsibility for not getting themselves the right team to reach their goals. They should have had that win-now attitude one or two seasons ago. They could have had Jason Kidd by now if they weren't too tight on holding on to Andrew Bynum. They could have had Kevin Garnett if they wanted to; they could have had more to offer the Timberwolves than Boston. Whatever happens, should happen soon, I agree. I personally want to see Kobe in a different uniform and see if that changes his attitude towards the game and his team. I want to see him take on the challenge of, above any championship dream and above all else, being content and just playing ball the way it should be played: pure and driven.