Kobe Bryant, a Chicago Bull?!? Please! In honor of all the texters out there, WTF, OMG, HCTB (How can this be)!?!  Seriously. You may like him.  As far as Chicago Bulls fans go, most people seem to either hate him or love him.   I lean toward the former.  Don’t get me wrong.  I respect the man’s game.  He is one of the best in the league talent wise.  And he’s still got plenty of time left in him. Heck, at his age (29), MJ had a grand total of zero championships.  But he’s not a Team Player.  Isn’t that what the no-longer-baby Bulls are all about!?!  We win by holding the opponent to one of the lowest field goal percentages in the league, year after year.  We win by playing defense, by passing the ball around.  Kobe just doesn’t fit with the Bulls, or the Bulls sans Deng, Gordon, or whomever (probably multiple players) we would have to give up. 

Marc Stein reports in a very nicely written article that "a deal seems more inevitable than every before." TrueHoop also has an interesting post on Kobe.  People have reported Kobe as having cleaned out his locker at the Lakers’ practice facility.  In response, team sources have said he merely cleaned up his locker.  Yeah right.  With Chicago and Dallas becoming his most likely destinations if he departed L.A., us Bulls fans ought to start worrying.  Obviously, if Kobe were to come to Chicago, I would suck it up and root for him and probably eventually like him as a player.  He is just one of those few players I really wish didn’t make that transition though.  Can you imagine Alonzo Mourning in a Bulls uniform?  Danny Ferry?  Bill Laimbeer?  John Starks? James Posey?  People we love to hate.  Well, Kobe rounds out the five as a bench player in my all time Anti-Bulls Team.  I know I will receive several email’s especially from my buddy docksquad, who are Bulls fans and love Kobe and want him over here more than anything.  We can agree to disagree.  The only Kobe I want in Chicago is the beef.  I just hope this Adam Caldarelli does not turn out to be prophetic in his satiric five-on-five line, saying Luol Deng will be a Laker by monday.

In closing, just pulllllllllllllleaaaaase, hold of on a trade this year, and give these Baby Bulls a chance to play a season together as developing players.   If we gut our team now, we may be missing out on some of the best players to play the game.  Maybe not premier elite to the likes of MJ, Bird, and Magic.  But all-stars to the likes of Pippen, Malone, and Shawn Kemp.  (Did I just say Shawn Kemp?  It must be getting late). We’ve all heard Luol and Ben and Kirk and Joakim and Nocioni and others have gotten much better this off-season.  Let’s see how it pans out this year, and run over the Pistons, Celtics, and Cavs .  One more year.