Bad Trades: Lakers vs. Kings

Marc Stein lists his top 5 bad trades in his Daily Dime column. In his honorable mention sits the Chris Webber to Philadelphia trade, which I lambasted as "the worst trade ever." At the time, nobody agreed with my assessment. As I said in a later column, the Webber trade officially ended Sacramento's run as one of the Western Conference's elite teams. Stein says:

Chris Webber going from Sacramento to Philadelphia one day earlier (along with Matt Barnes and Michael Bradley) for Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner...Geoff Petrie is still trying to rebuild Sacramento's kingdom almost three years after Webber was exiled.

What isn't mentioned in Stein's analysis is that Matt Barnes turned out to be the best player involved in the trade. At the time, I wrote:

While I'm a UCLA-homer, Matt Barnes might be the second best player in the trade because of his versatility, passing ability and outside shooting ability.

To quibble with Stein, I think the Lakers got more for Shaq than the Kings did for Webber. Sure, Shaq at the time was better than Webber at the time and the Heat won a championship with Shaq. However, acquiring Lamar Odom and Caron Butler is a pretty good package. Teams never, as Stein's article illustrates, get full value for a superstar. However, Butler and Odom are a great pair.

I like the Lakers' team now. I wrote an article earlier this year suggesting that if Kobe really is a superstar, the Lakers should be a top 5 Western Conference team and win a play-off series. As I wrote:

The Lakers lack a true 3rd weapon. Luke Walton is a valuable player at small forward, but he is not a weapon like Manu Ginobili, Ray Allen, Caron Butler or Shawn Marion. However, the Lakers possess astonishing depth in the post with a number of long, active players who can defend the basket and score in the pivot. Andrew Bynum drew the wrath of Kobe during the summer, but for a kid who just turned 20, he is talented, big and long. Few people seem to value Bynum as highly as I do, but I do not see why people are so enthusiastic about Oden, at 19, versus Bynum at 20. If Bynum played for a coach and with players who believed in his ability, I would argue he is every bit as good as Oden, and probably a better offensive player right now. For a 3rd or 4th weapon, a legitimate seven-footer with good hands and athleticism is a nice problem to have.

Well, what if the Lakers never traded for Kwame Brown and had Caron "Tough Juice" Butler? Bryant, Butler, Bynum and Odom is as talented as any team's top four players, when you take into account the versatility and the length. Other team's can argue their top four are as good (Pistons, Suns), but the Lakers would be as talented as any of them.

Since that is true, and the Kings gave away the top 2 players in the Webber deal and failed to acquire any salary cap relief, I believe the Lakers did better in their trade of Shaq than the Kings did in their trade of Webber.