<div class="quote_poster">Bobcats Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Injuries won't be the excuse this year. The West has gotten even stronger and the Lakers havn't improved that much at all. Kobe's gone by the trade deadline; next off-season at the latest if anything else doesn't happen in the next month.</div>I highly doubt Kobe is gone by deadline. Unless a team gives up a superstar to get him, he'll stay put. As good as he is, he's not worth gutting a team for. And considering he wants to win, going to a team that just gutted its roster to get you isn't going to get it done.
