LAist: If Kobe Loves LA, He Has a Funny Way of Showing It

winston

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 22:26:50 -0800

Jerry traded Shaq because he wanted a ridiculous contract for an aging player. He would have been traded regardless of Kobe and, while it sucked for a few years, I am pretty glad we're not stuck with his albatross of a contract like the heat are. Plus, if they had kept Shaq, Kobe would have signed with that other LA team and the lakers would be playing second fiddle to the Clips. And that, my friends, just ain't right.

tony

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 11:57:17 -0800

its nice to know that we're in agreement, winston: the Lakers front office made a huge mistake when they decided to listen to kobe and get rid of shaq, and now its in their best interest to go back to treating kobe like just another whiny player instead of the god that half the people in these comments treat him like. im glad you agree.

Natalie

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 23:58:41 -0800

Kobe likes to eat Ninja Turtles for dinner. Also, I'd totally let him throw me against a chair in a hotel room and give it to me. Hell yeah, hand me the maid's costume! He's quite an attractive African American gentleman.

torqtump

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 19:41:59 -0800

Kobe's probably more intelligent than 99% of the basketball players and owners and managers and coaches in the league (he has an extra brain stored in his weird pointy-shaped head). That's why no one likes him...he's like a bitter unpopular nerd...

Leslie Row

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:31:15 -0800

Kobe didn't even say anything, it's some "source." Kobe has not said anything in a month.

winston

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 16:17:34 -0800

This really isn't about Kobe, believe it or not. LA is a basketball town. The Lakers are our NY Yankees. The Lakers are not their usual dominant selves these days. Kobe is the best player in the league and keeping him here is the one thing that is keeping the lakers from totally blowing Here's the problem. The Lakers management blows, they have been running the team into the ground since the Shaq trade. Kobe wants to win, and all signs point to that not happening on a team apparently run by vicious drunken weasels. Here's the other problem: Kobe has a no trade clause. This means that if we trade Kobe the Lakers aren't going to get anything near fair trade value because Kobe won't play for a stripped team. So there are 3 scenarios here. 1) Trade Kobe for a bunch of schlubs, ideally schlubs with expiring contracts. Get them off the payroll, suck for a few years then get good again in 3-4 years if we're lucky. Given the lakers management, 10-15 years if we're lucky. 2) Keep Kobe, trade our schlubs and expiring contracts for a couple decent players (Jermaine O'Neil, Ron Artest, etc.) This is vaguely palatable but given Kobe's vocal demands we're going to get hosed in the trade because the other managers know they have us over a barrel. Plus we've got plenty of drama, do we need to add JO and Artest? That is a car wreck waiting to happen. On the plus side, might be fun to watch... 3) Fire Jim Buss. Fire Mitch Kubchak. (Lakers (mis)management). Bring in West & Magic and a couple other folks who can run a basketball team. This would give Kobe hope & management he can trust. It also buys us a year or so to get some good players & not get hosed in the deal. Results of said scenarios 1) Lakers make memphis look good for the next ten years. Kobe wins 5 championships with the Chicago Bulls or Boston Celtics (horror of horrors). Lakers fans cry. Jim Buss gets burnt at the stake. 2) We make it to the second round next year, Kobe opts out of his contract, we have nothing left. Lakers fans cry, Jim Buss gets burnt at the stake 1-2 years later then scenario 1. 3) Jim Buss & Mitch Cupcake cry. We make it to the second or third round next year. Year 2 and 3 we bring the championship back to LA, Kobe goes down as the best basketball ever to have lived, Magic smiles, Lakers fans rejoice & burn cars in a drunken victory orgy. The rest of the country continues to hate the lakers.

tony

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:51:08 -0800

sorry jane, but when the so-called greatest player in the nba today says that he wants to leave the lakers, thats news. and a, to me, it is kobe opening his mouth to anyone. dr buss and phil calmed him down two weeks ago and now kobe is whining again. thats what i would like him to stop doing for a little while. he should just watch his euro soccer practice in spain and chill out.

jane

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:39:47 -0800

seriously, the media is obsessed with kobe. it's not kobe who's the self-absorbed athlete, it's the media drooling over every opportunity to talk about him.

a

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:28:23 -0800

Why the hell are people telling kobe to shut up, when it was not he, but a SOURCE, who disclosed the fact that he wants to be traded. for all we know, he may not have even claimed that. i was the one who wanted him to shut up when he made a radio tour announcing his desires to be traded, but this is a completely different scenario.