My dream:  Jerry West rejoins the Lakers and then engineers a trade that sends Kobe to Memphis.  The irony would be delicious...

dammit otis, i wanted to play newsbreaker.  that's what i get for working instead of refreshing john hollinger's chat frequently.  I hope they do trade him.  the lakers have clearly goatse'd him in this situation. he is a dick, but a supremely talented, hard-working dick who shouldn't be punished by playing for such an inadequate organization.

I dont even know what to say about him or that organisation anymore.  What an absolute disaster.

Speaking of, Dr. Buss, cant you afford someone to drive you around?

Kobe isn't going anywhere. The lakers have been in a rebuilding mode. The question isn't that they were at that point. It's whether the organization actually told him (he claims this is true) they were building toward a winner. If they meant through a rebuilding state well that's what they meant. I doubt kobe would have stayed on the Lakers if that was the case.

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/LOSANGELES-CA/K LAC-AM/070529%20Kobe%20with%20PMS.mp3?CPROG=PCAST&MARKET=LOSANGELES-CA&NG_FORMAT=sports& SITE_ID=727&STATION_ID=KLAC-AM&PCAST_AUTHOR=AM_570&PCAST_CAT=Arts_

Okay this is a link to some audio there. I hope you all listen to it. It's about 25 mins or so. That's what i based my comment's off.

I think he's trying to leverage to get West back in the fold.  Which begs the question, does a 69 year old icon have any interest in returning to this mess?

This seems like a public relations ploy to me. Kobe is frustrated asking for a trade that can't happen for these 3 reasons:

1. He makes 19.4 million dollars this upcoming season. The Lakers still own his rights. If he pouts thats on him.

2. Kobe signed with the Lakers in the first place. Everybody and their mama knew they were on a downside run with Shaq there. Well, you knew that if you had any sense and watched the 2004 finals.

3. The Lakers don't have to trade him for anything they dont want to. This isn't the situation with Shaq and Jerry Buss. There wasn't a slow long deteriation where Shaq repeatedly abused the organization internally. Kobe isn't going to do that here either. The problem is that Kobe is doing something else entirely.

By 2004 most people either A hated Kobe or B liked/appreciated him. I appreciated him because he did things on the basketball court nobody else in the league could do. Now he's an annoying drama whore who just happens to be the basketball player since Michael Jordan. He's got no truck with me no more. Kobe we're done. Here's why.

1. The Colorado thing. I highly doubt that the woman who was 'allegedly' sexually assaulted was actually 'sexually assaulted'. If she was, I doubt any monetary settlement should have consoled her. If there's a woman out there who would be consoled the assault probably didn't do all of the damage. However that being said, Kobe messed around on his wife and by extension young daughter. It was a stupid mistake. I have no respect for anybody as intelligent as him getting married so young ,like he did with everybody telling him not to, then turning around and doing what he did. Not excusable. Kobe isn't one of those dumb athletes who's really just got one thing going for him. He's a very intelligent man.

2. He changed his number. I know that's corny but why now? It's not like after his first year or anything. He changed it after 10 years in the league. That's just stupid. I don't care if he did it for business purposes's or not. He's still the same player. He's just a marketing whore trying to make himself, and who knows how much more, wealthier than he already is.

3. This trade demand. He isn't in Kevin Garnett's position. I know this will be met with a ton of skepticism but the Lakers have no real spare asset's to trade. There isn't alot of ways to go with this roster. That came with trading Shaq. Kobe said in the audio that I've already posted above that Jerry Buss told him he had made a decision to trade Shaq before he signed with the club. If you knew that as Kobe did, who is an astute basketball fan I might add, you might realize that Lamar Odom and Caron Butler is not the 2nd coming of the decade ago Bulls. Plus after that first season where nobody was healthy was a tough one to get over. The Lakers badly needed Andrew Bynum and his development. They still do as a matter of fact. I think the truth of the matter regarding all of this is that the Lakers don't have any real personnel changes they can accomplish, outside of minor moves like signing Corliss Williamson potentially, they can pull off.

This is the last thing I've got to say. The fact that this is overshadowing the Conference finals is a sad fact about the NBA right now. It badly has no level of interest beyond a few players. That's why the National Nitwits were so angry about Oden and Durant in Portland and Seattle respectively. It's a shame but those markets don't deserve that respect. Clay Bennett does in all honesty but the Sonics fans who have to be excited as all hell to have Durant don't. The real problem is that the NBA was in general mediocre throughout the regular season and the playoffs have followed suite. Too bad too cuz the NBA needed a strong playoffs.

Any doubt that what I said about a public relations ploy rings hollow after what I said? That's an expensive add on to his already very high salary.

Kobe apparently rescinded on LA local radio this afternoon too on xtra sports 1040 am. It's the loose cannons radio program for anybody interesting in finding the probably already avaiable podcast of that interview.

Last but not least I'm done discussing this. I'm frankly very concerned that Jason Smith's draft stock will shoot up to where the kings might not pick him at 10.

No way I would accept Kobe on the Kings. He's showed he has the integrity to match his nickname. He's a snake. He only looks out for himself. That and he has the patience of Grant Napear.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=KobeTradeRequest-070530

Ric Bucher said a few days ago that the biggest reason Jerry West left in the first place was due to the rise of Jim Buss in the organization. If that's the case watch out. This is going to get very ugly.

This is just an opinion but the smarts in that family is the beach bubble headed blonde who just happens to be the GF of some famous guy.

http://myespn.go.com/nba/truehoop--Read Lazelby's opinions. How anybody thinks Jim Buss has a future as a personnel guy is beyond me. Bryan Colangelo (who started out much lower in Phoenix's organization) this guy is not.

Uh, no thanks...

If Kobe Bryant ever becomes a Sacramento King (which ain't gonna happen), I'm sitting that season out as a fan.

He's a smug primadonna with an overblown ego and a dangerous sense of self-entitlement.

How must Kobe's teammates feel right now?  Like Peja did when C-Webb popped off in that ill fated off season?  Chemistry is a tricky thing (see 2006-2007 Kings).  Hard to gain, easy to lose.  Can the Lakers ever seriously compete for a title when their best player is so selfish?  Meanwhile, Tim Duncan is happy with his 21 and 7 as his Spurs close out Utah.  And that's when it hit me.  Yes, we need talent.  Yes, we need athletes.  But what we need most is character.  Vlade Divac type character (the sale of faux purses notwithstanding).  Corliss Williamson type character.  Francisco Garcia type character.  And we need it in our best and most important players.  K-Mart could develop that character.  But he's going to need help.  Brad?  Mike?  Ron?  Anyone?  Hello?  Is this thing on?