"I would certainly listen. At any time, I think you have to do that with anybody. It's just part of the game, to listen to somebody who has a dissatisfied player that you think is going to fit. You can't keep too many loyalties. You've got to look at it as a business. He looks at it the same way I look at it."
- Jerry Buss
Those words spread from the tips of one journalist fingers to the internet just over a week ago and just like that, the Lakers are on everyone’s minds, again. Could the Lakers owner really be considering trade offers from other franchises? In the grand scheme of things, the answer looks like its yes.
Those words represent just a small portion of the thespian change in the tone of the organization since the Lakers’ media day, a day when everything seemed peachy. Kobe showed up, all smiles and told reporters he was ready to play. It was convincing enough that, after media day, you didn’t really hear much about the Lakers in the news. This, in it self seemed crazy until Buss shot out those words heard around the basketball world.
"I tend not to think in basketball terms that many years down the road because things change so dramatically, but he could test the waters at that point," Buss said speaking on the idea of Kobe playing elsewhere. "If he still is in that frame of mind, then hopefully we can do a sign-and-trade and get some comparable talent. I would like to think that we win between now and then so that it doesn't come up."
Not only is Buss hearing offers now, but it could almost sound like he wants to get rid of the superstar that has added so many dollars to his bank account. Hypothetical trade deals started popping up all over sports related websites. Every NBA columnist on ESPN.com offered their intake on the most-likely deals for the Lakers departure with Kobe, even suggesting that we, as readers, go to the trade machine and check out how it could happen ourselves.
We have to remember, it was Buss, more than anyone else in the organization that wanted to get rid of Shaq. It wasn’t because of the money, it wasn’t the big man’s conditioning, it was because Shaq publicly criticized the Lakers owner. Buss has thin skin, he is not a man to be messed with, and Kobe’s announcement to every other radio show early summer may have broke Buss’ skin.
After Buss’ comments, fans started hearing reports about Bryant skipping practice to rest his legs. Two days in a row. Three days in a row. Following his third missed practice there were reports of Kobe cleaning out his locker and leaving the Lakers facilities. Every journalist seemed poised to write there “Kobe is no-longer a Laker” article, only to learn that the story would have to wait another day, at the very least when it turned out that the league’s top shooting guard just cleaned out his locker.
Kobe has now pissed off Jerry Buss, Tex Winter (the Lakers assistant coach who wanted Kobe to speak out about team personnel, but was disappointed in the way he did it), and now Phil Jackson, who has been playing Billy Hoyle to Kobe’s Sidney Deane throughout this whole ordeal, by sitting out practices.
Still, there were doubts leading to Thursday night’s preseason game in Bakersfield. No one really knew if Bryant was going to suit up, or even travel with the team, except for Bryant himself. Number 24 did suit up and played a great game to say the least, but still left reporters wondering after his post game interview.
Bryant was asked if he was still on the Lakers roster by the time the season started, would he be ready to play and responded saying, “Yeah, you know, no matter where I’m at I’m ready to play. That has no affect on me whatsoever.” The comment left so much to be gathered but was not touched upon the rest of the interview.
The bottom line is the Lakers still have a basketball team, whether or not Kobe is on it. Jackson is working on making Buss happy with a more up-tempo offense while keeping the basic concepts of the triangle. They still have to improve on the defensive end of the floor and they need to hit open shots. The other guys, you know, the ones not named Kobe, just need to concentrate on playing basketball.
“We have to just play. We can’t worry about the negative things,” said rookie guard Jarvis Crittenton. “We can’t worry about the things we can’t change and just worry about the things we can, and that’s how we play individually and as a team with the people that are on the floor.”
However, they still don’t know who is going to be on the floor. Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown played limited minutes because they still aren’t 100 percent and Lamar Odom didn’t play at all because he is still nursing that shoulder injury. And, of course, the team still isn’t sure if Kobe has played his last regular season game as a Laker yet.
The front runners in the “Kobe Sweepstakes” have to be Chicago and Dallas, even though there have been reports of Mark Cuban saying that Mavericks all-star, Dirk Nowitski, is untouchable. Dallas still has a lot of talent they could give up for Kobe.
The Bulls, on the other hand, seems to finally be coming into their own as an elite team in the league. They have drafted well and now have a nice young core of athletes they might not want to give up just yet. I can’t imagine John Paxon trading any of them for at least another year to give the young guys one more shot at doing it with the talent they currently have.
This wild ride that is the Lakers seems to never end, whether it be Kobe, Jerry Buss, Buss’ feuding children (Jeanie and Jim), Phil Jackson or one of those other guys. Lakers fans are in for one hell of a season, lets hope they’re ready for it.
Photos Courtesy of forbes.com, offsidz.com, and nba.com, respectively