Personally, I think the Lakers should have just done the deal. Bynum’s got to go as Kobe is taking it personally that Jim won’t trade him in any of these scenarios. Also clear as day - Bynum represents the future (obviously as he’s so far away from being a developed player!) of the Org, and Jim’s unwillingness to part with him is a sign to Kobe that they are on a future plan not building a contender in the present. And he’s got a good point. Bynum isn’t going to be a player for a few years at best. And Phil already seems at the end of his rope with this kid.

Bottom line, LO and Bynum is not too much for the likes of an all star big man entering the prime of his career in JO. There will be a couple other players in the mix, but you’ve got to do that deal if you’re Lakers FO. As much as I like the name of this site I’m a little doubtful that the Lakers FO can manage to get KG. Also no talk from FO at all about Gasol. So JO looks like the only big man we can actually get. I would hate to see them blow it.

Also, I as some of you was dissapointed in not only the reputable “Universal” news sourcec of the Associated Press, but ESPN as well. Come on, someone should of caught that the post was orginally written more then 2 weeks ago, but they went public with it before even checking the sources…

Thank you for writing this article, my respect. Unfortunately, the media frenzy or better said Rating-Hungry shark frenzy is giving the franchise, players and fans an emotional roller coaster ride.

They have become socially irresponsible and walk over dead bodies to get ratings at any cost.

And it’s so obvious this time; last Friday, Janie Buss, oldest daughter of Dr. Buss, went on AM570 and said her dad may meet Bryant in Barcelona. Sure enough 2 hours later, Eric Pincus writes about this meeting and Kobe’s “trade request” which I don’t believe. And 2-3 hours later, LA-Times Mike Bresnahan writes about it. And there you have it, classical frenzy for nothing but a meeting between to guys with nobody present.

Mark Schneider’s (BC school of Journalism) has an interesting view:
“Here’s a microscopic view of how it happens: a reporter reports, and other reporters notice or are assigned a follow-up. Sometimes errors are encountered. But often, in the need to “advance” the story, a new chapter is simply written, and the original story becomes a canonical piece of general knowledge. This is especially evident when the source story comes from a respected news organization or news service”

Cyrus

“King” James described JUST BEING IN the finals as the greatest feeling he had ever experienced.

If you have ever won a championship game then you can relate somewhat. If you worked your entire life playing the same sport and then won three times in a row in front of a stage of millions of people, well now you are in Kobe’s league. Winning has got to be like a drug to him (sorry but the candy analogy just didn’t cut it). He’s been told the last couple of years that more of the drug would be coming soon and he knows he can get the drug elsewhere (as did Shaq after crying in a similar manner).

Add his desire to win with the fact that the Lakers FO passed on deals to bring in great talent (great NOW, not next year or two years from now) and you have a situation in which Kobe is posturing to be traded. All employees are allowed to play “I’m going to move if XYZ doesn’t happen” card once in their career and Kobe is simply doing just that. He is doing it because he hasn’t seen squat from the FO and it is his way of putting pressure on the organization since, in his mind, nothing was being with him not putting on the pressure.

So do I blame Kobe for what he has done? Absolutely not. Is what he has done in the best interest for the team? I doubt it, but we’ll never know for sure. Maybe it will turn out to be the best thing he is ever done.

One thing I do know for sure: Kobe ain’t going no where. And all you Laker fans that are starting to hate on Kobe for doing this and think the team can win without him need to get real. Kobe is perhaps the greatest game closer of all time. So think about which player in the league you would want taking that last shot with five ticks on the clock and then tell me you are OK seeing Kobe go to another team.