Apr

22

Kobe Says: I LOVE L.A.

Posted by Jeff Sack under Main 

Let’s take a little trip back in time, nothing too drastic just last Summer. You probably remember all too well when the Sports Pages weren’t dominated by rogue NBA referee Tim Donaghy, they were consumed by the daily soap opera out in Los Angeles entitled “Where Will Kobe End Up?” It all started when Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant broke off a call to ESPN Radio, saying he wanted out of L.A. he was through with the Lakers, and and there was an irreparable rift between he and the team.? Apparently it wasn’t that big a crevice because he was on the Lakers Flagship station in L.A. like two hours later,?saying he had heard from coach Phil Jackson, and that everything was going to be just fine.

That lasted about two weeks, then we heard?that Bryant had met with Lakers Team Owner Dr. Jerry Buss?in Barcelona, and again demanded to be traded. Buss told him that the team would try to accomodate him. The rest of the Summer was filled with where Kobe was going or who was coming to the Lakers. But by Opening Night everything was status quo, and Kobe said he would just concentrate on the season. Not wanting to let Bryant have the last word Buss told reporters, that if Los Angeles was out of the Playoff race, by around the trade deadline,?he would consider trading Bryant. So just when all the fires looked like they had been put out, Buss started another blaze.??

Now let’s get back to the present, the Lakers never fell out of the Playoff hunt they won the Western Conference. Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchack somehow stole Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies, for Kwame Brown, and a bunch of magic beans. And Monday according to ESPN.com, Kobe said he wants to stay right where he is and no longer wants to be traded. He said that Kupchack had gone from a General Manager with a F on his report card to an A+.

Bryant said to reporters “I’ve always wanted to be here. I just felt like I was in a position where I didn’t really have a choice. They wanted to go in an opposite direction. My legs aren’t as young as they used to be. Just let me know. I learned a lesson, which is you have to separate business from the love of the game because there were a lot of decisions that were made business-wise that I wasn’t happy with. I took a lot of the blame for a lot of the stuff they were doing. It didn’t sit right with me. It still doesn’t sit right with me. But you have to be able to separate that from the love that you have for the game of basketball and the respect that you have for your team. I’ve been sitting on this for four years now. After three or four years of not getting anything done, to see it today, it feels pretty damn good. It’s been a hell of a ride! I love the weather. I love my ‘63 drop-top Impala. I love the 405 (freeway). I love my guys!”

? Copyright 2008 thesackattack.com



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