Kobe on Kobe

by David Snyder

Kobe Bryant has officially lost himself, and perhaps the phone number of his PR person.

On his website, kb24.com, this weekend he laid out his reasons for demanding a trade from the Lakers, in a post signed:

Strength and Honor,
Kobe

You can always count on athletes for a laugh.

He wrote:

When you love something as much as I love the Lakers its [sic] hard to even imagine thinking about being elsewhere. But, the ONE THING I will never sacrifice when it comes to basketball is WINNING.(the silly capitalization is Kobe's doing, not mine)

To stay in the spirit of fathers day, this is like a dad telling his son, "I will love you no matter what, son. Unless you prove to be a fantastic failure."

Kobe Bryant is the ninth highest paid player in the league. It has been rumored that he would like the Lakers to trade for Jermaine O'Neal, who is the eighth highest paid player in the league. The two salaries would likely skyrocket the team into the luxury tax.

Is Bryant willing to take a pay cut for the team he loves so much? Is he willing to sacrifice his compensation for his one true love, WINNING?

I don't think so, nor do I think he should be paid less than he makes. He fills the Staples Center. He has the highest selling jersey worldwide. He deserves as much of the money he generates as he can get.

But do not sell the fans on the fact that your primary desire in basketball is WINNING, because first comes money, then comes WINNING (he started it), and then who knows, but probably not the Lakers or their fans.

The more I thought about the future, the more I became convinced that the Lakers and me just have two different visions for the future.

Yes. This is true.

Kobe's involves some type of league a kin to NBA Live, where you can sign anyone without cap violations. The Laker's vision for the future so far is one where they simply try to keep him happy, and make silly trades that send Caron Butler out of town.

It seems to be a full time, and thankless job for the Laker's brass in terms of both.

The Lakers are pursuing a longer-term plan that is different from what Dr. Buss shared with me at the time I re-signed as a free agent. I have seen that plan unfold for the last three years and watched great trade opportunities come and go, and have seen free agents passed on. That has led to the Lakers not winning a playoff series.

How come Nowitzki is blasted for his role in Dallas' failure in the playoffs this season, but Kobe gets to skate? How can you be the team's "leader" and "cornerstone" and not bear some of the responsibility for your team's playoff struggles?

When all is said and done Kobe is right about the situation in L.A. It has been a bad plan from the start. The Shaq trade is what ruined the Lakers, and if Kobe had anything to do with that he has himself to blame.

Now he awaits a trade.

The only questions are can a team a) fit his salary into their cap space b) find enough value on their roster c)fit Kobe's ego into their locker room?

Let's hope his future teammates only care about WINNING.

David Snyder shares his thoughts on the sports world at bigdaveonsports.com.

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