Ah where to begin. Well the events that have taken place the past few days can be read on the news all over the place. So I think I’ll just talk about what I think is going on.

In terms of why Kobe is doing this, one could say that its to get the attention of the people. The NBA playoffs are still going on, and the top story isn’t those games, its Kobe Bryant. Others can say its to be defiant and to ask to be traded out of L.A. My feeling is that he wants something to get done. He is probably watching those NBA playoff games and is thinking to himself that he could still be out there playing. The Lakers organization promised to him back in 2004 when he resigned that they would put out a team that would contend for titles. Apparently that hasn’t happened 3 years later.

Now the organization is again promising to build a team around Kobe that will contend for a title. But apparently something has changed. Kobe thinks that Jerry Buss was lying to him, and that instead the Lakers we’re on some long term plan. I’m not sure where Kobe got that idea, but it is true that you can look at the drafting of Andrew Bynum as a testament of that fact. Bynum was not going to make an impact right away, and the Lakers with the 10th pick in the draft could have gone for a more ready player that could make an immediate impact. To go along with that, they went and traded for Kwame Brown. That in itself is a project that has yet to bear its fruits.

Ok so lets say that its true that the Lakers indeed were trying to build for later. Maybe even try to save up cap space to get a Yao Ming or LeBron James in the future. Apparently Kobe didn’t get that message and now he’s upset about it. The guru Sonny Vaccaro was talking about this very fact. Kobe should have seen what was going on way back then when they drafted Bynum. If he didn’t like that, he should have said something about it back that.

But to Kobe’s defence, was Kobe in the know? From what Kobe has revealed to us these past few days he hasn’t been apart of any personnel decisions at all. Going back all the way to the Shaq trade, he’s saying that Dr. Buss was going to trade Shaq no matter what Kobe did. Shaq yesterday commented about that, and believed Kobe 1000 percent. Continuing on, the Lakers traded Caron Buttler for Brown, and Kobe apparently wasn’t even told about it until the deal was already done.

Then Kobe says that he’s been bringing guys to the Lakers front office that want to be a Laker, and each time it has been shot down. He cites Baron Davis, Carlos Boozer, and Ron Artest. I find this really revealing, because the image of Kobe and the Lakers when it comes to personnel ever since Shaq got traded was that Kobe was calling the shots. Mr. Chucky Atkins even went so far as to call Kobe the GM. Now if what Kobe is saying is true, then we really don’t know this Laker organization. It would seem pretty obvious and normal for a team to confer with their star player whenever they try to make any personnel changes. Especially when they are trying to build around that person.

So if what Kobe has revealed to us his true, it also puts what happened to Shaquille O’neal into perspective. As a long time Laker fan, this makes me wary about the team that I have been supporting since I can remember. What it makes me think is that management doesn’t care about its players, all that they are in for is the money.

The point is this. The Lakers resigned Kobe Bryant and promised to spend money, do whatever it takes to make this team a championship contender. In reality what might have been happening is that the Lakers kept Kobe because he’s a superstar and then tried to just save money on the other pieces. Kobe is what the people want to see in Los Angeles, the land of stars. And the Lakers and Kobe Bryant are the biggest star amongst stars. People are gonna keep buying those season tickets just to watch Kobe. Apparently it doesn’t matter to Laker management whether or not the Lakers win any more. As long as Kobe can score 81 points and make all this buzz they are content.

Now I’m not saying that the Lakers are going so far as to doing what Donald Sterling and the Clippers did in the past. Because the Lakers are obviously over the salary cap. But on order of Jerry Buss they have been trying to get back to the cap, and he has refused to pay the luxury tax. Poor Mitch Kupchak has been trying to put out a contending team while following these orders, and its been tough. That is not to say that he has not made bad decisions. I could not believe that the Lakers paid Brian Grant 15 Million dollars for this last season. B Grant hasn’t played for the Lakers for like 2 years now, and we we’re still paying him…

If we can believe what Kobe has been saying these past few days, I believe that he does have reason to gripe about what has been going on with this Lakers team and organization. If what he says is true then maybe the Lakers have been playing us all for fools trying to ride those 3 chapionships and milk them for all its worth. Now I’m not that old (i think) to have remembered how the Lakers were viewed as in the early to mid 90s, but from what I have heard, the Lakers were not that popular back then. After the showtime era ended, the Lakers were pretty mediocre and I assume the Lakers business suffered.

Fast forward to the 21st century and the Lakers win three titles. I would say with the new rules in place for free agency it’s nearly impossible to keep a championship team together for very long. Obviously San Antonio being the one and only exception, with their superb  scouting and drafting. My guess is the Lakers must have known this, and instead of go through that slump they had in the mid 90s, they tried to keep attention by keeping the star Kobe Bryant. Again like I said earlier, I don’t believe that the Lakers were trying to pull a Donald Sterling, but I also believe like Kobe is saying that the Lakers were not trying to build to win now. Remember winning now means spending money to get free agents. The Lakers can’t do that, and wont do that because of the luxury tax.

I think all Laker fans will agree with me on this. Ticket prices are so damm high, they should be putting out a product there that is deserving of it and because of that they should be the few teams in the NBA that do spend the luxury tax.

I think I’ll stop here for today, and tomorrow I’ll talk about what I think is going to happen to the Lakers in the future. Will Kobe be traded? Who is coming to the Lakers? That kind of thing.