The Lakers (including Kobe) greet the media

[GangstaBoogy]

They filed out one by one from the trainers' room at the Lakers' El Segundo facility today, 17 of the 18 Lakers currently in uniform, for the start of media day. Then came Coach Phil Jackson and his assistants.

But all the gathered media didn't flinch. They were waiting for the 18th member of the squad.

And finally, 34 minutes after the start of media day, Kobe Bryant, whose trade-me-don't-trade-me tirades during the off-season kept him in the headlines, came out in uniform, apparently ready to begin another season with the Lakers.

Escorted by an armada of cameras and microphones, Bryant greeted Lakers broadcasters Joel Meyers and Stu Lantz and proceeded to stand before a camera and read team public-service announcements and television promos.

Before addressing the media, he clasped hands with Andrew Bynum, who had been mentioned as ideal trade bait by Bryant in a video made and released by several fans during the off-season.

"I just hope everything is cool," said Bynum, who will be starting his third season as the Lakers center. "I think he was just a frustrated veteran, tired of losing. Everybody wants to win, but he might want to win more than anyone."

Bynum said he had heard about the video but hadn't seen it.

"All he wanted to do was make the team better," Bynum said of Bryant. "And Jason Kidd [part of a proposed trade for Bynum] definitely would do that. All he did was make me work harder. I'm good with everything. I just know that I want to be as good a player as I can be."

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Gee...what a fucking surprise.


Jizzat? where's my bill at?

[GangstaBoogy]

My bad, here's the link: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakemedia2oct02,1,6987076.story?coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=3&cset=true