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Kobe's Main Priority- To Bring A Title Back To The Lakers.
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Lakers, including Kobe Bryant, head to Hawaii
By Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
6:15 PM PDT, October 1, 2007
The Lakers took off for training camp in Hawaii with Kobe Bryant along for the ride, their charter flight leaving LAX on Monday afternoon with one problem solved -- for now, at least -- but a host of others ambling in from the periphery.
Bryant was trailed by a flood of reporters at the team's media day in El Segundo, his every move logged as he filmed promos with the Lakers' broadcast partners, even saying with a smile for a KCAL bit, "My teammates and I hope you're excited about this upcoming season."
By the time he met with reporters, word had already filtered out that Lamar Odom would probably miss the entire exhibition season, Kwame Brown would be limited for most, if not all, of training camp and, to a lesser degree, Andrew Bynum would be sidelined the next few days because of a strained lower-leg muscle.
It began to sound a lot like last October, when the Lakers camp was filled with injury reports, post-surgery recovery updates and more injury reports. As if to illustrate the point, Coach Phil Jackson walked around Monday with the use of a cane, a helpful implement after his second hip-replacement surgery within a year.
Jackson will be fine, but the immediate prognosis for Odom, who had off-season shoulder surgery, and Brown, who had shoulder and ankle surgery, wasn't overly optimistic, both players sounding more hopeful than convinced about playing in the Oct. 30 season opener against Houston.
"I've still got a little ways to go," Odom said. "It'll take some time."
And with that, the Lakers jetted off to Honolulu, while leaving behind a wake of summer stories that centered on Bryant's dissatisfaction with the organization.
He was the centerpiece of an off-season of discontent, noting his dissatisfaction in numerous public displays, be it by interviews with reporters or by guerrilla videos shot by amateurs in Orange County parking lots.
Bryant said Monday the time for complaining had come and gone. He would "leave it up to management" to make changes, if any were to be done.
"I'm a soldier, man," he said. "It's not a soldier's job to question whether or not he should fight the war. You've got to go over there and fight. It's not my place."
Bryant was in a more combative mood in late May, less than a month after the Lakers' five-game flameout against Phoenix in the first round. He was frustrated that roster changes hadn't been made, publicly requested the return of Jerry West, and after that didn't go over too well with the Lakers or West, demanded to be traded.
The Lakers made some moves during the off-season, re-signing Luke Walton, Chris Mihm and a point guard from their past, Derek Fisher, but trading Bryant was never an option, which led to the media crush on the media day.
Which direction would Bryant go -- show a contrite nature or again fire up the jets of agitation? He definitely didn't do the latter, although he put a lot of the roster on notice, saying it was time for the two-time scoring champion to divvy up some of the work on offense.
"I'm going to require some of the guys to carry that load more from the beginning," Bryant said. "It's four years now we've been together. There has to be a heightened sense of responsibility for them to produce and also for me to demand more out of them, and try to elevate them on a daily basis."
He found time to hand out a compliment or two to the front office, in his own way.
On owner Jerry Buss, whom he criticized during the off-season, Bryant said, "What I understand about Jerry from the stuff that people have been telling me, is that he has kind of been out of the loop for the last two years. . . . My understanding is that he's kind of going to be back in the mix now."
On the Lakers losing out to Boston in the chase for Kevin Garnett, Bryant acknowledged it being a "checkmate piece" for the Celtics but also propped up the front office. "I know they tried. It wasn't a lack of effort. That to me says a lot, means a lot to me because they really pushed to get it done. It just didn't happen. I can live with that."
On his future with the Lakers, he spoke of establishing a main item at the top of his list.
"I think the important thing for everybody to understand is that I want to bring a title back to L.A.," he said. "That's priority No. 1 for me, is to bring a title back here. I just have to trust that we're all on the same page in terms of getting that done."
Not everything could be undone in one day, however.
Bryant's amateur-video critique of Bynum did not go unnoticed by a certain 19-year-old 7-footer.
Bynum said he had not seen the video, in which Bryant tells a handful of Lakers fans that the teenager should have been shipped out in a trade last season for All-Star guard Jason Kidd. Bynum was surprised when he heard about its content.
"I thought it was kind of messed up," Bynum said, more matter-of-fact than angry. "But he's a frustrated veteran, he wants to win and he had an opportunity to get a Hall of Fame point guard, which is a position that we were really lacking last year. I would have been kind of upset, too."
Above it all stood Jackson, who turned 62 last month, in the last year of a contract that averages $10 million annually, and recently returned from a summer of swimming in the Flathead River at his home in Montana.
He seemed to have a glint in his eye, a message that suggested he had seen this all before . . . and somehow managed to prosper.
Jackson provided his thoughts on Bryant's emotional shape.
He said Bryant seemed "perfectly at ease" with the state of the Lakers, and perhaps it was the other way around as well.
"I went around and asked some of the players how they felt about it, and none of the players took offense to any of the words that were spoken," Jackson said. "They said that a lot was said back in June. Now we're . . . ready to go in October and we're ready to play ball."
GERONIMOOOOO!
Sparegeez:
The plane right back better be loaded with explosives...
Bay Area Jat:
is it after this season that kobe can opt out?
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
^No...after 2009. And by then, we'll be contenders, no doubt...so yea, go figure. 8)
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
"Bynum said Kobe's criticism of him this summer only made him work harder."
8)
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