Kobe’s big announcement.

This week’s most discussable rumor in Los Angeles is probably the trade of Kobe Bryant. After the interview with Kobe earlier this week, ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher relayed that Kobe announced he wants the Lakers to bring Lakers’ former general manager, Jerry West, back to the organization and give him full authority; otherwise, he wants to be traded.

Jerry West

Jerry West was one of the greatest guards in the NBA history. He led the Lakers to NBA finals nine times during his 14-year playing career in Los Angeles. One of his greatest achievements after he retired from the league was rebuilding Lakers from an average team to a champion shaped team. He brought Shaquille O’Neal to the team as a free agent and traded Vlade Divac to Charlotte for Kobe Bryant in 1996. Because the right decision made by West, Lakers eventually won their champion crown back in 2000 and had won the title for three consecutive years.

Lakers’ statement on Kobe’s trade demand

Jerry Buss, the owner of the Lakers organization, just recently responded on Kobe’s trade issue. He simply said that the organization is aware of this news. However, they have never spoken to Kobe in person about his trade demand.
“We have made it very clear that we intend for him to be a Laker his entire career.”
said by Jerry Buss. Lakers want to keep Kobe Bryant in the team, but Kobe obviously doesn’t want to spend the rest of his career time to help a team to play more playoff games. He wants to be in a team that has the ability to challenge for the championship.

What’s next?

Jerry West is currently the director of Grizzlies basketball operation and he is leaving the Grizzlies on July 1. Will Lakers hire him to be their general manager again based on Kobe’s statement or will Lakers refuse that and trade Kobe? I don’t know is it going to be the right decision to bring Jerry West back but they’ll have to keep #24 in the team. They need him not just for Lakers’ business market but Kobe is definitely the key element for them to win the championship.

#24 is a ball hug?

A lot of people criticize Kobe Bryant and think he is a ball hug. They said Kobe doesn’t like to pass the ball to his teammates because he doesn’t have faith in them. I had the same feeling while watching Kobe’s game a couple years ago. However, he is not number 8 anymore; he’s now number 24.

From #8 to #24

Most of the sport reporters looked at Kobe as a gifted player when he first started his NBA career. He and his number 8 jerseys had created many incredible records through out the years. Nevertheless, he was too young for those praises from the fans. Kobe wasn’t only known by young and talented, but also known as a selfish and cocky player during his earlier career. Kobe’s biggest change in the past few years is not that he changed his jersey number from 8 to 24, but the increase of maturity and leadership as a basketball player.

What’s the definition of ball hug?

Players who always like to force their shots without passing the ball to his/her teammates; people usually called them ball hug. It is true that Kobe takes most of the shots compare to other Lakers, but that doesn’t mean he’s a player who doesn’t like to share the ball. In fact, Phil Jackson has instructed him to take more shots during the post season this year. Kobe was trying to make his teammates involved in the game by making more assists for half of the season. It turned out that his team needed him to step up and take over the game to win those victories.

Talent

There are lots of Good Players in the league, but only a few of them can be considered as Great Players. Those great players have the talent and ability to dominate the game. If you have a player like Kobe Bryant who can average 30 to 40 points per game, you would certainly like him to take more shots than others. Furthermore, once Kobe becomes the “Target” for their opponents; rest of the Lakers would have more wide-open shots in the game, isn’t it?

What’s Lakers’ Next Step?

“Do something and do it now”. That is what Kobe Bryant had said to the Lakers’ general manager, Mitch Kupchak, in front of the media a few weeks ago.

Think of this, Lakers had lost in their first round of the playoff series two years in a row and had lost both years to the Suns. No wonder that Kobe would say something like that. As a matter of fact, we all know that the Lakers need to do some adjustments to the team, but what kind of adjustments?

Trade is definitely one of the adjustments that Lakers have to work on this summer. The thing is what type of the player do the Lakers want on their roster?

During the post season, New Jersey Nets was thinking to trade their all star point guard – Jason Kidd to Lakers for their young talent – Andrew Bynum. Nevertheless, Lakers refused to put Bynum in the trade for this 8 time NBA all star. Recently people are talking about another possibility for trading their star forward – Lamor Odom. Some think he has too many injuries that he won’t be able to play his best. Others think even though Odom is a talented player, he doesn’t fit in the spot in Phil Jackson’s play.

I have no idea who is going to be on Lakers trading list; however, I think Lakers should pick someone who can be another playmaker except Kobe Bryant. Lakers need to find a person to step up and help Kobe when he is in trouble. They need someone that can make a play or score when number 24 got “triple” team.

Lakers need to redeem themselves. They have to decide what is the direction they want to take and make changes to approach it immediately. It’s a good thing to have someone like Kobe Bryant on your team.  He is a talented player who can assist a team to win their championship; however, he now desperately needs some help from his teammates and the organization.

Lakers ends the season in game 5

It was a hard week for the Lakers fans. Unfortunately the Los Angeles Lakers lost in the western conference playoff first-round series to Phoenix Suns in game five last Wednesday (Suns won the series 4-1). After the terrible lost at their home court in game four, Lakers fought hard and tried to catch back in game five. It was a pity that the Lakers couldn’t come back from the inferior position and fight the Phoenix Suns till game seven; however, I could definitely feel their vitality on the court.

But here comes the question, did Lakers give their best in the series?

My answer would be; yes, Lakers did everything they could in the series. The truth is they are just simply not good enough! Even though Kobe Bryant averaged the highest score in the entire season and Lamar Odom scored a playoff career high 33 points and had 10 rebounds in the last game, they still couldn’t help the team to get the victory.

I didn’t feel surprise that Lakers lost to the Suns. In fact, I didn’t expect them to win the series and go up to the next round since Suns played much better than most of the teams this season (Suns holds the second best records before playoff).

Besides that, Lakers also bothered by the injuries since the beginning of the season. Kobe Bryant missed several games due to the knee surgery. Lamar Odom was also dealing with the injured left shoulder and right knee the entire post season. Two other starting players, Kwame Brown and Luke Walton also suffered from their injuries during the season.

However, as a Lakers fan; I just hoped to see the best effort they made to improve their games. Laker is a young team that has a lot of potential, but there is still a long way for them to approach the championship. They certainly going to make some big adjustments to the team this summer; let us just set back and wish the best to the Lakers.