<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Lakers wrapup: If Kobe Bryant wins another championship wearing No. 24, which he said he'll be wearing because his last number in the pros should be his first from high school, the earliest it can come is probably the 2007-08 season. EL SEGUNDO ? Kobe Bryant said he's switching to uniform No.24 because he began his career in high school with it and it's fitting for him to wear it at the end of his career. He called it "time to start a new chapter," although if not for an NBA regulation preventing an immediate switch, Bryant would have worn No.24 this season. To Bryant, this season was the opening line of the story that takes him back. The timetable for No.24 to win a championship - based on the hints Bryant and Lakers coach Phil Jackson dropped in comments Monday - isn't next season but the one after. This past season? Despite not reaching a second playoff round, Jackson made clear to players who came in for season-ending individual meetings with him and General Manager Mitch Kupchak on Monday that the season was a success. "I don't in any way believe that this team could've won a championship this year," Jackson said. "We were all the time about getting to the playoffs and making noise in the playoffs. That has been my whole message to these guys, and we did that. We accomplished the goal." Jackson called it "a growing experience," so the Lakers are expecting a quiet offseason to let this group grow together more next season. Jackson is asking for additions in speed and defense to the roster, so a guard of that ilk likely will get the Lakers' mid-level salary-cap exception. Devean George and Jim Jackson probably will leave via free agency, and the Lakers get the 26th overall pick in the draft, but Kupchak believes his "core group" has a chance at greatness. "A championship run really includes a lot of experience," Kupchak said. "I wouldn't discount it a year or two down the road, and clearly that's our goal, but to say that we're going to be a championship-contender next year, I'm not prepared to say that - although I think it's a possibility." Said Phil Jackson: "Usually you have to go through two, three rounds of the playoffs before you can jump into the championship. You don't go from losing in the first round to winning the championship." Asked if next season was too early to contemplate a championship run, Bryant said: "Well, we'll see. The strides that we made this year were big steps." There's the fall-back plan of big-time cap space in 2008. But until then, Jackson indicated he'll fulfill his contract, which runs through the 2007-08 season, saying he and Bryant need to "maximize the time we're going to be able to spend together in these next couple seasons." Asked if he foresees No.8 or No.24 going up among the Lakers' retired numbers on the wall at Staples Center, Bryant said: "That's way too far in advance for me. But if you see that, it'd be nice to have a bunch more championships. Get those championship banners up there, and I couldn't give a ... what number goes up there."</div> Source
I like this move for Kobe. I think this will help the Lakers as a team put everything concerning Kobes off the court stuff, Shaq trade, and the year after the trade when the Lakers looked like they completely lost in that Miami - Lakers trade.
