Hey Kobe, Shut Up and Start Talking

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">HOLLYWOOD -First you couldn't get Kobe Bryant to shut up. Now you can't get him to say a word about his future.

This is called doing the right thing at the wrong time, which I suppose beats continuing to do the wrong thing. Although it's close.

Just a simple clarification is all that's asked:

Kobe, do you want to be traded or not?

Real basic like. Real simple.

Only Kobe wouldn't go there Wednesday at a Nike function to announce the shoe and apparel company's plans to build numerous playgrounds throughout Los Angeles.

"I just want to have a good time today," he said. "I've spoken so much on the issue already. I mean, for me to say anything else ... there's not that much more for me to say.

"I'm just kind of moving on from it right now."

Let's see, would that be moving on from the radio show on which he demanded to be traded or the one an hour later when he claimed his undying love to the franchise and desire to end his career a Laker?

Or would it be one of those where his ESPN peeps are relaying messages?

Since he did not zip it when he should have and continued in Byzantine radio rants more confusing than our Iraq exit strategy, Kobe now

owes it to his many local fans to be clear about what it is he really wants.
But it was nothing doing Wednesday in his brief press conference. Kobe has closed it down at exactly the moment he needs to open up and be clear.

Just tell us so we understand, what is your current situation?

"If you want, you can call Mitch (Kupchak) up, call those guys up and talk to them about it," Kobe said. "I'm not going to beat a dead horse in the head anymore. Just because too much has been said already. I don't want to get into it no more."

I followed him to the parking lot after the press conference because, you know, Kobe gives some of his best interviews to strangers with digital cameras.

Still, no clarification was coming.

Calling Kupchak up to see what Kobe wants is silly. Kobe has proven quiet capable of speaking for Kobe.

Besides, the Lakers' general manager has already said personal conversations with Kobe are private and the Lakers do not plan to trade him but to build their team around him.

Since Kobe did not take the opportunity Wednesday to say he wanted to remain a Laker, it can only be assumed he still wants to be traded. Which was the last thing he said through his people, I think.

ESPN's Ric Bucher, who started all this intrigue when he first reported an unhappy Kobe might ask to be dealt, was last heard saying the Kobester still wanted out. And the Lakers should trade him, because they didn't want to wonder if he would show up at training camp.

This is a thinly veiled and ridiculous Kobe threat. Bucher's mouth doesn't move about Kobe unless Kobe is behind him pulling strings.

With two more years on Kobe's contract, his leverage is not the best, so he is apparently doing what he can to pressure owner Jerry Buss into changing his mind.

The Lakers are no doubt hoping to change Kobe's mind by signing Derek Fisher to a three-year contract. Fisher was drafted by the Lakers the same year they traded for then 17-year-old Kobe. They became close friends, the solid Fisher one of the few Lakers who could be a bridge between Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal.

"He's a very, very special person and very dear to me," Kobe said of Fisher. "We've remained friends even when he was at Golden State. We continue to talk regularly." </div>

Source: LA Daily News

 

What a ridiculous article, first they attack him for coming out and airing the organization's dirty laundry, and now...when they've got nothing to write they attack him for doing what they suggested, being quiet. He can't win with the media, it's always been evident, but now more so than ever.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Mamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">What a ridiculous article, first they attack him for coming out and airing the organization's dirty laundry, and now...when they've got nothing to write they attack him for doing what they suggested, being quiet. He can't win with the media, it's always been evident, but now more so than ever.</div>

Pretty much sums it up. These writers are too, damn lazy to get any real stories written. Kobe is their drug. These lazy bastards need to sit their butt's down at a summer league game and report some real stories. How's Bynum looking in practice? Has he developed his lower body strength? How much is he bench pressing now? How comfortable is he with the skyhook?

What's the chemistry like around the locker room? Who's showing up early and staying late?