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good lord would those two just already?
http://www.ocregister.com/sports/bry...-lakers-season
Buss open to trading Bryant
By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register
HONOLULU The Lakers were willing to trade Kobe Bryant, have explored trading Kobe Bryant and would in the future be open to trading Kobe Bryant.
Lakers owner Jerry Buss made his open-mindedness clear at a time when everything else in his organization looks as chaotic as the Hawaiian print shirt Buss wore Wednesday for an extended interview.
Buss doesn't want to trade Bryant, but he appears resigned to his superstar's insistence on leaving unless the Lakers can succeed immediately.
"I wish he felt differently," Buss said. "And if we win, I think he will feel differently. So we'll just wait and see if we can win."
Yet there were no words from Buss such as the firm, family-style ones he spoke in 2003, when he dismissed the idea of working a sign-and-trade deal if Bryant became a free agent in '04 and wished to leave: "I'm not about to trade my son."
This time, Buss said:
• •About trying to trade Bryant in recent months: "I told him that I would try my best to accommodate his wishes, but that I could not afford to let him go unless we got comparable talent, if there is such a thing. We'd certainly have to have All-Star talent."
•About revisiting the idea of trading Bryant if the Lakers don't win this season: "I would certainly listen. … You can't keep too many loyalties. You've got to look at it as a business."
•About Bryant possibly opting out of his contract after next season: "If he still is in that frame of mind, then hopefully we can do a sign-and-trade and get some comparable talent. I would like to think that we'd win in between now and then so that it doesn't come up."
Buss envisions a healthy Lakers team winning at least 50 regular-season games this season — then having a chance at a breakthrough postseason. That might offset all of Bryant's negativity from the recent offseason, when he asked to be traded after publicly lambasting Lakers officials for misleading him and not trying to win immediately.
Those comments prompted a Buss-Bryant summit in Barcelona, Spain, in mid-June. Buss described it this way:
"He was very, very respectful. I told him when I walked in that I was going to try and talk him out of it. And he said, 'I'll listen carefully.' And he did. He listened very carefully for 30-45 minutes.
"I tried to explain to him how much the City of Los Angeles loved him and to leave 10 million sweethearts for unknown territory might not be the right thing to do. But when I was finished, he said he basically felt the same way. I said, 'OK. Well, with that, I'll proceed to see what's available.' But like I said, anybody who had talent — just go down the top 15 stars in the league — they won't trade. That's it."
Buss said every offer to date for Bryant has been laughable and "not ever under consideration."
"I told him I would pursue it, and I did," Buss said. "But what I was offered in return … I even told him occasionally what I was offered, and I said, 'You have to know that this is not in favor of the Lakers. This would just be terrible to do.' And he said, 'I understand that.' "
NOTES
Buss on the likelihood Coach Phil Jackson signs a contract extension beyond this season: "He has pretty much agreed he would coach if he feels he can do it physically." … Bryant's ragged play in the exhibition opener Tuesday — overpassing early and then going solo later out of frustration, according to Jackson — led the coach to say Wednesday he's not necessarily convinced Bryant can switch back to a ball-handling guard role this season while maintaining his scoring mindset: "He might not be able to do both roles that we're asking." …Maurice Evans strained his left hamstring and said he'll be out a week or less. … Luke Walton (hamstring) returned to practice and likely will play tonight against Golden State
good lord would those two just already?
The Lakers made their bed with Bryant. I can't say I'm not enjoying it.
beno for bryant?
My first response to the article, which is on the front page of my sports section this morning, was.
Thank you. I can now
The LA Times version. More of the interview than in the OC Register article.
Oh, the
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basket...nes-sports-nba
Buss: Bryant isn't untouchable
Lakers owner says he doesn't want to trade his star player, but he doesn't want to lose him and get nothing in return. He also defends Kupchak.
By Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
HONOLULU -- Jerry Buss looked relaxed in a seas -print shirt and khaki shorts as he sat down near lush hotel grounds of botanical gardens and koi ponds, a paradoxical setting for his frank discussion of the very real possibility that his star player might not be on the team in two years, if not sooner.
The owner of the Lakers spoke publicly for the first time since his team's off-season of disarray, providing details of his involvement and his deepest thoughts during several months' worth of distress signals emitted by Kobe Bryant.
The conversation Wednesday also steered in other directions, touching on his opinion of his front office, whether he would sell the team in coming years, and Coach Phil Jackson's unclear future with the franchise.
Buss, who has presided over eight championships and five other NBA Finals appearances in his 28 previous years of ownership, acknowledged considering offers for Bryant over the summer -- none of them deemed remotely good enough to act upon -- and also conceded that the gaping hole in Bryant's contract could make the nine-time All-Star an ex-Laker by 2009.
Buss, 74, also said Bryant was not necessarily off the table now that the new season had started. Offers will inevitably continue to trickle in, particularly if the Lakers struggle before the February trade deadline.
"I would certainly listen," Buss said. "At any time, I think you have to do that with anybody. It's just part of the game, to listen to somebody who has a dissatisfied player that you think is going to fit. You can't keep too many loyalties. You've got to look at it as a business. He looks at it the same way I look at it."
Bryant has four years and $88.6 million left on his contract, although he can end his Lakers career by terminating his deal in two years. Such a move by Bryant would leave $47.8 million of his money on the table, but would also leave the Lakers without one of the most dynamic players in their 60-year history.
"I tend not to think in basketball terms that many years down the road because things change so dramatically, but he could test the waters at that point," Buss said. "If he still is in that frame of mind, then hopefully we can do a sign-and-trade and get some comparable talent. I would like to think that we win between now and then so that it doesn't come up."
This will be Bryant's 12th season with the Lakers, the former child prodigy now 29 and coming off an eminently vocal summer in which he requested to play for any other team, even if it meant being shipped to Pluto.
Buss tried to talk Bryant out of his mind-set at a June meeting in Barcelona, but Bryant continued to voice concerns about the direction of the franchise and reiterated his demand to be traded.
His unhappiness had steadily grown from the time the Lakers were eliminated by Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs, making it two consecutive first-round knockouts to go with a 121-125 regular-season mark since reaching the NBA Finals in 2004.
"He was very, very respectful," Buss said. "I told him when I walked in that I was going to try to talk him out of it. And he said, 'I'll listen carefully.' And he did.
"He listened very carefully for 30, 45 minutes. I tried to explain to him how much the city of Los Angeles loved him, and that to leave 10 million sweethearts for unknown territory might not be the right thing to do. But when I was finished, he said he basically felt the same way. And I said, 'OK. With that, I will proceed to see what's available.' "
Declining to give specifics, Buss said he might have pulled the trigger on a trade offer that was "within reason."
"You have to get comparable value when you make a trade," he said. "It's very hard to trade somebody like him because people who have enough material to make it worthwhile are usually contenders and they don't want to make the trade.
"What was offered was not ever under consideration. And I told Kobe that. I told him I would try my best to accommodate his wishes, but that I could not afford to let him go unless we got comparable talent, if there is such a thing. . . . I even told him occasionally what I was offered and I said, 'You have to know that this is not in favor of the Lakers. This would just be terrible to do.' And he said, 'I understand.' "
Buss said he never saw the amateur video in which Bryant referred to him as "an idiot." Nor did he read a late-May website entry in which Bryant suggested he had been misled by Buss, who in the summer of 2004, Bryant wrote, "promised me that the Lakers would do everything to build a contender NOW."
"I heard it second- or third-hand," Buss said. "In that we haven't been winning, the criticism of me, I think, is natural. . . . Quite honestly, since I did not read any of those other comments, I was a little surprised at him because certainly he's never said anything to me like that. Always very respectful."
Buss also addressed the fact that he might be losing his coach, something he would rather not experience.
Jackson, 62, is in the final season of a three-year, $30-million contract and has repeatedly said he would wait to sign an extension until properly gauging his health while recovering from a second hip-replacement surgery in a year.
"If he feels up to it, then he will sign an extension," Buss said. "And hopefully, that's what's going to happen. I'm very fond of him. . . . If he feels up to it, I think he would probably declare himself for a couple of years."
Jackson appeared to side with Bryant during the off-season, granting a series of interviews last month in which he tweaked the Lakers' front office for not making big changes.
Buss acknowledged frustration at losing out to old rivals in Boston for Kevin Garnett's services -- "I personally feel that we made a better offer than the people who were successful," he said -- and also gave a vote of confidence to his often-criticized front office, specifically his son, Jim -- the team's vice president of player personnel -- and General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
"I think Mitch does a terrific job because I'm right there and I know what's happening," Buss said. "Mitch has done everything humanly possible. Our team does not have a lot of tradable players. Hopefully we will have some in time, but currently we do not.
"We've got two or three players that people would like to have, but they want them giving us not comparable returns. I am aware of every single trade that he has tried to make. What we had to offer just wasn't sufficient for them.
"One of the big problems we had was that Kwame [Brown] and Lamar [Odom] were both injured at the end of the year so that nobody knew how they would come back. The other guy that was good was [Andrew] Bynum and nobody knew, 'How good is he?' Nobody knows yet, really."
Buss also defended his son, crediting him for insisting on drafting Ronny Turiaf; casting an important vote in favor of drafting Bynum; and, more recently, bringing sharpshooting undrafted rookie Coby Karl to training camp.
"Jim, I think, is in the same boat as Mitch," Buss said. "I think he is criticized for everything and I'm not so sure what any of us have done [wrong]."
Near the end of the 38-minute interview, Buss temporarily shrugged off the summer of discord and all the questions surrounding the upcoming season.
He said he thought the Lakers would win "50-plus games" if the roster were healthy, and he relayed a big-picture message. Despite the soap opera that his franchise can become on a moment's notice, he is not selling the team any time soon. The plan is still to turn it over to his daughter, Jeanie, and Jim.
"People I trust offer me incredible amounts of money -- far more than you'd imagine," Buss said. "These are credible people. I keep thinking, 'OK, [if] I sell it now, I pay the taxes, I put the money in the bank and now I've got to decide what to do. I ought to do something with all this money that would be a lot of fun. I'll buy the Lakers.' It always comes back to there's nothing I could do that would be more fun."
What is new about this.....nothing. I say trade Kobe if you can and start rebuilding or trade the youth for veteran/all-star players now.....this fence sitting is starting to get tedious. Kobe wanted to leave, he stated this a few months back...Buss entertained deals, nothing sparked his interest...could change down the road.
I agree, there's nothing new.
What I found interesting was that Buss would open his mouth again now, after things had simmered down.
All was peachy as media day and training camp started.
He chose now to stir the pot again?
Why not just say that all is the same and not give so much detail?
It's like he wanted to cause the drama again.
Yeah, that's what really bothers me about this. I didnt see the game but I'm getting the feeling that Kobe refused to follow Phil's game plan. It looks like Dr. Buss wants more offers for Kobe. Maybe they see that he will not act right and they're just tired of it.
Let's be fair now.beno for bryant?
Beno and Bonner for Bryant.
I feel for Kobe, who I think is wasting his prime on a non-contending team.Yeah, that's what really bothers me about this. I didnt see the game but I'm getting the feeling that Kobe refused to follow Phil's game plan. It looks like Dr. Buss wants more offers for Kobe. Maybe they see that he will not act right and they're just tired of it.
I understand Buss when he says it's a business.
I understand the players are supposed to follow their coach's game plan.
But I don't get why everyone has such a big mouth about it.
Jackson saying "He might not be able to do both roles that we're asking." to the media is harsh to me.
Keep it in the locker room.
Buss opening up a wound that is just barely closed is harsh to me.
Being a Spurs fan, a team that keeps it in the locker room, makes it hard for me to understand why they don't.
How can anyone expect this team to try to do well with all this distraction is beyond me.
I have it on good authority that the Suns offered Amare/Banks/#24/#29 around the time of the draft. Salary matched, they finally got a dominant PF/C and two draft picks in a deep draft to added depth, or, with three from 20-through-29, trade up for an impact player.
They balked then. Would they balk now? Obviously the picks are out of the scenerio, and I'm sure they'd insist on Barbosa over Banks, so is Amare/Barbosa worth Kobe? That's tough for me to swallow.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071011/..._lakers_buss_6
Buss STFU....man....the wounds are starting to heal and there's no reason to keep this in the media....keep it ing in house...man this bothers me. If he wants to trade Kobe and Kobe is willing than so be it...but it doesn't need to be spewed across the internets....HONOLULU - Jerry Buss has already shown that he'll part with superstars. Yet upon hearing that the Los Angeles Lakers' owner would consider trading Kobe Bryant, even Shaquille O'Neal was shocked.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I guess it's business before loyalty. But, wow. He said that?" O'Neal said Thursday in Miami after learning Buss told reporters he would trade Bryant under the right cir stances.
Buss indeed did, telling three Los Angeles-area beat writers covering training camp in Honolulu on Wednesday that he "would certainly listen" to trade offers for the two-time NBA scoring champion.
"At any time, I think you have to do that with anybody," Buss said, discussing Bryant publicly for the first time since the often-frustrated Lakers' star asked to be traded at the end of last season. "It's just part of the game, to listen to somebody who has a dissatisfied player that you think is going to fit.
"You can't keep too many loyalties. You've got to look at it as a business. He looks at it the same way I look at it."
Buss made his comments to reporters from the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
The Lakers won three championships and reached the NBA finals four times in five years before O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat in July 2004. They haven't won a playoff series since O'Neal left, and O'Neal has since helped the Heat win the 2006 NBA le.
"Anyone can be traded, but mine was different because I walked into the office and demanded a trade," O'Neal said. "I don't take loyalty lightly. If you tell me you're going to do something, I expect you to do it. And then when you change your mind without telling me, that means you're disloyal so we can't be down anymore."
Bryant has four years worth $88.6 million left on the seven-year contract he signed a day after O'Neal was traded, but can terminate the deal in two years. That would leave $47.8 million on the table.
"I tend not to think in basketball terms that many years down the road because things change so dramatically, but he could test the waters at that point," Buss said. "If he still is in that frame of mind, then hopefully we can do a sign-and-trade and get some comparable talent. I would like to think that we win between now and then so it doesn't come up."
Following his trade request, Bryant kept a low profile regarding the Lakers until reporting with his teammates Oct. 1 on media day — before the team left for Hawaii. Bryant told reporters that frustration led to his blowup. Otherwise, he said the time had come to move forward.
Buss recalled an offseason meeting in Barcelona when he tried to talk Bryant out of the trade request.
"He listened very carefully for 30, 45 minutes," Buss said. "I tried to explain to him how much the city of Los Angeles loved him, and that to leave 10 million sweethearts for unknown territory might not be the right thing to do. But when I was finished, he said he basically felt the same way. And I said, `OK. With that, I will proceed to see what's available.'"
Buss didn't elaborate other than saying he might have acted on a trade offer that was "within reason."
"You have to get comparable value when you make a trade," Buss said. "It's very hard to trade somebody like him because people who have enough material to make it worthwhile are usually contenders and they don't want to make the trade."
Buss also said he occasionally told Bryant of certain offers, none of which he found fair to the Lakers, and acknowledged frustration at losing out to Boston for Kevin Garnett's services.
"I told him that I would try my best to accommodate his wishes, but that I could not afford to let him go unless we got comparable talent — if there was such a thing," Buss said.
The 29-year-old Bryant is about to begin his 12th NBA season — all with the Lakers.
"Dr. Buss's comments today provided more insight to a conversation we shared in Barcelona earlier this summer," Bryant said in a statement issued Thursday. "I have touched on this conversation and other conversations within the Lakers' organization during the recent months and again at the Lakers' media day. I have nothing further to add and look forward to the upcoming season with my teammates."
That's been my point through the thread.
What does he think is to be gained by airing the dirty laundry for all to see?
I never agree with Shaq, but even he was surprised!
It belongs behind closed doors.
If anything, I think this will weaken Buss's chances of getting a decent offer for Kobe. He's sounding desparate by letting us know how bad it is. And his coach isn't helping matters by opening his mouth.
Too bad really.....but Kobe opened the door to criticism in the summer. He then apologized and said he's all about this season....then buss opens his mouth....damn....
Unless Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, or maybe Dwight Howard is involved, there's no way I would trade Amare. Kobe is a fantastic talent, but whatever he brings to the Suns' table would be diminished by the skills that Amare takes away. For any other team, an Amare-for-Kobe trade might make sense, but not for a team that already lacks size, rebounding, and interior defense.
I'd be willing to trade Marion/Barbosa/ATL pick for Kobe, and Banks too if we got Cook in return. Otherwise, just say no. Just out of curiosity, what would that lineup look like...
Amare
Diaw
Kobe
Bell
Nash
Bench: Hill, Skinner, Cook
yes why amare heath
trade for kobe then trade him if he does not work out
This pretty much tells us who's running things in LA now. This has Old arrogant ass Jim Buss all over it. He's running things now. Dr. Buss has passed the torch. We're in trouble! It doesn't even matter to them if they get equal value right now.
With Gordon wanting a new contract in Chicago, I see something working out with them now. !!!!!
Dirk and Jason Terry for Kobe would have been a good deal.
Two overrated jump shooters (Dirk and Jason Terry) for a superstar with real talent. (Kobe). Lakers might make the 8th seed with Dirk/Terry. Kobe would take Dallas to the WCF.
Why trade away our most clutch player and only consistant 3 point shooter besides Dirk? Comon Jeff would that really help the Mavs chances?
Use your head next time when talking out of your ass, if that makes any sense
First Bryant gets Shaq exiled. Wants to have the spolight and individual glory to himself. He gets it. Now yet has no playoff success with a mediocre team. After 3 years of inep ude, now he wants to be traded. No, he's changed his mind and wants to stay. No, now he's sticking to his original trade demands.
Meanwhile, Buss is running around with nubile, 20-something year-old groupies and getting pulled over for DUIs. His daughter is screwing the coach.
Meanwhile the coach is burnout and resigns in the wake of yet another playoff defeat. Then he writes a freakin' book criticizing Bryant during his one-year hiatus. Only to have to crawl back to the same organization and clarify the fact that his comments about Bryant were "taken out of context" and that Bryant "isn't really selfish" after all.
Give me a break. They're all a bunch of West Coast drama queens - Phil Jackson included. They all deserve one another and they'll never sniff another championship while together.
KOBE FOR MANU, FINLEY, HORRY + 2 PICKS
or
KOBE for PARKER, HORRY + 1 PICK
When are the Lakers NOT about drama?
Well, I'm sure it's not easy for a superstar with 3 championships to suddenly revert to being surrounded by a below average team. Yes, Kobe brings some on himself with his public proclamations, etc but I think the frustration he feels is pretty justified. You're saying years from now, once Duncan, Ginobili, etc retire and Spurs are rebuilding that Parker would want to stick around on a that team when he's in his prime after 3 rings??? I doubt it. Of course, I'm sure he wouldnt go so public crazy about it like Kobe did this summer, but then again, I don't think the Lakers mgt is exactly cohesive and all on the same page as the Spurs are. Lakers org is trying to sell a story and tickets in addition to basketball games where other small town nba team organizations like the Spurs just care about winning bball games. That makes a huge difference but if you want to play in a high market, you have to know what your getting urself into and Kobe's been there 10 years now.
The latest on the
http://ocregister.com/sports/kobe-br...-jackson-jerry
Jackson serves as sounding board for Bryant
The coach said Kobe took 'the high road' in limiting his comments after Lakers owner Jerry Buss spoke of possibly trading his superstar.
By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register
HONOLULU -- As was the case months ago when a frustrated Kobe Bryant was bouncing off the walls with the eventual hope of locating an escape door from Lakerland, Lakers coach Phil Jackson and Bryant huddled Thursday.
This time it was in the wake of Lakers owner Jerry Buss publicly expressing openness to trading Bryant.
Jackson said he served as a "sounding board" Thursday for a "distracted" Bryant, who did manage a happy face in the locker room before playing an exhibition game against Golden State.
Bryant declined to comment to reporters, saying, "I don't have anything for you guys," but he issued the following statement earlier Thursday:
"Dr. Buss' comments today provided more insight to a conversation we shared in Barcelona earlier this summer. I have touched on this conversation and other conversations within the Lakers' organization during the recent months and again at the Lakers' media day.
"I have nothing further to add and look forward to the upcoming season with my teammates."
Regarding Bryant's statement, Jackson said: "He took the high road on it, and I thought it was the appropriate response. I don't think there's anything new that was disclosed (by Buss).
"It was just that everybody all of a sudden thought that everything new was disclosed."
To Jackson, Bryant remains a work in progress with regard to being fully present as a Laker again. Jackson revealed the gist of his advice to Bryant from the offseason and said it still applies.
"My message to Kobe was, 'If you can play with your heart in this game on this team, you'll be fine. If you can't, if you have divided loyalties, then you can't do it.' " Jackson said.
"That's the assessment that has to be made."
Asked if Bryant is in that frame of mind yet, Jackson said: "No, he's not. He's distracted, obviously. …
"But it's much better (for this to happen) now than first week or two weeks or three weeks in the season and it keeps coming up time and time again every road trip, every game."
Jackson indicated that Buss looking into offseason trade offers for Bryant was rooted in Buss' respect for Bryant.
"When you have a disgruntled player, an unhappy player, whatever … you have to consider it," Jackson said.
"I think he made that as a gentlemen's agreement with Kobe. I think that's appropriate."
Buss also said Wednesday that he didn't believe Bryant fully expected the Lakers to trade him given the complexities of such a request.
"I think it was just pure frustration," Buss said.
"I don't think he really thought it out from a business (perspective). … I think what he's thinking is: 'Let me play basketball with some people I know I can win with.' "
Buss said he has felt frustrations, too.
"It must be more frustrating for him than it is for me," Buss said of Bryant, "but to tell you the truth, it's so frustrating for me that there are times when I feel like, 'Just leave me alone, let me out of here. I don't like this.' "
Jackson noticed that Buss' caveat in all the trade chatter Wednesday was that a successful Lakers season might sway Bryant to want to stay.
"Yes," Jackson said. "If we unify and play ball, then we'll be all right."
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