Thursday, January 24, 2008
Bryant praises his situation with Lakers now
Kobe Bryant kidded about a trade to Dallas to join Dirk Nowitzki but made clear his appreciation for where he stands with the team.
By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register
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DALLAS — As the Lakers' schedule last month took Kobe Bryant through Chicago and New York — two of the four cities on Bryant's preseason list of trade destinations — he stoked the fire of locals by openly acknowledging his interest in their cities.
In his first visit of the season to Dallas, the only other place on the list besides Lakers rival Phoenix, Bryant made one flippant remark about how good it might have been to join the Mavericks. But he was otherwise direct Thursday in appreciating what he has with the developing Lakers.
Asked if he is in his best situation with the Lakers since the 2004 Shaquille O'Neal trade, Bryant said: "I would say so."
"We have a really good situation," he said. "I'm very pleased with the development of our young players. They all have a confidence about them and a swagger about them that I really enjoy. They have a great work ethic. I couldn't be more pleased with the development of (Andrew) Bynum. I've really been pleased to see how hard he has been working and how he stepped up his work ethic from last season."
In December, the Lakers were five games above the .500 mark when they got to Chicago and six games above .500 when they got to New York.
Now, a month later, they are 14 games above .500, even after losing in San Antonio on Wednesday. And the sense that Bryant has retaken ownership in the Lakers' operation runs deep. He even reflected Thursday on past years by using the "R" word that triggered much of his anger in late May when he thought Lakers owner Jerry Buss misled him about the club's intention to win immediately in 2004.
"Obviously we've had a period there where we really struggled trying to rebuild everything," Bryant said. "And right now we're playing well. Even though we've got a couple of key guys out defensively, we're still managing to do a pretty good job. We're a deep ballclub."
Asked if this is the ideal result for him after all the offseason wrangling, Bryant said: "It certainly seems that way." Then he chuckled and added: "Unless they were going to send me here to Dallas with Dirk (Nowitzki), you know what I mean?"
But Bryant then continued raving about his Lakers situation. He said this challenging, road-heavy stretch of the schedule won't be a fair gauge of this team's ability to win the Western Conference because of its injuries. He said the goal for the near future is simply to "improve as a ballclub."
"So when we get those key guys back," Bryant said, "we're able to get even better and go up another notch."
NOTES
The Lakers have fared better with Ronny Turiaf than Kwame Brown at center since Bynum's injury four games ago, but Coach Phil Jackson said he is managing minutes partly in deference to turf toe on Turiaf's left foot. Turiaf aggravated the toe with 10:48 left Wednesday in San Antonio but played almost the whole fourth quarter. … Bryant was elected an All-Star Game starter for the 10th consecutive time; he led all West players with more than 2 million votes.
All Love In Laker Land
Kobe Bryant sits down and talks with Stephen A. Smith about how this Lakers team has been able to bond throughout the season.
L.A. Lakers coach Phil Jackson spends five good minutes talking with the "PTI" guys about his team's early-season success.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...ge=dime-080127
Nice to hear he's happy and all. But let's get some W's.
That means you Odom.
I'm glad to hear Kobe's happy. Let's get a win against Cleveland and I think everyone will be happy.
Having Fisher back in L.A was a HUGE factor.
I'm sure Kobe was happy when they signed him
I really like how he's nonchalant about how they play now. He really feels good about this team when everyones healthy and appears he won't be discouraged while they deal with injuries.
It's gonna be a rough two months. I hope this team can come together on this road trip.
I think even if we do slip a bit in the standings, Kobe will be happy because he knows what he has when this team is healthy.....a contender. And that's all he's ever asked for.
He does and he said just that. Seems like he is content with the team he has at full strength. But boy, this is going to be a tough 2 months!
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