Lakers: Kobe: " I want to win next season as opposed to two years from now"

[UZER]

How bout the interview when he said he hadn't called Shaq because he didn't have his number.

[Thread]

How bout the interview when he said he hadn't called Shaq because he didn't have his number.

Or, the interview where he had Shaq's number/4.

tee, hee.

[da_suns_fan]

Chicken comin' over here and dishing it---then running back to Mori's Place where you don't have to take it.

Huh?

[poeticism707]

I want to win the lottery in 2015 as opposed to a couple of years from now.

[Rogue]

God may convince some big names to join LA for less money imho. Playing with God is a reward by itself, regardless of pay. Not to say that God is just a generous teammate who would be more than glad to share his money with you. Although you get paid less (5m/yr as opposed to 20m/yr) you'd get well compensated by God in the forms of laptops, sandwiches and stuffs that God buys for you.

[lefty]

THE BEGGING

[lefty]

"Jimmy [executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss] and I actually talked after that and it's important for us to have that conversation because this is their team, it's been in their family for years and we all know what the track record is for that, but I've also been part of this franchise since I was 17 years old," Bryant told Rovell. "I feel like I bleed purple and gold and I want to see this franchise be successful

"This organization is just not going to go [down]," Bryant said. "It's not going to take a nose dive. But I think we need to accelerate it a little bit for selfish reasons, because I want to win and I want to win next season. So, it's kind of getting them going now as opposed to two years from now."

Despite already airing his concerns about what direction the Lakers might be heading, Bryant said his faith is as strong as ever in the Lakers' ability to bounce back to contender status.

"Extremely confident," Bryant said. "That was one of my concerns [when he re-signed] and they assured me, 'This is fair for you for everything you've done for the franchise and will continue to do while being able to construct a team that is going to contend for a championship here over the next couple of years.'"


Bryant also responded to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's assertion that "I don't know if the Lakers will ever be the Lakers," because of the absence of longtime owner Dr. Jerry Buss, who died last year.

"It will be different," Bryant said. "You can't lead the way [Dr. Buss] did. Because Jeanie is different. Jimmy, who is running basketball operations, is different.

"So they have to find their rhythm and get in sync with each other and figure out exactly what their leadership style is going to be. It's nearly impossible to try to separate basketball operations from the business standpoint so you got to kind of get in sync that with that and have one voice that is leading that charge. But once that happens, the idea might take shape. But you can't look at what Dr. Buss did and say, 'I'm going to try replicate that,' and be exactly what he was. That's just not going to happen."

I don't want to hear the comments of dissension between Jim and [Lakers president] Jeanie [Buss]. We need to figure this thing out. We're all moving in the same direction."

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/10664481/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-met-team-front-office-faith-la-return-contender-status