Give Kobe what he wants
Posted: Monday, May 28, 2007 7:47 AM
According to ESPN, Kobe Bryant wants the Lakers to bring back Jerry West as general manager, and if they can’t do that, then Bryant wants to be traded.
If I’m Lakers owner Jerry Buss, I hire West.
There’s a precedent for such a move. During the 1981-82 season, Magic Johnson found that he didn’t like coach Paul Westhead’s offensive philosophy. Johnson demanded either a new coach or a new team. Fans and sportswriters thought it was a rancid thing for Johnson to do, but the team dumped Westhead, hired Pat Riley and won a bunch more titles.
Those who believe that there is a natural order to the universe hate it when star players tell management how to run the team. They get their knickers in a twist when a star player gets the coach fired. Players are supposed to do everything coaches tell them to do and adore coaches as the superior beings they think themselves to be. It’s like at regular jobs, where everyone loves and respects their bosses, because that’s the American Way.
OK, so maybe we don’t all love our bosses. That’s what really ticks sports fans off. Why should athletes be allowed to get idiot bosses fired when the rest of us have to live with them? Heck, in the NBA you can even choke your coach and still not lose your job forever. We can thank Latrell Sprewell for that.
Let’s be honest. Some coaches and general managers should be fired. Much as I hate to take Kobe’s side – he’s a difficult person to sympathize with – he’s right on this one. Mitch Kupchak has not been the best general manager in the history of the breed. Just this season he had a chance to trade for Jason Kidd and didn’t have the guts to pull the trigger.
West, whose contract with the Grizzlies runs out July 1, put together the team that won three straight titles. I’m not sure West particularly liked Kobe, but, then, neither did coach Phil Jackson. And he came back.
The point here is that Kobe is the greatest offensive player in the game, and he doesn’t stink defensively, either. He’s 28 and doesn’t have a lot of peak years left. It would be foolish to trade him. The team will never get equal value for him.
The Lakers have a chance to build a winner around him. Kupchak hasn’t been able to do it. West is considered by many to be the best G.M. around. End of discussion.
The Lakers listened to Kobe once and showed Shaq the door. That didn’t exactly work out the way Kobe thought it would. Now, the team is being told again what Kobe needs. He’s an annoying and whiney pain in the pancreas. But he’s also the best offensive player in the game.
Give him what he wants.
