Off-season Frustration from Kobe Bryant

Three years have passed and the Lakers have not made any progress. Kobe Bryant let his frustrations be known in the past couple of days and a lot of questions are coming to mind. Does Bryant want to be traded? Should the Lakers get Jerry West? Did the Lakers make a mistake when they traded Shaquille O’Neal? I will do my best to try to answer these questions.

Kobe Bryant does not want to be traded. He loves being a Laker and he wants to retire that way. Kobe’s comments were merely an attempt to get the Lakers front office to acquire some talented players this off-season. Bryant wants to be surrounded by players that are motivated and willing to put out the effort that he displays in practice and during games. Kobe remembers the days when Jerry West would make those risky moves to get the right group of players necessary to win a championship. Bryant has yet to see any trades being conducted to improve the team. He wants action, and he wants it now. Jerry West is his solution to the problem.

Jerry West has a great talent for finding and acquiring the right players necessary to win. He assembled the 1980’s Lakers Showtime team. Then he put together Kobe and Shaq to win three more championships. Since West left, the Lakers have not won. Trading Shaq was a decision made by Mitch Kupchak and the Buss family that raised a lot of questions. West is missed across the southland and the fans would love to see him back in the front office. The Lakers should definitely bring West back.

Should the Lakers have traded Shaq? Trading Shaq was a decision that was made and it cannot be changed. As far as I know, Shaq demanded he be traded if Kobe was going to remain a Laker. If that is the decision the Lakers were forced to make, then they made the right choice in trading Shaq. Kobe is younger and in order to make moves to benefit a franchise, going younger is always a safer bet. Bryant still has many great years of basketball left and Shaq is on the downside of a steep hill. I wish Shaq the best, but I am okay with the decision to trade Shaq.

The Lakers do need to make some changes in order to win. The players surrounding Kobe are not nearly talented enough to win.