When Self-Preservation Actually Serves a Common Good

Laker fans now have a reason to love their Kobe even more. Despite all the Kobe-related drama that has occurred over the last 48 hours or so, there is very little doubt over whether ‘Three Times 8’ will be wearing the Purple and Gold until at least the year of his contract option (which happens to be in 2009-10, and John Salley, for one, has already publicly opined that is when you will see Kobe in a Knick jersey).

Kobe’s initial shocking declaration of the state of Laker affairs and subsequent demanding of a trade as prodded by Screamin’ A. Smith has been summarily recanted. But this was a great play by the super (duper) star of a stagnant organization to try and motivate a bewildered front office into making some moves that will improve the team in the immediate future. Granted, the roster is an absolute mess, but by creating some urgency, Kobe has at least put into the public forum the idea of accountability for those that created said mess. Because if things continued on as they were, the Lakers could foreseeable be marred in a vicious cycle of never making it past the first round or even watch some Conference foes slide by them, leaving them with bad odds in the lottery: this all during Kobe’s prime years.

This more brave than selfless act was primarily motivated by Kobe growing weary of letting his best years go by with a supporting cast that could be described charitably as “less than good.” But if this wasn’t all about the team, what else could possibly be going on?

Try a bizarre power struggle amongst the Laker brass, with the key players being principle owner, known DUI offender and trophy female collector Jerry Buss; his two seeds/top execs Jim and Jeannie; billionaire minority owner and Staples Centre builder Phil Anschutz; beleaguered current GM Mitch Kupchak and, of course, the shadiest practitioner of Zen philosophies on the planet, Phil Jackson. Just to add to the flammable nature of potential alliances within this already volatile mix: Phil Jackson is sleeping with someone from this group. And I’m not going to say who it is…

So from what I could gather from the facts and gossip surrounding this most recent bizarre week in LA, the shortest version of the story begins and ends with the fact that Jerry Buss is taking a step back from his current exalted position of head of everything. This leaves the offspring (yes…Jerry’s kids) battling it out to fill the void in power, an apparently poor fit for screw up-in-waiting Jim. However, it is Jim who fancies himself a basketball man (often to the detriment of lame duck GM Kupchak), acting as the prime culprit to hamstring any potential moves over the past couple of years so as to protect the development of his first real personnel decision; the acquisition of one, Andrew Bynum. There is a strong current of thought within the organization that Jerry’s son is an unwanted meddler in basketball operations, but manages to enjoy the endorsement of his father, making Jim a fixture as an annoyance: both father and son may enjoy the idea of steadily rebuilding the once proud franchise over time.

Much to the chagrin of one Phil Jackson, whose preference for refining the games of all-stars leaves him with little desire to coach, never mind teaching young, developing, mistake-prone players. The Jackson/Jeannie Buss camp features a consolidated front, where ideally, Phil takes over all things basketball and Jeannie partners with Anschutz to run the business end. Any power grab would have to involve the manipulation of the Lakers most important on-court asset.

And it all starts with the “Insider” leak reported in the L.A. press Tuesday (see the bottom of page 1 - that's what set Kobe off), in which an anonymous high ranking official stated irrefutably that it was Kobe’s fault Shaq was let go way back when, dragging up, for brevity’s sake, old shit. This was the final straw for an already vex Kobe who is still stinging from having to wake up knowing who comprises the rest of the Laker roster. An irate Byrant immediately fires back through the press, lashing out at herb Kupchak for not providing him with better team mates and actually goes on to list the players he personally spoke with that wanted to don the Purple and Gold (Baron, Boozer, Ron-Ron and most recently, Playoff triple-double machine Jason Kidd) but management was too scared/incapable of following through on. There was a notable fixation on bringing back Jerry West before the bombs were dropped then retracted, trigging the now current state of organization-wide damage control.

It must be acknowledged that Kobe and Phil want the same thing here – an upgraded roster at all costs. Phil is reported as being the apparent calming voice of reason that brought Kobe back from the edge. But the roasting of Kupchak only serves to magnify the potential for public scrutiny and thereby increasing the pressure towards upper management to let him go, a move necessary for Phil to control the basketball side of things. The impending roster changes that Kobe’s outburst will certainly provoke (there are already rumours of trades for the Lakers to acquire either Kidd or Jermaine O’Neal) will be facilitated by using the most tradable asset on the current roster: one, Andrew Bynum. This move has the added benefit of marginalizing Jim Buss within the organization: thus allowing the Zenmaster to move forward on two fronts. For the record, there are some people in L.A. who believe they know the identity of the now infamous ‘Insider’. And they don’t call him a ‘master of mind games’ for nothing.

But before I portray the most talented player in the NBA as merely a pawn in Jackson’s manipulative game of chess, Kobe clearly has some moves of his own to make here. Firstly, an immediate Kobe showdown between him and virtually anybody under the Laker flag would be a prohibitive win for “3 x ‘Eight’” (Phil included…although you know he’d resign before he could get fired) – that’s how much he means out in Laker land. And don’t think he brought up Jerry West by accident: West is not only the one man both Kobe AND Shaq admitted to as being the only person they could trust in the Laker organization when he was around, but he is also one of the few basketball people anywhere who has the clout and capacity to stand up to the Zen manipulator. ‘The Logo’ would be Kobe’s GM. And finally 2009-10: the season Kobe can opt out of his L.A. story – and the Lakers could absolutely not afford to let him go without getting something in return. Son has options. Oh and one last thing: Kobe has told the press he also knows the identity of the muck-raking ‘Insider’, while in his next breath stating that he trusts Phil. Now, it’s one thing to do the whole ‘keep your enemies close’ thing, but at this point, it’s amazing anybody can play for this dude without flat out pulling a Sprewell.

All in all, the Lakers might look half-decent next year, with a possibility of putting out a starting line-up that features Jermaine O’Neal and Crazy Ron-Ron as bookends for Kobe. The current turbulance was a far from unpredictable (I guess that's why they call him Jesus) and the organization is anything but in the clear, as major issues have been raised by what some may see as a spoiled athlete’s insubordination. Clearly, any view of Kobe as a malcontent is an extremely superficial one: Kobe, Phil and Laker fans all share the same priority – they just might not be all in it for the same reasons.

To end this almost Shakespearean saga, I thought it would be interesting to throw out a personal trade prospect – although, as I said earlier, it would be an absolute shock if Kobe leaves L.A. now. I also know the average NBA fan does not share in my evaluation of the worth of Raptor talent (my biases have been documented during the first round of the Playoffs…clearly the Raps have some more winning to do before being viewed as a universally acknowledged contender). Any trade for Kobe would have to feature two immediate elements: there has to be enough talent offered for the Lakers to bite and there has to be enough talent left over to appease Kobe’s desire to be on a contending team. This appreciably narrows down the number of realistic, potential trade partners for any Kobe trade scenario.

"How much is that Ko-beee in the window?...Whaddya mean he's not for sale anymore?"

But here goes: Kobe for TJ Ford, Andrea Bargnani, a signed MoPete and any other filler to make the contracts match. The offer is clearly meant to target L.A.’s nagging deficiency at point guard, while providing a great prospect and some compensatory scoring. On the flip-side, that would give Toronto a stretch-run line up of Calderon, Anthony Parker, Kobe, Bosh and Garbajosa. Sure we’d be a little thin and it’s a stated fact that Colangelo views the salary cap tax like gold-diggas view broke dudes riding the bus. However, I maintain that line-up would make us instant contenders in the East, plus be virtually fool proof for Sam to coach. Given the current state of the Cleveland-Detroit exercise in ugliness and limited play (Lebron excluded...I mean, 25 straight points!!! On DETROIT!!?) – I would really like that roster’s chances of wrecking serious havoc in the Eastern Conference. Unlike the current drama unfolding, this wishful roster maneuvering would be a spectacle that is clearly not meant to be.