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he has decided to get surgery on his pinkie which will take 6-8 weeks to recovery assuming that the olympics finish in mid september he will have 4-5 weeks till the start of the seaon so he may end up missing the first month ofthe season NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

F Olympics!!!! Who cares, work on winning the real champ!

I've heard him say around mid-season he and Phil already talked about it and they both wanted him to have some rest at the beginning of the season because of the long playoff run last year and the olympics, so they think it'll be the best scenario for him to get the rest he needs while missing preseason/training camp and maybe the start of the regular season.

If we cant compete with Bynum, Gasol, Odom I think we should be worried!

well that sucks, but if it gets kobe rested and ready to go for the rest of the year completely healthy and the team can hold down the fort until then, i guess it will be ok

yah this is fine. nobody can work harder and focus faster than KOBE. im soooo happy he's competing on Team USA. he knows that all the writers/legacy-makers are gonna be watching him. say what you want about his motivations, the guy is gonna lock down every int'l player he faces like it was his born duty.

As long as Bynum and Pau are on the court together come October then this is fine with me. He's going to need to rest anyways if we plan on making a run into late june again.

ah, so bynum is going to be a monster at the start of the season instead of waiting patiently in the background. nice.

We shouldn't worry much about Kobe. As long as Bynum is on the court at the beginning of next season, we will we be able to win games and when Kobe comes back, we will kick some @$$.

i'm not thrilled he's opting for the olympic team if it makes his treatment & rehab go into preseason or regular season. i think it's a bad decision.............one that could cost the lakers home court throughout the western conference playoffs and possibly the finals.

Without having seen any legitimate medical prognosis -- not exacly an organizational strong suit, I know -- I can't imagine Kobe's going to miss any game time unless there is absolutely no other option. Who knows? Just a thought, but considering how little it seemed to bother him, maybe he doesn't even have surgery.

If Kobe is going to miss time it makes it more important to not let Sasha walk. They will need an outside shooter so teams don't back the lane against Pau and Bynum.

We can still win with Bynum, Gasol, and Richard Jefferson.

^ bynum, gasol, artest >> that

we should be alright. we have experience now. we can't be without him for months but a week or two and we should be fine. plus it will give him time to rest after winning the gold this year.

there goes our 73 win season.

I doubt this would jeopardize home court. I'd be more worried if the lakers are in that much trouble without kobe (with bynum). A record season would be nice but a healthy roster, home court, and another championship would be nicer .

The USA team is (Please Use More Appropriate Word). Its already stacked without kobe its a waste of time for him. He should be home resting right now and go to the camp and practice team defense with everyone. Why waste ur time practicing with allstars when the scrubs here needs to learn defense as a whole.

I like the fact that Kobe will be representing his country and lead them back to the top again. Gold medal belongs with the US team, and this years team will take it back.

We'll be fine next season no matter so Kobe resting a couple weeks shouldn't affect us too much.