Henry Abbot: Lakers FO can't wait for Kobe to retire

[Heat_Fan_87]

with hiring coaches like byron scott, the lakers have much bigger issues than just kobe byrant lol

[timdunkit]

It's crazy to me how opinions about the Lakers FO changes so quick.

It's pretty clear things haven't gone according to plan the last few years and they have botched a few things.

In a best case close to reality scenerio, the Lakers would be rebuilding around CP3/Dwight with Kobe retiring soon. Pretty clearly, things didn't go according to that plan.

A rebuild takes time and effort and it doesn't surprise me that the Lakers didn't sign a big FA this past summer.

The Lakers have traded away so many picks that going the traditional rebuilding route never made any sense. They also didn't have a boatload of good players that they could have traded for future picks.

Kobe's contract really only stops the Lakers from rebuilding a contender around him. Kobe in a sense screwed himself over but allows the Lakers to buy time. Instead of chasing FA's who are in the bottom half of their prime (like Melo), they Lakers need a 24-27 year old star players to rebuild around. There will be more of those available in the next few years.

So the FO pleased Kobe with a contract and a farewell tour. All the moves the Lakers have made beside his contract have shown that they will not be shortsighted and mortgage future capspace just to please him. Pretty clear the Lakers will sit on their capspace for the next two years. Kobe makes money, Lakers make money, Fans get to be happy seeing their hero retire in purple and gold. While some players may not want to play with Kobe, there is no doubt that Kobe is spreading good messages about the Laker FO (and a lot of younger players still look up to him). His crazy work ethic may not have worked with star players like Shaq/Dwight who also felt entitled to certain type of treatment but you can tell thats not the same with some of the younger players. Kobe also made a huge deal about franchises taking care of their players and it may or may not become a factor in the future.

[Shot Clock]

As long as that money bought them silence from complaining about not contending. It was money well spent.

[dockingsched]

The Kobe contract was a mutually beneficial business move that I doubt the lakers front office regrets. They probably understood that they weren't in a position to jump into contention even with kobe off the books. They also understood that a good chunk of fans and visible characters like Magic had grown increasingly critical.

I think the direction the lakers took was the clear choice. Ride out the next two yrs on positive terms with Kobe, keep fans interested, tuning in and buying tickets. In conjunction with the Scott hire, keep critical voices at a minimum. Magic isn't going to rip the coach like he did all last yr and fans that cried for someone that knew the lakers culture have nothing to say.

Keep the dollars flowing with Kobe's presence, keep the critical voices at a minimum by staying on good terms with Kobe and hiring a "lakers guy", keep flexibility ready to jump into a rebuild once the books are clear. Unless you thought the lakers could be legit contenders this or next yr, can't think of any reason why one would be totally opposed to this plan.

[JellosJigglin]

I don't know if this article is true or not, seems kind of fishy

But half of you so called "Laker fans" saying that you also can't wait for Kobe to retire, yall ain't real Laker fans and I'm ashamed to be grouped in with you guys, that's all I wanted to say.

Actually I would have thought the real laker fans would have wanted to see the Lakers do well. Not see an old cripple holding the team to ransom for a few years.

That "cripple" brought us 5 championships, a lifetime of jaw-dropping performances, and continues to work everyday as if he's an undrafted free agent trying to make the team. Maybe Lakers fans just prefer to give thanks to their legends rather then slamming the door on them on their way out.

[fancynapkin]

Asking Henry Abbott for an opinion on Kobe is like asking Fox news for their opinion on Obama. You already know the answer before he opens his mouth.

Who is asking for Abbott's opinion here? This is about the Lakers FO.

cute analogy though...

[Hornet Mania]

Yeah, I'm sure the Laker's front office hates being basically guaranteed profitability during a down period. It's going to be even more unbearable for them to rake in all that "Kobe is about to pass MJ!" cash when that hype train rolls around.

Henry Abbot is a longtime Kobe critic, I can't recall the last time he said anything particularly positive about the guy. This sounds like exactly the sort of hit piece he would write. It'll get clicks, good for him, but if anyone in the Laker's front office seriously wants Kobe to go away they should seriously reevaluate their thought process. They offered him that huge deal to start with. Ownership is going to be just fine with profitability/relevance due to Bryant's record-chasing the next two years, which means front office folks might get to keep their jobs even with poor win/loss records. The alternative is the Lin/Randle/Jordan Hill show where the Clippers completely overtake the city, the Lakers have zero interest from casual fans, no one wants to sign there because they have no supporting cast (something stars are more aware of than ever) and little in the way of draft picks, and the Buss family cleans house completely because someone's head has to roll for that debacle.

As it is, the Lakers ride the Kobe nostalgia train, grind out a couple 35 win seasons, make a crap load of money and then have two max slots in the summer of 2016. Heck, Kobe might even end up leading the tank and netting them a top-5 pick this season! Honestly, it's not a bad spot to be in. The alternative is backing the money truck up for Eric Bledsoe/Chandler Parsons/Lance Stephenson, not winning many more games, definitely losing your pick, and having less space in 2016. This is the best path for them, as depressing as that may seem at the moment.

[rayofsunshine]

Yeah, I'm sure the Laker's front office hates being basically guaranteed profitability during a down period. It's going to be even more unbearable for them to rake in all that "Kobe is about to pass MJ!" cash when that hype train rolls around.

Henry Abbot is a longtime Kobe critic, I can't recall the last time he said anything particularly positive about the guy. This sounds like exactly the sort of hit piece he would write. It'll get clicks, good for him, but if anyone in the Laker's front office seriously wants Kobe to go away they should seriously reevaluate their thought process. They offered him that huge deal to start with. Ownership is going to be just fine with profitability/relevance due to Bryant's record-chasing the next two years, which means front office folks might get to keep their jobs even with poor win/loss records. The alternative is the Lin/Randle/Jordan Hill show where the Clippers completely overtake the city, the Lakers have zero interest from casual fans, and no one wants to sign there because they have no supporting cast (something stars are more aware of than ever) and little in the way of draft picks, and the Buss family cleans house completely because someone's head has to roll for that debacle.

As it is, the Lakers ride the Kobe nostalgia train, grind out a couple 35 win seasons, make a crap load of money and then have two max slots in the summer of 2016. Heck, Kobe might even end up leading the tank and netting them a top-5 pick this season! Honestly, it's not a bad spot to be in. The alternative is backing the money truck up for Eric Bledsoe/Chandler Parsons/Lance Stephenson, not winning many more games, definitely losing your pick, and having less space in 2016. This is the best path for them, as depressing as that may seem at the moment.

Thank you. It's a business deal. I don't care if I had a old, broken down employee that no one wanted to work with as long as dude is making me billions...are you kidding me? That is why I'll do right by him. If he wasn't making me any money, I don't care how many chips he brought me, he'd be on another team. We see this all the time in the nba, they did "right by him" because he is making them a fortune. Plain and simple.

[sai85]

They should have amnestied him.

Amensty one of the greatest players in their franchise's history who helped bring them 5 championships? I disagree.

When it comes to sports, this is common us american thinking. It's clearly wrong.
You don't have to keep players on the team because of what they did for you. You just keep them because of what they can do for you in the future. For the past, they got rewarded with a lot of money, attention, marketing contracts and so on.

[Thugger HBC]

I do believe the Lakers have come to a realization that even with Kobe at this point in time that winning anything significant will not happen. Thats the only credit I'll give to this report.

Kobe in a Lakers uni still generates dollars far exceeding his salary and they gave him that deal. If rebuilding is the goal why trade away so many draft picks for an old Steve Nash? Same reason why they traded for Dwight....they had no intention of rebuilding, the goal was to win.

Rebuilding should have commenced when Stern blocked the Chris Paul trade.

But if they are truly waiting for his retirement, they very well can speed up things on their end.

[fancynapkin]

They should have amnestied him.

Amensty one of the greatest players in their franchise's history who helped bring them 5 championships? I disagree.

When it comes to sports, this is common us american thinking. It's clearly wrong.
You don't have to keep players on the team because of what they did for you. You just keep them because of what they can do for you in the future. For the past, they got rewarded with a lot of money, attention, marketing contracts and so on.

The counter argument is that keeping him on the team with that contract does help them in the future because it shows free agents that they are an organization that takes care of their players.
I'm not saying I agree with that theory, but that is what they say.

[Cyrusman122000]

link?

There has to be a link somewhere, but just as a talking point... it doesn't need to even need to be verified. The Lakers aren't going to have high level success with Kobe as the MAN anymore. It is impossible to have a contract as big as Kobe's and expect good players and good things even if he was playing at a ALL NBA 1st team level. It is kinda akin to when KG had that massive contract in Minny. The Lakers right now don't look good with no dependable outside shooting.

I never understood that. What does his contact have to due what good players not wanting to come play there?

[LeChosen One]

Kobe handicapped them by taking that contract.. Always talking about trying to win a 6th ring, then throws that out the window for money

[JShuttlesworth]

Of course they want him to retire. It's going to really allow them to rebuild - right now the are handcuffed by Kobe's contract. He isn't going to take you to the promised land anymore, but he also cant be traded. His contract has to be worth next to nothing on the trade market.

Either way the rebuild has already begun. Gasol is gone, Nash is gone after this year, Kobe the year after. The Lakers have missed the playoff the last 2 years (The last time that happened was 81-82, 82:83) and they are about to miss it for a third year. The way things look now they wont be there in 15-16 either. They've got Julius Randle - now they need to make sure that they take advantage of their draft picks in the next few years and choose wisely.

The Clippers must be loving this.

[EnigmaticProblem]

The Clippers can love it all they want-- It won't matter unless they get over the hump and win a championship.

[Speedlot]

Yawn. More haterade. Hater will go "hahha too mach money blahblah, they dumb" even though if you just think a bit, there's a reason for giving him the money. I mean there's a reason while they're the richest franchise.
Not every failure franchise can fetch multiple #1s and Lebron while doing absolutely nothing relevant.

In the end the season needs to start and these topics will finally rest.

[Slava]

Asking Henry Abbott for an opinion on Kobe is like asking Fox news for their opinion on Obama. You already know the answer before he opens his mouth.

Who is asking for Abbott's opinion here? This is about the Lakers FO.

cute analogy though...

No fancytampon, unless abbott comes up with a direct quote, his only sources are his ass and his mouth.

[MistyMountain20]

Asking Henry Abbott for an opinion on Kobe is like asking Fox news for their opinion on Obama. You already know the answer before he opens his mouth.

Who is asking for Abbott's opinion here? This is about the Lakers FO.

cute analogy though...

...from his perspective. Abbott has made a career on writing negative articles about Kobe, which makes him a questionable authority here. Is he just doing his journalistic duty or is he advancing his own narrative. It's not an op-ed piece, but it might as well as be. We're probably going to have an article that has a bunch of anonymous league sources which won't go on the record. This of course doesn't mean they aren't real sources, but if this had been someone like Marc Stein or Wojo writing this piece, it would be more convincing. Maybe Abbott's sources are from the words of Jimmy Buss himself or then again maybe Abbott thinks Nelly counts as a source.

Having said all that, I can't wrap my head around the stupidity for the Lakers - if this is true - to not negotiate a deal with Kobe. That makes no sense if they had such a perception of him. This article - without reading it of course - seems to a take a declarative stance on issues even dealing with the Byron Scott hire. So we are suppose to believe that the Lakers only hired him as a replacement coach to appease Kobe - there is no other option? Are we suppose to forget the dearth of good head coaches available or the spectacularly awful decisions they have made post Phil Jackson. Yeah, I rather not be influenced by a guy with an agenda to sell.

[SmoothKobra]

So....what happens when Kobe asks for a new contract in 2016? Do the Lakers still have to grant him another 30% of the cap deal because he's Kobe? The guy is holding the franchise hostage at this point, and probably stunting the development of Julius Randle.

[jbk1234]

They should have amnestied him.

They couldn't. They gave him his contract after the new CBA went into effect. The mistake was in giving him that contract.