Oh Snap! - Magic Johnson Edition

Earvin "Magic" Johnson is weighing in on the Kobe Bryant-Lakers drama and it points a strong finger at Bryant in this edition.

"If Kobe would have been smart, he would have mended those fences with Shaquille, let Shaquille be 'The Man' and we wouldn't be in this position," Johnson said. "Now, after four years later, he understands that he can't do it by himself. Now he's blaming the organization, and some of that blame should be on him and some on the organization."

Wow. That is some heavy stuff to put out there for 24 to read. It was the worst day of my life as a Lakers fan when Shaq was traded to Miami. It hurt me so bad that I immediately got a Miami Heat jersey with his new number "32" on it, and swore up and down that he would win a championship before Kobe. Even though I was a lifetime Lakers fan.

It always comes up in conversations when I am talking to my friends about the Lakers... what if they had stayed together? They could have ruled the league for a decade. Kobe wanted full control of the reins a little too early. Shaq was reluctant to give even a little piece of them up. Two stubborn men killing a franchise. The sky was the limit with them on the same squad.

Johnson also had some harsh words for the management:

"I'm upset with the management because there should only be one voice coming out of the Lakers organization."

Both statements are true. But the question that I want answered is: why Johnson is out of the loop on this whole situation? He owns about 5% of the team and certainly should be kept up to speed on what is going on, instead of being an analyst on the outside looking in. Clearly management is screwed up right now in LaLa Land and needs to be straightened out, fast.

Johnson had said on TNT that he thinks the Lakers brass needs to make a decision on Kobe Bryant within a week or two to let everyone move on. He pointed out the Bryant's uncharacteristic misses at the free throw line are directly related to all the trade talk.

Magic Johnson is the man and it has to hurt Bryant to hear those statements. The West Coast MJ (the only true MJ IMO) made the right choice in going public with these comments. It has to be tough for the living definition of a teammate to see his love, the Lakers, go down in flames, for now.

Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Drama

The drama just not stop with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant. The latest development is that Bryant may have cleaned out his locker at the Lakers practice facility, in preparation for a trade.

Bryant has been quiet ever since Lakers owner Jerry Buss announced that he is entertaining offers to trade the superstar.

Does it ever end? There is drama everyday in LaLa Land.
Buss made that statement regarding trading Bryant to show who is the man in the town. He had to. Bryant had basically called him an idiot over the summer, and this was a way for Buss to get back at the star. Not saying that this is the right approach, but anytime you are a business man you have to flex your muscle.

There is no way Bryant stays with the Lakers past the 2008 NBA draft, and that is being optimistic. The longer the Lakers wait to trade Bryant, the less trade value he has. He can opt out after the 2009 season and the closer they get to that point in time, the less the Lakers will get in return.

Bryant is in a unique situation in that he has the NBA's only no trade clause in his contract, meaning he can dictate where he is traded to. And even setting up the trade is going to be a tall task. You will never get equal value for Bryant.

Bryant is not the Lakers, and I am a fan of the Lakers, not just one player on the team but the name on the front of the jersey. Just for the record, I was always a Shaquille O'Neal guy and did not agree with Bryant's antics when Shaq was in town. If only Bryant realized that he could co-exist with another superstar earlier and asked that Shaq not be traded from the Lakers.

The finger pointing can be distributed all over the organization.

I guess I can collect on a bet I made with my buddy, stating that Kobe would never win another championship with the Lakers (a bet I made a week after Shaq was traded to Miami).