Kobe Bryant has been sidelined for much of this season due to a couple of devastating injuries, and the Los Angeles Lakers have toiled in the bottom of the conference as a result. Of course, that’s not to say that all would have been well and the Lakers would have been a playoff team if Bryant played, but their record would certainly be better than 22-42 – 1/2 game better than the Utah Jazz who have been in tank mode since the season began.
Despite his absence from the court, however, he has paid attention to everything that has gone on, from how bad the Lakers have been, watching the front office trade away one of his favorite players, and now seeing Phil Jackson joining the New York Knicks. Needless to say, Bryant is less than pleased with it all, from Mike Bresnahan of Los Angeles Times:
“Oh, yeah, let’s just play next year and let’s just suck again. No. Absolutely not,” he said. “It’s my job to go out there on the court and perform, no excuses for it. Right? You’ve got to get things done. “Same thing with the front office. The same expectations they have of me when I perform on the court, it’s the same expectations I have for them up there.” He’s obviously not pleased with the Lakers’ upper management. “How can I be satisfied with it? We’re like 100 games under .500. I can’t be satisfied with that at all,” Bryant said. “This is not what we stand for, this is not what we play for.”
He said the Lakers needed to play with championships in mind “or everything else is a complete failure. “That’s how it was explained to me by Jerry [West] and all the other great Lakers that have played here. That’s just how it is,” he said.”
Bryant was in disbelief that the Lakers would let Jackson join the New York Knicks’ front office. “You know how I feel about Phil. I have so much admiration for him and respect and have a great relationship with him,” he said. “Personally, it would be hard for me to understand that happening twice. It would be tough. I don’t really get it.” The “twice” refers to Jackson losing out to D’Antoni after Mike Brown was fired five games into the 2012-13 season.
“I think we have to start at the top in terms of the culture of our team,” he said. “What type of culture do you want to have? What type of system do you want to have? How do you want to play? It starts there. “You’ve got to start with Jim. You’ve got to start with Jim and Jeanie and how that relationship plays out. It starts there and having a clear direction and clear authority. “Then it goes down to the coaching staff. What’s Mike going to do? What do you want to do with Mike? It goes from there. It’s got to start from the top.” D’Antoni has one more guaranteed year on his contract. The Lakers are 22-42 and skimming the depths of the Western Conference.
Bryant didn’t provide specifics about personnel changes he wanted. “I can’t really comment too much on that. I just want to get a phone call when somebody gets traded. Let’s start there,” he said. Bryant was still upset about the Lakers’ trading Steve Blake last month to Golden State, a salary dump that saved them about $4 million in player payroll and luxury taxes.
That “specific change in personnel” that he couldn’t comment too much on? According to Sean Deveney of Sporting News, it’s Mike D’Antoni:
With a 22-42 record and little hope of further improvement, Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni is merely coaching out the string this year in Los Angeles—and likely won’t be back next season.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith reported on Wednesday morning that he had heard D’Antoni would be out, and that the Lakers’ potential pursuit of free-agent Carmelo Anthony would be the reason. But multiple sources told Sporting News that the reason for D’Antoni’s potential dismissal is closer to home—star guard Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, sources said, has “no interest” in playing for D’Antoni next season, and wants a new coach in place for the 2014-15 season.
Although it’s probably unfair to put any of what has happened with the Lakers on D’Antoni given what he has been provided to work with this season, blame always ends up on the coach. Whether he’s blamed or not, though, he’s all but gone if Bryant wants him out the door, which he apparently does.
NASH GETS A LITTLE TOO HONEST:
Steve Nash explained why he doesn’t want to retire yet, and one particular answer was about as frank as you’ll ever hear from him. Perhaps a little too frank, even, in the latest Grantland documentary piece called “The Finish Line”:
Here are some of the notable things said during the documentary:
“I can still hurt (from criticism). I mean, only momentarily. As you get older it doesn’t really last like it would when you’re young, but it still hurts, and as a competitor, you just wanna go out there and show everybody. That’s not my primary source of motivation (to show everybody). My primary source of motivation is to get out there because I love the game. But it would be nice to shut some people up while I’m doing it.
“It’s just a reality. I’m not going to retire because, you know, I want the money. It’s honest… You’re going to have people out there say, ‘Oh man. He’s so greedy. He’s already made x amount of money in his career, he’s got to take this last little bit.’ Yes, I do. I have to take that last little bit. So, I’m sorry if that is frustrating to some, but if they were in my shoes, they’d do exactly the same thing. I wouldn’t believe for a minute that they wouldn’t.”
JERMAINE O’NEAL IS A MONSTER OFF THE COURT:
After an intense battle between Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, Jermaine O’Neal didn’t like some of the things that went on during the game and decided to confront Blake Griffin about it after the game, from Markazi of ESPN LA:
Golden State Warriors forward Jermaine O’Neal confronted forward Blake Griffin in the hallway outside the Los Angeles Clippers’ locker room at Staples Center after L.A.’s 111-98 win Wednesday night.
The two had a heated conversation that was quickly broken up by a Clippers official who led Griffin to the adjacent news conference room.
O’Neal, 35, had dressed and was waiting outside the Clippers’ locker room to talk to Griffin.
Griffin, who was walking to the news conference room to take questions from reporters, could be heard telling O’Neal to “leave that s— on the court” before the two were separated and briefly shook hands.
Griffin did not care to discuss his conversations with O’Neal when later taking questions.
“Nah,” he said. “That’s between me and him.”
What wasn’t included in Markazi’s report is how O’Neal responded to Griffin telling the center to leave it on the court. Here is how O’Neal responded, from Brad Turner of LA Times:
Griffin to O’Neal: “Why you want to walk up on me? Leave that (stuff) on the court.” O’Neal to Blake: “I’m a monster off the court.”
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) March 13, 2014
I’m not quite sure how Griffin, or anyone else for that matter, could react to a response like that.
OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE: