It's working.
Let's start by taking a look at the Lakers current roster.
Starters:
Barnes 8th Season
Gasol 10th Season
Bynum 6th Season
Fisher 15th Season
Bryant 15th Season
Barnes and Fisher would not start on any other team in the NBA.
Bench:
Blake
Caracter
Ebanks
Goudelock
Kapono
McRoberts
Morris
Murphy
Walton
Peace
This has to be the worst bench in the NBA.
Remove Kobe from this team, and the Lakers would be hard pressed to score 60 points a game. Removing Kobe from this team is what Mike Brown seems to be hell bent on achieving. To save himself from embarrassing 20+ losses, he plays Kobe 40 minutes a night. Understandably, this rookie coach cannot look at a loss as simply a loss. If the Lakers were losing by 30 or 40, the panic button would be hovered over and Brown's seat would be heating up incrementally each time Luke Walton licked his fingers. (Trust me on this one. Walton, licks his fingers every time he makes a mistake on the floor. If given significant minutes, his fingers would be forever pruney).
And what's with all the white guys? Blake, Gasol, Kapono, McRoberts, Murphy, Walton, and Goudelock (no one's heard of him, so I'd thought I'd sneak him in). Sans Gasol, these castaways are contributing less than even Gilligan in his seminal athletic moment as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters vs. the Invincible Robots. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqJxz5EM2kc) Note: You'll get a treat listening to the announcer in this game played to "save the island").Back to the mainland. Together, Kapono, Murphy, McRoberts, and Blake have a combined 30 years of NBA experience logging token minutes for (drum roll, please) 21 different teams!
I think we are all being duped by a savvier than presented Lakers' management team. With Kobe in his 15th year and the Lakers fragile future face of the franchise (trying saying that 5 times fast), Andrew Bynum landing on buckled knees, it doesn't take a Mayan to conclude that the end is near.
No one is dumb enough (except the young Buss kid) to say it, but the Lakers are plotting a rebuild.
Kobe still has trade value but if the Lakers' management were to start dangling the franchise's all time greatest player to teams like the Bulls, Magic, Mavs, Knicks, and Clips, fans would never forgive.
But....
if Kobe out of frustration from having to play with the likes of Kapono (3.1 PPG, 29% 3PFG), Peace (5.1 PPG, 32% FG, 12% 3PFG), Fisher (5.1 PPG, 32% FG), and Walton (2.0 PPG, up from last season 1.7 PPG), were to demand a trade, then the Lakers' brass could claim they had no choice.
It's diabolical. Let me provide further evidence to support Project: Piss Off Kobe. Exhibit A: Hire Mike Brown, without consulting Kobe. Exhibit B: Trade Lamar Odom without getting anything in return. Exhibit C: (which implicates David Stern who understands that the Los Angeles Lakers cannot be fueled by Kobe forever) The botched Chris Paul trade which would have placated Kobe and improved their championship chances.
Now add a dusting of personal strife (divorce settlement in which Kobe forfeited three Newport Beach mansions), and a pinch (okay much more than a pinch) of ego, which keeps Kobe striving to surpass Michael Jordan in championships) and you have the recipe for the rebuild.
When asked recently about the the struggling offense, Bryant insisted, “It’s under construction. We’re still working on the blueprints, actually.”
And somewhere in a dimly lit office in the bowels of Staples center, Mitch Kupchak could be found rubbing his hands together with a look of devilish satisfaction. Project: Piss Off Kobe may be ahead of schedule.
