Kobe should send message, sit out season

On further consideration, maybe Kobe Bryant should sit out the season.

If the Los Angeles Lakers aren't serious about trying to compete, then why waste his best years? Say what you will about the Chicago Bulls and breaking up the team or any of the criticisms that endured during their championship years: They never put Michael Jordan in a position where he couldn't win every year once he did. They never experimented and never rebuilt. They brought in veterans and took chances on talent to go for it every day.

You'd have difficulty saying that about the Los Angeles Lakers, and while I may not have gone about protesting the way Kobe Bryant did in dialing up talk radio stations — unless I could win a trip to Tijuana by being the 15th caller to guess Jerry Buss' blood alcohol level — he may have a point.

We haven't heard much from Kobe Bryant about his plans for this season since the blowup in the spring, when he told various media outlets he doesn't intend to return to the Los Angeles Lakers and wants to be traded, ostensibly to the Bulls.

The Bulls, like several teams, made perfunctory inquiries, but were told Kobe Bryant was not available.

Kobe Bryant then went to play for Team USA in the Olympic qualifier. He declined to discuss his Los Angeles Lakers situation, saying he didn't want to detract from the U.S. team, but then his play said all that needed to be said.

He was easily the best player on the U.S. team that swept to first place in the tournament. True, the field was weak, but the U.S. team was strong and Kobe Bryant shone brightest. He was the team's only true two-way player, as ferocious on defense as he was skilled on offense. He scored from everywhere, as we've seen before, and again left little doubt that while he may not be the most popular, or certainly obliging, player, he is the most talented in the NBA today.

He turned 29 last month, and the Los Angeles Lakers are squandering the best part of his career.

Perhaps Kobe Bryant would be better off sitting out a year, just preparing for the 2008 Olympics, perhaps doing some commercials and appearances. He wouldn't make close to the almost $20 million he'd have to forfeit. But he'd save his body and let it recover and perhaps extend his career on the other end.

Meanwhile, it would leave the Los Angeles Lakers as hopeless also-rans, and raise good questions among ticket holders that perhaps their money would be better spent elsewhere. Perhaps buying more political influence and getting those good sleeping arrangements like during the Clinton administration.

Buss likes to say he is the poorest of the NBA owners, though not with teenaged dates. But it's a crime to watch the Los Angeles Lakers worry about paying the luxury tax and cutting corners with one of the most lucrative and valuable franchises in the NBA. They should be spending millions more, if necessary, to produce the product their market pays for like few others.

First of all, this apparent love affair with Andrew Bynum is lunacy.

Here's a 19-year-old with some pro promise who is three to four years away from being a serious contributor. This supposedly is the lost treasure of Jim Buss, the heir apparently. Jim Buss seems to be convinced he has the next, well, someone.

What he's got is a kid who might be producing when Phil Jackson is gone and Kobe Bryant is sliding downward. Are Jackson and Kobe Bryant supposed to wait patiently while some kid may develop?

It's unbelievable, especially because there appears to be a market for Andrew Bynum.

The Nets admitted they offered Jason Kidd last February, and Kobe Bryant loves playing with Kidd. But the Los Angeles Lakers were probably right to pass on that one. Two great guards isn't quite enough. You also need some size.

There's an obvious deal out there for the Los Angeles Lakers to give them a chance to compete now and give Kobe Bryant a high quality player to play with, which all the successful great ones have had and Kobe Bryant hasn't had since Shaquille O'Neal was traded. The Los Angeles Lakers insist Kobe Bryant didn't force out O'Neal. But even if he did, it's hardly a reason now to leave Kobe Bryant on a talent island.

Like Scottie Pippen likes to say, how many titles did Jordan win without him?

Back to Jordan, it wasn't until Pippen developed into a perennial All-Star that the Bulls began to become a serious championship contender. And when they did, they got veterans every year, not babies. Bobby Hansen after the first title, Rodney McCray, Trent Tucker and Darrell Walker in 1992, Ron Harper after that, then Larry Krystkowiak, Dennis Rodman, Robert Parish, Steve Kerr, Bill Wennington, Randy Brown and Joe Kleine. They cut first round picks without inviting them to training camp. Forget potential: You try to win every year you have the best player in the league on your team.

Unless, apparently, you are the Los Angeles Lakers.

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