Whoowee here’s something that will get Lakers fans going. Kobe slander from the Lakers general manager? Guess there’s a first for everything.
Mitch Kupchak has been with Kobe from day 1. It must depress you when you spend most of that time trying to build a team around one person. Because let’s be honest, there was no reason for the Lakers to give Kobe that contract. They hog tied themselves with that. I’d go as far as to say that if they didn’t make that deal, they wouldn’t be in tank mode like they are now. But that was back then, this is now and it seems that Kupchak can’t wait for Kobe to hang them up.
“We cannot move on as a team until Kobe leaves,” Kupchak said. “Part of that to me is painful because I’ve been here 20 years with Kobe.
“This is a year that’s dedicated to Kobe and his farewell. From my point of view, it gives me complete clarity. … We know what our [salary] cap situation is going to be like…. “We feel in the last two years that we’ve gotten at least five attractive young players,” said Kupchak, listing Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, Larry Nance Jr. and Anthony Brown.
I agree with the statement about having good, young players. Randle, Russell, Nance Jr and Clarkson will be their starters for years to come and I can’t wait to see that.
But for now the Lakers have to continue to eat crow and put some cloth in their mouth while they rip off the bandage that is named “Kobe Bryant’s contract”.
