Kobe Bryant Expects Lakers Front-Office to ‘Tweak’ Team

Kobe Bryant, who says he’s “obsessed” with winning another NBA championship, anticipates that the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster will not look the same by the time the NBA trade deadline comes and goes. Per ESPN: “I’m sure they’ll do something,’ Bryant said. ‘They’ll tweak something. I don’t know what. But I’m sure they’ll do something. Here’s the distinct difference between what’s going on now and what went on in ’06-07: Back then, I didn’t think they were willing to spend the money to have us have a successful team,’ Bryant said, referring to his infamous trade demand when he said he’d rather ‘play on Pluto’ than return to the purple and gold. ‘I just thought they were going to sit on their hands and have me go out there and score all these points and generate revenue and just not spend any dollars,’ Bryant continued. ‘So, that was the issue that I had and I said if that’s the case and that’s what your philosophy is right now, just let me go. Let me go play someplace else then if that’s what you want to do, because I didn’t want to be a part of it. Now, I don’t think that’s the case. They obviously tried to pull the trigger on a trade that they thought was going to improve our team with CP and it just didn’t happen. But, that shows me that they’re thinking in the right direction in terms of doing things to improve our ballclub. So that’s why I’m not really tripping on it. We have to be patient and we have to make the right moves and I’m sure we will.’ Bryant balked at the chance to address specifically what roster moves would be necessary to fortify the Lakers’ championship aspirations, but he supported the approach made by Lakers’ management to improve the team. ‘The motivation is for us to build a contender,’ Bryant said. ‘It’s not to just kind of sit around and see what falls in our lap. That’s not the impression that I get from management at all, so I think that allows me to be patient. You can’t just rush into things and then you make bad decisions, you make bad choices, you’re locked into bad contracts. So, it’s important to be patient, make right choices and we’ll be fine.’ When pressed and asked if he would rather play with Orlando’s Dwight Howard or New Jersey’s Deron Williams, two players who have been linked to dozens of trade rumors this season, Bryant played along. ‘Give me both, how about that?’ Bryant said with a laugh.”