Kobe Bryant Learned of Mike Brown’s Hiring on the Internet

Kobe Bryant was upset when the Lakers hired Mike Brown without consulting him, and he tells the NY Post that he found about the move like everyone else: by reading about it on the web. And it doesn’t sound like the relationship between Bryant and the front-office is all that warm and fuzzy: “We almost have to be perfect this season,’ Kobe Bryant said. ‘There’s little margin for error.’ […] It sure looks like management is more interested in decreasing luxury tax debt — saving $17.8 million this season in Odom’s case — than winning it all this season, Kobe lamented. ‘Hopefully, management knows what it’s doing and will provide us with our missing pieces,’ Bryant said. ‘Hey, I’m just a player. I have no input concerning anything that happens here. In fact, I learned we’d hired our coach from reading it online. I can’t remember the last time I had a conversation with Jimmy [Buss, managing owner]. Occasionally, I’ll cross paths with Mitch [Kupchak, general manager] and we’ll speak for a couple minutes about nothing really. I’ve never known what’s going on. That’s why I went public [in May 2007] and demanded a trade. When it became obvious to me that management wasn’t trying to compete for a championship, I felt my only recourse was to embarrass [owner Jerry Buss] into doing it.’ Hence the hijacking of Gasol from Memphis. So, how do you think your team is going to do, I asked Kobe, who has insistently denied rumors he’ll demand to be traded. Expectations can’t be too high. ‘No, we’re going to be perfect,’ he said. ‘I have a good feeling about how things are going to turn out.'”