News / Sports
Kobe Bryant Says “West” is the Right Direction for Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe Bryant has expressed his frustration surrounding the state of the Los Angeles Lakers and their inability to put the right pieces together to make an NBA Finals charge but the star guard has offered a solution to the problems. Bryant told the Los Angeles Times that the man who brought the Lakers “Showtime” during the 1980s and three straight titles from 2000-2002 is the fix LA needs.
That man is former Lakers general manger Jerry West. Speaking about his desire to have West back in the Lakers front office Bryant said “My feeling on Jerry West is I trust him completely, I don't want to get into people believing me to be bashing anybody. (Current GM Mitch Kupchak) is a great guy. All I can go by is what has happened with this team the last two years, and I know Jerry West is a guy who's great at what he does.”
Bryant continued, “I would love for him to be a part of this, but it's not something where I demand he comes here. All I can do is offer my thoughts. I love being a Laker. I want to retire a Laker. I want to fix this thing, or at least help any way I can.”
For Kobe, the past two years have been nothing short of a disaster as the Lakers have failed to bring in another star to help ease the scoring load. Despite having had the ability to go after players like Jason Kidd and Baron Davis the Lakers refused to give up some of their younger players and that is something Bryant can’t wrap his head around.
Talking about the mentality of West, the NBA’s leading scorer said “He wants to win and he wants to win right now. I can roll with that, even if we don't have the complete turnaround we're hoping to have this summer. Just having him back in the nucleus will help.”
Jerry West is currently the GM of the Memphis Grizzlies but his contract expires on July 1. Los Angeles has not made any commitment to talk with West and the Grizzlies general manager has not commented on the prospect of returning to the Lakers.
