I reached that point, many many months ago with the man. Wasnt the Phil Jackson revolving door, also a result of trying to please Kobe?

First of all, Kobe had nothing to do with shaq being traded. He was not obligated to say anything to Jerry Buss to keep Shaq. Yea, Shaq is one of the best of all time, but so is Kobe. The Lakers said they would surround him with talent, and instead settled for the likes of Smush Parker, and an under developed seventeen year old. It's you repoters in the media who makes every thing a big deal. Who cares if he want's to be traded, so did Shaq. You say you would take Lebron and Timmy over Kobe, and I am not nocking those two, (who are two of my fav behind Kobe) but put Kobe on those the Spurs or any team on the east for that matter and see what happens.

Milton,

You can hate Kobe if you'd like, but please don't
revise history. Shaq's departure was because
he was being paid 30 million a year and he
wanted an extension with a raise, which Jerry
Buss refused to pay.

People forget, but at that time Shaq was going
off on the same sort of tirades that Kobe just went
off on. Remember Shaq running down the
sidelines and screaming "are you gonna pay
me now?" at Buss in the stands.

Buss saw that he could no longer build a good
team if Shaq's salary kept increasing and
Kobe got a max deal. Mid-season, he made
an extension offer to Shaq which reportedly
started at 24 million, which Shaq rejected, so
Buss pulled that offer off the table and traded
Shaq.

There was animosity between Shaq and Kobe,
yes, but that wasn't the reason Shaq got
traded away.

What's ironic is that Shaq behaved as badly
3 years ago as Kobe is behaving now, and
people blamed it on Kobe, not on Shaq.

Kobe went about this whole situation the wrong way, making it difficult for his team to get better and decreasing his rade vaue. Bad decision making by him, but he's still the best player in the game. I see the Lakers making no changes and losing him in time. It's their fault. you don't disrespect the game by keeping Bynum in a straight up trade offer for Jason Kidd. Foolish GM. One day mgmt. will realize their follies.

Milton,

You can't be serious with this article. Kobe Bryant is by far the best player in the league, and all he wants to do is (win). If you listen to his rants and his complaints, you would understand he only signed back with the Lakers because he felt that the Lakers would upgrade their roster. You can not discount this man, he puts his heart and body into every single game, and then we disrespect him by not trading Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd. We are talking about Jason Kidd. I'm off of my soap box but Jason Kidd, you have got to be kidding me.

Kobe should have handled the post-season in a different way, no doubt about that.
Being correct in his analysis it would have made much more sense to speak to PJ and then management and let the Lakers work towards an improved squad for next season. As it is they just became less attractive .
That being said: KB24 isn't to blame for the decline in the last 3 years.
Baron Davis and more recently JKidd could have been key players for the Lakers.
Surely mismanagement is to blame for those missed opportunities.
And how about KBrown for CButler ??
You cannot afford those kind of mistakes in the Wild West.

The article is pointless, coming from a Kobe hater.

Wow! Trade Kobe? Are you stoned or just stupid? You seem to be a bit of a history revisionist as well. I'm so sick of every misinformed idiot blaming Shaq's departure on Kobe. Do you remember Shaq repeated "pay me or trade me" demands? Do you remember Shaq repeatedly saying he was the real GM of the Lakers, not Mitch Kupchak. How is this Kobe's doing.

Let's see... Shaq demands a trade and Kobe's the bad guy. Kobe demands a trade and Kobe's the bad guy. I think guys like you and other media and pseudo media types have some serious hate going on for Kobe and help boost this Kobe bashing.