Usually, when personal issues get in the way of business, it is never good, and it seems the rift between Kobe and the FO is personal, and obstructing the ability to take care of business on the basketball court.

Kwame’s main problem is that he doesn’t care. As Phil says, Kwame is more about getting laughs from his teammates than actually working on his game in practice. He has all of the natural talent, but is just LAZY and lacking focus. Yeah he has small hands, but Elden Campbell had small hands and got over that to have a nice career. (Side Note: Isn’t it funny how Lakers fans used to rag on Big Easy because of his quiet demeanor? But at least we actually got something with that guy. I remember him dropping 40+ on the Knicks and Patrick Ewing in 1997 when Shaq was out.) Unless Kwame decides to focus on basketball, he’s pretty much going to be what he’s always been in the NBA to this point.

As for Bynum. He’s a different story. You can tell that he works hard on his game. He’s so solid on offense. He has moves with both hand and on both side of the block. He has GREAT footwork, especially for a man of his size. Also his court vision and passing have been good and he seems to have potential to get even better. Obviously he needs to get better on defense. His problem last year was conditioning, and he’s seemed to work on a lot of that. His legs and his base still need to get stronger, but he’s showed a lot more spring than he did last season. I mean the last few games he’s really been getting off of the ground and throwing down some powerful dunks. People knock this FO for not trading Bynum, but there are solid reasons for this. Unless he loses focus or starts getting injured there is no way that he is not going to be an All-Star for years to come. This isn’t Dampier. This isn’t even Eddy Curry. This is a strong, very long, athletic, agile big man who is only 20 years old yet has already worked harder on his game than most classic ceneters ever do during their careers. Like I said, barring injury or loss of focus, there is no way he doesn’t become an all-star for years to come.

The irony of Kobe and Bynum is that it kind of reminds me of Shaq and Kobe. Shaq not liking the young brash kid with tons of potential that the organization seemed to love more than him seems a lot like Kobe telling the organization to choose between him and Bynum. What Kobe doesn’t understand is that if he embraced Bynum and worked with him, he might be a lot closer to having a winning team in Los Angeles than he thinks. Kobe should be taking Bynum under his wing. Showing him how hard he works. Encouraging him to be the best big man he could be. Kobe says he needs to win now, but players can go from potential to being good within one season. Look at Steve Nash, Josh Howard, Tony Parker, Leandro Barbosa, Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki’s rookie year was terrible. Nash was below average his first three to four years in the league. Josh Howard broke out out of know where during his third year. Barbosa was seen as a bust until he really started to break loose during the 2006 season. Tony Parker was a starter that couldn’t finish games because of his lack of focus and dislike for contact his first three seasons in the league. I mean, TP is the reason Speedy Claxton currently is making the kind of dough he is. My point is that sometimes all you need is a little bit of patience. I know it sounds idealistic, but I think it’s still possible. Young guys need time to develop. Bynum, Farmar, Critt, and even Sasha are showing great signs of improvement. Barbosa didn’t break lose and show what he had to offer until his third season. The Suns had patience. The Lakers, Kobe and the fans need to learn how to do the same thing.

Sorry for the long post…

This being said I want Coby Karl to play on the D-League for awhile to make his presence felt and to boost his confidence. The Lakers can still carry 14 players up to January where his 100 grand will determine if he is worth 300 more or not.