Be mediocre. Too good to tank, probably not good enough to make playoffs.

Kobe is a selfish s.o.b

Lakers will be mediocre next season not good enough to be a contender or bad enough to get a great draft pick

Nash/Farmar
Kobe/Meeks
Young/???
???/Kelly?
Gasol/Kaman


I'd be surprised if Gasol and Kaman start, especially given D'Antoni's system didn't really work with the twin towers. Having said that, Kaman has more offensive game than Dwight and has a better mid-range game. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the team as a whole plays better this upcoming season. The Lakers did go 28-12 over the final 40 games which equates to 57-58 wins in a season. This was despite all of the injuries they went through. Also note that the Lakers were most effective when Pau and Kobe were on the court with Dwight on the bench last season. Won't surprise me at all to get at least 50 wins next season. If i'm wrong, and they do bad, they'll be able to reload next off-season. All this talk about Kobe not taking a pay cut has been misinterpreted. If you listen to the actual interview he also included that getting an extension between him and the Lakers will be no problem. He'll get a deal in the 15-18 million range I would think, enough to bring in a max deal or two. Melo is my pick who will definitely go to LA. He has a great relationship with Kobe and they've talked about playing together. John Wall may be a bolter eas well. Should be an interesting time in la la land these next 12 months.

Kobe & Melo? Yeah right not enough basketballs to go around.

Kobe is way ahead of schedule and is going to be full go by this time next month. So if all keeps going to plan, he'll be ready for game one of the season.

No way, expect Kobe to miss at least the first third of the season.

Kobe is a great player we all agree on that. He will be 36 in 2014 will his ego allow him to take a step back so the Lakers can benefit from great free agent class, if not they might be stuck in mediocrity

Kobe ran Shaq, Phil, Malone & Payton out of town just so he could be the top dog on a crap Lakers team that didn't even make the playoffs in '05.

Two more mediocre years followed with 1st round exists even with Phil back counting the money before landing Gasol and becoming a championship team again.

Kobe has always put himself above the team and the team interests and I doubt next offseason will be any different.

FFS, he just ran Dwight Howard out of town you really think LeBron or Melo would put up with Kobe and his antics?

He's heartless no doubt but during the season Kobe got up and blasted the guy in the Lakers locker room in front of everyone else, hardly an endearing thing.

Also in the Lakers face-to-face pitch to re-sign Howard, Kobe basically said he needed to learn how to win (made an NBA Finals series without Kobe) and should concentrate on rebounds & defence i.e. leave the offence to Kobe.

The absolute last person you'd have from the Lakers pitching to a free-agent is Kobe.

A few notable parts:

When Howard escaped L.A. during this summer's NBA free agency, he took with him any realistic chance Bryant had to have another star big-man snag him a ring. Kobe's first three titles came as second fiddle to Shaquille O'Neal, arguably the most physically dominant center to ever play the game. After Bryant ran Shaq out of town, the Lakers immediately went into the toilet and were unable to even capture a playoff berth in the season following their fourth straight Final's appearance.

Los Angeles would only return to the spotlight after Kobe threatened to walk himself, prompting the Lakers to add three new big-men to the roster (Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom). Kobe climbed their shoulders for two more titles while making people believe he was the biggest reason for the turnaround. Bryant's career proved he was only as good as his dominant inside game allowed him to be. The same cannot be said about the man to which he is unjustly compared.

Considering Bynum could not wait to get away from Bryant, and Howard took his first chance to click the eject button on his seat next to Kobe, this now marks the third center to run screaming from a player who will demand a statue outside Staples Center when his career is done.

Howard's refusal to be the next big man to anchor Kobe could send a clear signal to other players in the league to avoid the Lakers until the "Tinseltown Tyrant" has called it quits.

I think they could make the playoffs. Kobe carried an even worst team to the playoffs a few years ago.

You're a dick anon