Kobe Bryant Implicated in Dog Fighting

That seems to be the only reason why Kobe would come out and demand a trade. Either that, or he's doing his boss, Old Doc Buss, a solid by taking the heat off his recent DUI. Whatever the case, this Kobe trade business is nonsense because Kobe won�t be traded. As T.J. Simers noted on Sunday, the Lakers need a superstar to fill Staples Center, and Kwame Brown and Lamar Odom won't quite cut it.

But Kobe needs to stand up and be accountable for the mess that he has created. Kobe didn't orchestrate the Shaq trade, and he is owed an apology from those (us included) that insinuated that he did. It's not like he signed his deal the very next day after Shaq was traded to Miami. Oh wait, that is exactly what happened. Must have been a coincidence. But let's play along and pretend that Kobe didn�t demand that trade. He could have made his own free-agent signing contingent on the team keeping Shaq. But it's clear he didn't want to be on the same team, and that's cool.

Don't cry about the team not having enough of a supporting class. Kobe could have signed with the Clippers who had much more talent than the Lakers at that point. And really, the deal for Shaq was actually good for the Lakers in that the team received Odom and Caron Butler who averaged nearly 20 points last season. The only problem is that he did it for Washington because Kobe insisted the team get Brown.

Kobe wanted to be the man on his own team. He might not have sent Shaq out the door, but he held it open for him to leave. Kobe created this mess and he�s not going to be traded. But hey, anything to get that Mike Vick dog-fighting scandal off the radio is alright by us.