Kevin Love Gets the Respect Kobe Bryant Deserves

If you don’t think the times are changing in Laker Land then consider the following to be either your first warning or a significant sign of the impeding apocalypse.

Currently the Minnesota Timberwovles are looking for a new head coach. Nothing shocking there, you can set your watch to that process occurring every other year since Flip Saunders left. What is eye opening is that David Kahn is involving Kevin Love in the process, seeking the input of his best player. Again, nothing too shocking as that is a common courtesy most competent franchises extend.

Well…most competent franchises expect our very own Los Angeles Lakers.

Let me get this straight. Kevin Love has one good year for a crap team and he’s invited to stick his nose into the coaching search. Yet Kobe Bryant and his 5 rings have to find out on ESPN that Mike Brown is being tapped as PJ’s replacement.

Something is wrong here. Very wrong. Like Glenn Beck in the oval office wrong.

By no means am I saying Kobe should have been side by side with Jim Buss during the interview process. Nor am I suggesting KB24’s opinion should have been the deciding factor. All I’m saying is that for all Bryant has done for the Laker organization he deserves the same respect extended to K-Love.

Far be it for me to hold the T-Wolves up as a model franchise. To be perfectly honest, it feels like Kahn is jumping the shark a little bit here by involving Love in the process at all. With all due respect, Love did some amazing things this year but he’s by no means in a place to be getting treated like a franchise cornerstone. No matter how well an individual plays he can’t be shown franchise treatment when his squad only won 17 games.

All that being said this speaks volumes as to just how either detached or self-centered Jim Buss is.

How Buss couldn’t so much as give Kobe a courtesy call to let him know which direction they’re taking the franchise is just plain ignorant.

No matter what Jim Buss thinks of Kobe he owes him a great debt. Bryant helps to sellout Staples and most every other arena he travels to. Kobe’s dedication has helped to keep the winning tradition alive in Los Angeles. Above all else his mere presence in a Laker uniform translates to revenue. Revenue I’m sure Jim Buss has greatly enjoyed over the years.

These are some troubling times in Laker Land. Jim Buss is clearly taking the franchise in a different direction as he slowly inherits the throne from his iconic father.

From the jump Jim Buss has sought to distance himself from anything that had his father’s finger prints on it. First it was the complete dismantling of anything Phil related. Now it would appear he’s doing the same with the roster.

Jim Buss is looking to build around Andrew Bynum going forward. Somehow he seems to think the immature Baby Bynum is going to be the foundation for the foreseeable future. I tend to disagree but what do I know? I’m not a trust fund baby playing NBA executive. I’m just a blogger. A blogger who would have made sure Kobe was the first number I dialed after hanging up with Mike Brown.