The Leak was Not the Primary Target

The Category 2 Shitstorm has officially been upgraded to a Category 4 Clusterfuck.

I figured Kobe would give me a few days before making my last post obsolete, but instead he gave me a few hours. And honestly I'm reluctant to write anything now because by the time I finish writing this post, I just know there will be some new update where Phil's pulled his Zen shit and calmed him down or Kobe's gone on PTI and announced his retirement.

Here are my hopes:
-Kobe's feeling a bit nostalgic for the circus days of old, so is stirring the pot just to make it interesting.
-Phil can do wonders to calm him (particularly because it seems that it was his revelation of the 5 year rebuilding plan that was one of the main sore spots)
-Jim Buss, Kupchak, whoever the Lakers insider was, whoever else ever looked at Kobe the wrong way, let the heads roll
-The keys to L.A. are given to Jerry West to do whatever he'd like to the Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Angels, Kings, Ducks, City Council, you name it.

Here's my fear:
Kobe sounded pretty irreconcilable on Steven A.'s interview. I'm not sure how you step back from this ledge. When you say straight up that there's nothing management can do to keep you there, how do you soften that? JONESONTHENBA's take sounds about right: He's been maneuvering the media just right the past couple days to make him seem totally vindicated gearing up for this demand.

I'm still not prepared to get too bogged down in the trade possibilities because I'm not sure I've accepted it yet. The optimist in me says it sounds like once Phil talked to him he'll take some time to calm down and think rationally about this. But when the time does come (and I'm gradually accepting that it probably will), Chicago is still the only possible place I see. Rooting for Tyrus Thomas someday would be a small consolation, but fingers are still crossed. Steven A. seems to have the most intimate knowledge of the situation of all the talking heads, and he seems to think despite all the shit stewing "at the end of the day" Kobe will be a Laker once Kupchak disappears and West comes back.