I stopped being a Lakers fan the day crybaby Kobe Bryant became the face of the franchise.

The Lakers stopped being a team then, because players' individual agendas became the most important thing.

Kobe wanted to be Da Man. Now he wants to be on a team that has a chance to contend.

Does he forget that he's the one who chased Shaq out of town?

Seriously—given his history, who the heck wants to play with Kobe?

My two cents: Rebuild the Lakers from the ground up.

Trade Kobe for unfair value. Just get rid of him. I'd rather root for a losing team with good character players than a winning team that caters to prima donnas with attitudes.

The Lakers already have their share of character guys—Ronny Turiaff, Luke Walton, and Derek Fisher, to name a few. That's a solid foundation to build on.

Coaching is also an issue. I like coaches—like Utah's Jerry Sloan—who don't bow to egos, and who always demand that the team come first.

Which I guess means Phil Jackson must be shown the door as well.

I watched a game last week in which Kobe almost took every shot. It was blatantly obvious that he was grumpy and didn't care about his teammates, who were relegated to bystander status.

Jackson should have benched him on the spot.

He didn't.

As I see it, if you want to act like a jackass, you'll get treated like a jackass. Someone on the Lakers needed to get in Kobe's grill and give him sh*t on national television.

When the Lakers finally rediscover their dignity and get rid of the cancer that is Kobe, I'll be the first to go out and buy a new Lakers jersey.

But for now, I'd rather root for a real TEAM, like the Toronto Raptors—or a team trying to become a team, like the Portland Trailblazers.

Paul Allen learned his lesson. Perhaps Jerry Buss can learn something from him.