Kobe Bryant is Comfortable with the Lakers but is Mitch Kupchak?

In his exit interview, Kobe Bryant more or less stated that he would not try to usurp Mitch Kupchak’s role this off season. "I'm comfortable with what we have," Bryant said. "Whatever Mitch decides to do, he decides to do. I'll leave it up to him. He's done a great job of building this team."

Quite a different story from last post season when Bryant demanded to be traded if Kupchak, the Lakers GM didn’t put better players around him.

I guess a 57-win season and a Western Conference title has had a lot to do with changing Bryant’s mind this post season.

But no one can be comfortable with the way the Celtics dismantled the Lakers in the NBA Finals, especially in Game 4 and in Game 6.

Does that mean Mitch Kupchak might be thinking about dismantling the Lakers this off season? Probably not. The consensus says a tweaking is all that is needed.

This afternoon, the Lakers did get one little tweak. Trevor Ariza exercised his player option and will not opt out of his contract. This means he will be back in a Lakers uniform next season.

Ariza, a defensive-minded small forward, was just beginning to get into the flow of the Lakers overall system when he broke his foot while practicing last January. Since his conditioning was impaired due to the long layoff and rehab, he saw very limited minutes in the playoffs,

With Ariza back at a hundred percent, he should give the Lakers defense an added spark coming off the bench.

But Kupchak knows that he needs to get more aggressive players in the starting lineup. With Andrew Bynum coming back that takes care of part of the problem. Or does it?

One of the things that is troublesome about Bynum’s injury is the unknown psychological factor. Can Bynum make the mental adjustment to play all out on his repaired knee with the same confidence he had before the injury.

Some are suggesting that Kupchak keep the team intact until the All Star break to see how Bynum does. If Kupchak, a patient man, follows this line of thought that would mean keeping Lamar Odom on the team until early February.

I don’t think Kupchak will. For one thing, Bynum in his exit interview sounded pretty upbeat. He plans to start working out by mid-July. He will spend two months with his trainer in Atlanta and work on his lateral movement and rebounding;

What does this mean for Lamar Odom?

For one thing, Kupchak and Phil Jackson talked about keeping Odom but changing the lineup around when Bynum returns.

It’s the consensus view that Gasol with move to power forward and Odom to small forward. But Kupchak said that one option is for Odom to move to the guard spot and Kobe Bryant to small forward.

"It could be the longest and biggest frontcourt in the NBA in many, many years," Kupchak said.

"It is a team that would be very talented, very long and versatile, and I think training camp would be an important time to test out what (Phil Jackson) has done during the summer."

Do you smell smoke? I do. And where there’s smoke, there’s…yes, a trade looming.

The talk about moving Odom to guard is most likely a ploy to showcase Odom’s versatility. They need something to mask Odom’s inconsistency that he loomed very large during the playoffs.

Right now on Hoopsworld.com, trade rumors abound. Brandon Bass from Dallas, Anderson Varejao from Cleveland, and, of course, Sacramento’s perennial trade bait, Ron Artest.

But if the Lakers were to keep Lamar Odom, who would they trade for any of the above? Vladimir Radmanovic and Luke Walton? That would be akin to the Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol trade.

Nice try, Mitch. You can fool us once, but don’t try a second time.

Aside from being very inconsistent players as opposed to Lamar Odom being somewhat inconsistent, Radmanovic and Walton have multiple year contracts. Odom, on the other hand, has a hefty 14 million-dollar contract, but it expires in a year.

That could be very attractive to any of the teams mentioned above but especially to the New Jersey Nets, who have also have perennial trade bait in the person of Richard Jefferson. But Jefferson has three years left on his contract totaling $42 million, and the Lakers are already over the cap.

Another trade that has been mentioned is Odom for Shawn Marion. It’s unlikely that the Heat would want Odom back. Not when they are likely to take the 6’9" Michael Beasley as the Number Two overall pick in the NBA Draft.

But hold on. What if the Chicago Bulls decide to take Beasley instead of Derrick Rose or if Chicago or Miami decide to trade their picks for a confirmed veteran? Then Miami might take a long, hard look at an Odom and whoever for Marion.

But what will truly prove Mitch Kupchak’s worth as a GM will not be the players he gets but how he deals with players he has?

He has two restricted free agents who were key members of this year’s "Bench Mob" – Sasha Vujacic and Rony Turiaf. Mitch also has one Mid-Level Exemption worth nearly six million dollars.

Can he convince both of them to ignore higher offers and remain with the Lakers? Or, smelling a potential deal on the horizon, will he sign one or both and then package them with Odom, Radmanovic or Walton in a trade?

Already being over the cap and only have a second round draft pick (58^th) and no first round pick until 2010, Kupchak will have to show just how creative he can be.

Also, he has two young players in the wings that he needs to address. Let’s start with Coby Karl.

Does Kupchak feel that with a little more grooming on the main club this season, Karl could fill Vujacic’s role if Kupchak decides to let Vujacic go.

In 17 games with the D-Fenders this year, Karl had a .450 FGP, .411 3PP, .833 FTP, 5.5 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.06 SPG and 17.5 PPG. Not bad at all. What could Kupchak be thinking?

And finally, there’s the matter of international diplomacy. If Kupchak can find a way to negotiate Sun Yue away from the Beijing Aoshen Olympians of the ABA, he should be awarded an ambassadorship when the new president takes over next January.

A 6’ 9" point guard who can really handle the ball and shoot. Hm? Maybe Lamar Odom at the other guard isn’t such a bad idea after all. Talk about twin towers. In the backcourt?

Well, as Kobe say, whatever Mitch decides to do, he decides to do.