National Basketball Association

Kobe has to 'trust' Lakers are headed in right direction, says Obama could make the roster

Published Mar. 19, 2014 4:37 p.m. ET

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Kobe Bryant assumed sooner or later Phil Jackson had to be all meditated out when it came to deciding on joining the Knicks front office.  

"Like I said, there's only but so much meditation a person could all day," Bryant said in an appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show" Wednesday. "At some point, you got to get up and do something."

He wasn't caught off guard by his former coach deciding to become the team president of the New York Knicks. Bryant and Jackson met "about a week and a half ago," he says and figured Jackson was in a New York state of mind.

"I wasn't surprised by it," Bryant said. "I had already pretty much known that was going to happen. He and I had a great opportunity to catch up, get some breakfast together, and just kind of talk, just kind of catch up and he mentioned that was likely to happen. I just wish him all the best."  

While Jackson attempts to come up with a championship recipe for the Knicks, Bryant has more pressing concerns with the direction of the Lakers. For starters, he said he didn'€™t "really understand" how Jackson got away from the Lakers as head coach last season and the team elected to go with Mike D'Antoni instead.

Still, with the Lakers in the midst of one of their worst seasons in franchise history, Bryant says he has to trust in management.

"It's hard to really see that when you're in this type of situation when the future seems really bleak," said Bryant, who'€™s appeared in just six games this season. "It's really tough to have that faith and that trust but that's what you have to have. I'€™ve been in this organization since I was 17 years old. I've known Jimmy (Buss) and I know Jeanie and I know that they bleed Purple and Gold and they want to do the right thing for the organization.

"It's really just about communication and moving forward in the same direction. I have no doubt that that will happen."

D'Antoni's role in the direction of the team is uncertain. Bryant was asked if he thought his current head coach, in his second year of a three-year $12 million deal, deserved another year.   

"That, I don'€™t know," Bryant said. "It'€™s been really tough on him. The two years that he's been here he's been dealing with so many injuries left and right. He hasn't really gotten a fair deal, a fair shake at it, since he's been here."

Though when Patrick asked whether or not President Barack Obama could make the Lakers' current roster, Bryant was more definitive: "Yes he could, actually." 

Though the guard quickly qualified that statement.

"I'm not dissing the current roster that we have," Bryant clarified. "It's more of a sign of respect of the skill that the President possesses." 

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