EG Blog: At the edge of a season..

Standing at the cliff looking for the road ahead I'm a little confused..

I expected to see a clear road ahead by now. I'm not just talking about our favourite son Kobe, but about the team and the coaching and the front-office.. perhaps even us, the fans.

I see a team that if everyone pulls together is good enough to challenge the best, but a team with the potential to fall-apart like the last part of last season and during the NBA finals three years ago. Will that happen again.. I sincerely hope not, but if it can happen to a team with Kobe, Shaq, Mailman, Glove and Fox - with the coaching of PJ and the most successful and idolised franchise at that point, can't it happen again?

Kobe worries me like everyone else. Is this going to be a season when he no longer plays through the pain? Some pretty weak injuries have kept him out so far - but this is just pre-season, maybe things will change.. Of course, the rumours will rumble again.. why did he sit out? But everything is under a microscope right now so who knows? If Kobe's fit and well he'll play hard I'm sure, but the distractions won't help a squad in some form of constant change!

Lamar worries me. I love his game, he's my favourite player on this squad because (unlike some believe) I think he brings it every game - doing the 'other' things we need. But his shoulder and injuries really concern me. This squad needs him big time right now. I miss Lamar and if he recovers and gets strong then I feel happier.

Phil's a winner and an expert in mind-games. Where is his head at now? I'm not so sure - I'm hoping come day 1 he'll be his philosophical self and pushing us forward.

Okay so how to get back on track? No, firstly we need to be able to see the road ahead. Let's start with getting on the same page and sorting out an aim for the season. Are we rebuilding or pushing for playoffs or contention. We need some indication and that has to come from a consolidated opinon of all concerned. All that takes is agreeing behind closed doors and then announcing it as one. We've done too much open-air laundry for my liking that needs to stop.

The rest? Well, once we know where we're going the road can start to take shape - otherwise we enter the season just hoping it works out.

The good news is we have some of the best pieces you could hope for, putting that together should make for a good journey.

Nice writeup. Although things have been a bit shaky between Kobe and the front office, I'll begin to show real concern if he starts sitting out regular season games.

I don't think that will happen. I just hope this team can stay together and make it through a healthy season before we contemplate blowing it all up.

There's no way Kupchak is going to get enough value for Kobe with his no-trade clause.

Again, the best decision imo is to try to upgrade our smaller pieces (Kwame, Cook) via trade and build around both Kobe and Bynum since it's apparent they won't give up Andrew.