I ran across something today that made me smile over at Eye On Basketball. Apparently Kobe has great sympathy for the perils and plights of management when trying to navigate the salary cap, field a profitable team, and win championships:

"The motivation is for us to build a contender," Bryant said. "It's not to just kind of sit around and see what falls in our lap. That's not the impression that I get from management at all, so I think that allows me to be patient. You can't just rush into things and then you make bad decisions, you make bad choices, you're locked into bad contracts. So, it's important to be patient, make right choices and we'll be fine.

Hmm.  Bad contracts? You mean like $30 million per year for a 35-year old shooting guard? Oh, wait.

I've said it before and will continue to say it: Kobe is a good player, but he's not worth anywhere near $25 million. And he's already on the decline -- in two years, in the final year of his contract, he'll be 35 and definitely won't be worth $30 million. And considering the Laker's luxury tax position, their really paying more like $50 million for him (and maybe more like $80 million or so when the new, heavily-punitive luxury tax kicks in after next season).

I find it the height of irony that Kobe's warning of the perils of bad contracts.