Report: Kobe’s rant directed at dysfunctional Lakers front office

There has been a growing buzz around the Lakers this year that as Jim Buss — son of long-time owner Jerry Buss — has taken control of the Lakers organization, nobody is sure what direction it is steering.

That includes Kobe Bryant. Which is why he made the remarks he did about the need to either trade Pau Gasol or say you’re not going to. Kobe wants some stability, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.

Berger minces no words in laying this at the feet of the younger Buss.

So here it is: The Lakers’ front office is an uncommunicative, rudderless fiasco, and the unrest and paranoia that have been festering for years threaten to derail the team’s plans to ride Bryant to his sixth NBA title while they still can. And much of it can be traced to the growing influence of executive vice president Jim Buss, the owner’s bon vivant son, who has helped transform a great franchise into a steaming pool of nepotism and nincompoops….

And that brings us to what all this means in the grand scheme of things for the Lakers. Bryant isn’t the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on, who isn’t being kept in the loop on the organization’s plans. In short, nobody is. And that’s a problem….

“Kobe’s exploding, and he should,” said another person with ties to the franchise. “Your lead player, you should always have communication with him let him know what’s going on. There’s no communication, and that’s ridiculous.”

Jim Buss put his stamp on the Lakers this summer by trying to remove all traces of Phil Jackson from the organization — letting go scouts, front office people, even the equipment manager who had been around from the Showtime era. After that he has gone pretty much into a bunker mentality, not talking to the media, Kobe Bryant, or really laying out his vision to anyone. That mentality may have worked in the 1980s for the Lakers, but it doesn’t now.

Mitch Kupchak is still the GM but there are rumblings that he’s unhappy, that he doesn’t know who he can talk to or trust in the organization anymore. Make no mistake, this is Jim Buss’ show and other GMs know it.

If you don’t think all these rumors play into Dwight Howard’s thinking, you kid yourself.

To be fair, if David Stern doesn’t veto the Chris Paul three-team deal with the Rockets, this conversation is not happening. The Lakers would be contenders (most likely) and would have made the bold move the organization is known for to set itself up for the future.

But there seems to be no “plan B” and nobody is talking (save for Kupchak’s vague public statement). Kobe is frustrated. So are the Lakers fans.