Kobe's new number?

is kobe wearing a new number for the upcoming season? on a news channel this morning, he was wearing 31 instead of 8 during th media day photo shoot. i aint got a picture or nothin but i know what i saw. just wondering if anyone else saw this.

Wtf... noooo! 8 is the best- he has top keep it!

also bout jersey numbers... Brian Cook wasnt allowed to take 34... he has 43 now- Do u think the Lakers will retire 34 or they felt Cook wasnt good enough to wear it yet?

i think theres a good chance theyll retire shaqs number. he is one of the best centers to ever play the game and led the lakers to 3 consecutive nba titles. i think he is more than qualified to have his number retired despite his hostility towards the laker organization last year.

from achievements alone he deserves to have 34 retired for him... its up to the orginisation. I dont think his attitude towards the Lakers would stop his number from being retired!

Is there any rule on how long a player has to be with the team to have his number retired? (Which reminds- this doesnt belong here... but in Dynasty mode in 04- i could only retire the jersey number of a player who played well and for their whole career with the team i used... lucky we get to manually choose player's jerseyds t retire! )

according to lakers.com hes still number 8

that would be stupid to change numbers,even though he has bein doin stupid thangs lately

(watch how many people get at me over this one)

They give that to all Lakers who run that commerical for them. The players don't actually wear their real jerseys, but are given a generic one to wear for the advertisement. Kobe is still #8, if you saw the media day photos.

While on the topic, he is ripped. I heard he's been lifting to put himself up to 230. I saw the photos with him and Odom, and he's quite huge.

yeah I heard he has really bulked up. He was always really skinny in his younger years like 205, then in 2003 he really bulked up to 220 (I reember looking on NBA.com and it said 220)along with cutting his hair. Then after the whole rape trial started I think he didn't have time to make it to the gym and lost some of that weight. Now I haven't seen him recently but I cant wait to see how he looks like now at 230.

I have a feeling he is working towards a mostrous season with the lakers.

maybe Kobe should change to number 34 haha

maybe Kobe should change to number 34 haha

Yeah right. A tribute to his best friend.

I think he'll more than likely keep 8...Maybe he's just trying to get some more publicity with number 31.

Kobe will still wear #8. No reason to change jersey number. about Cook not getting number 34 instead get 43, Lakers will definitely retire Shaq number. Shaq have done wonderful job and one of the best center to wear lakers jersey.

Did Cook gave up #7 to Odom????

yup..I seen a pic of Odom with 7

*oh yeah heres a Kobe with #31 pic*

maybe kobe was bulking up incase he ended up in prison as a way of fending off inmates trying to rape him

http://cache.gettyimages.com/comp/51402 ... 9B9B114CE8

in this pic he has 8 so i dont think he changing

Lets clear it up, like my man was saying up there. The 31 jersey is a generic laker jersey. its used for photo sessions where only the shoulders and up is required. Those shoes are sick though!

edit *shoes in another picture*

I think a chance will be good for Kobe... the Shaq-Kobe era is over and a change of his jersey number could be a good idea by putting Shaq to the shadows and all these off court allegatiosn behind him. By wearing a new number he might feel like a new guy in the block and it might just do it right for him. I think you guys dont want him to change htis jersey number because ya dont want to buy another jersey LOL j/k

Thanks.

Ok- let's also listen to this!

Is it all a setup- In your opinions- how Kobe and the Lakers are talking to media. All of the high praises for Kobe from Odom and Vlade and everyone in the Locker room sayin, "Kobe is the greatest player in the NBA right now..." Is it all set up?

And yes- Kobe weighed in at 230 pounds... he was ringing teammates during the SUmmer and as a team they worked out at a secret location. Good leadership??

Looks like Kobe is determined to kick some ass next season, good luck to him although I won't exactly cry if he fails

on another note, Rasheed Wallace will wear #36 this season for "personal reasons"

Its probably what Gloveguy said, or they were making headshots and they needed a purple jersey for a better lighting result or something, so they just used the #31, which could be Jamal Sampsons jersey from last year.

And yeah Kobe looks way bigger compared to last year, I hope he will get another season like the 2002/03 one when he went from 210 to 220 pounds and had his best induvidual season of his career (40+ 9 straight games, 12-three pointers in 1 game, 42 points in the first half etc.). Its very good to see that hes working his ass off along with the other Laker playes under his leadership, who started working out weeks ago. This is serieus buisness for Kobe.

I wonder if he's overworkin himself? will this wear him down towards the end of the season? I mean he just came off 100+ or so games and he has the added pressure of leading this team w/o Shaq. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets injured just like T-Mac had the back problems

Well, after the 2001/02 season. After the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets in the 2002 NBA finals, Kobe also started to work out after about 2 weeks of rest, and bulked up alot. And the following season in 2002/03 he played every game. But everything can happen ofcourse, look at Karl Malone, we never expected that he would have a long term injury like he had last year, and it still happend. But to be honest, I never seen Tracy McGrady overworkin himself in the offseason like Kobe has been doing.

But if you look it this way. The extra muscle he has put up, might help him to prevent (sp?) some injuries that could happen.

tell you what, if he did change his number jersey sales would sky rocket for him.

Has Odom also gained a pound or ten?

That guy became H!U!G!E!. And he's just 6'6? I saw pics of him standing with Sasha Vujacic (he's definetly 6'6 without shoes and listed at 6'7) and Kobe seems somewhat taller.

odom is 6'10" if i recall. i know for a fact he aint only 6'6"

Yeah Odom's 6'10 or 6'11 or something like that, no where near 6'6.