Kobe Bryant believes that the Los Angeles Lakers will re-sign Lamar Odom as they attempt to defend their NBA title.
Bryant was in the second stop of his Kobe Asian Tour 2009, arriving in Singapore to unveil the new sneaker in his signature line, the Nike Dream Season.
"Lamar and I talk often, and I've always told him - we need him back," said Kobe.
"It is no secret that he completes our bench. He adds a feature to our game that makes us formidable."
"So, I'm optimistic that he'll be back."
"As to how many championships we will win, I'm just happy with this last one, and we're working towards competing for another next season, but he makes us much, much stronger."
Talks between Odom's agent, Jeff Schwartz, and the Lakers fell apart last week, with Lakers owner Jerry Buss taking the reported three-year US$27 million deal off the table.
The versatile 6-10 forward was a vital contributor for the Lakers off the bench in their title win, scoring 12.3 points and grabbing 9.1 rebounds in postseason play.
Meanwhile, Bryant rubbished talks that Lakers coach Phil Jackson might be coaching less due to his health problems.
"Who says he's coaching less? Phil likes messing with you guys," added the Black Mamba.
"He'll be there. He's extremely, extremely competitive. Extremely competitive. So he'll be back. He won't coach two games, and then sit out four or five in a row; he's not doing that in a million years."
"Phil will be there all the time, unless he has a doctor's appointment to get to, but he'll be there."
Bryant also endorsed the return of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski as the head coach of Team USA, saying that he was more likely to play in the next Olympics with Coach K at the helm.
"I'm very excited to see that he signed on," Kobe continued. "It influences all the guys just because we've been through that experience before and it becomes like a family."
"It definitely influences me."
Bryant then played along with the media, imagining the hypothetical situation of the NBA finals featuring his Lakers and LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers, who traded for Shaquille O'Neal recently.
"It'll be crazy," said the reigning NBA Finals MVP. "Just the hoopla that surrounds it and all the stories that would come out of it, there would be like stories for days and days and days and days."
"For us as players, if that matchup is to happen, we have to take it one day at a time. We can't get caught up in it being a given that we're going to be in the finals. We've got to take care of our business."
"With that being said, it would be a heck of a show."
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