OPINION

By Stan McNeal

updated 5:43 p.m. ET May 17, 2008

Forget "the next Michael Jordan." This is Kobe Bryant's time. The way this season has played out, the first-time MVP is close to putting a new twist on an old question. How about this: Who's going to be the next Kobe?

Seriously. Let's say the Lakers roll through the rest of the playoffs like they breezed through the first three weeks and Bryant wins championship No. 4. When center Andrew Bynum returns next season, the Lakers will be even better. Factor in the team's youth -- point guard Derek Fisher is the only 30-something player in the Lakers' top 12 -- and Bryant could have his sixth championship long before he's 35, Jordan's age when he completed his second three-peat.

In a world where only championships matter, Bryant has a shot to not only catch but surpass Jordan. "Kobe is putting himself in position to have a similar career," Bucks general manager John Hammond says. "All that separates them are three rings."

Sure, scoff at that "all" part. It's a big word considering Bryant has been stuck on three titles for going on six years and his team began the week tied, 2-2, with the Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals. (The Lakers won Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead.) Indeed, fortunes in the NBA change quicker than a Chris Paul crossover . This time a year ago, the Lakers were no closer to winning a title than Bryant was to being nominated as teammate of the year. His season already was over, and instead of spending his time collecting his first MVP trophy and practicing with his teammates, he was calling his owner an idiot and ranting in a parking lot. He reported to training camp still disgruntled and desiring a trade. So anyone who doesn't believe such discontent could resurface again doesn't understand the power of winning.

But Bryant does. As unprofessional and unseemly as his rips at owner Jerry Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak were last offseason, his objective was clear: They needed to improve the team if he was going to be part of it. "If they want to win right now, I'm all for it. That's all I said the whole time," he says. "If you want to wait five years, let me know. My legs aren't as young as they used to be."

Say this for Bryant's summer of sulking: It worked. At least he believes it did. "It takes pressure sometimes to make a diamond," he says when asked if his demands led to more urgency from the front office. Kupchak pulled off a gem of a trade on February 1 when he heisted Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies. The deal came early in a 7-2 trip that transformed the Lakers' season. They left L.A. thinking they could play with any team; they returned knowing they could. "The way we played during that stretch fueled a great sense of optimism in Kobe," Lakers coach Phil Jackson says.

The Lakers became the front-runners in the close Western Conference race, which led to the most gratifying regular-season stretch of Bryant's career. This was when he emerged as the leading MVP candidate. This was when all the talk about trusting his teammates peaked. This was when the Lakers finished the season with a 28-9 record. This was when Bryant became full of happy talk.

About his love of L.A. and his wish to remain a Laker for life (he can opt out of his contract in 2009): "I love the weather, I love my '63 droptop Impala, I love the (Interstate) 405, and I love my guys."

About hanging around his teammates: "Yes," he says, this has been his most fun season. "It started in training camp. We all just clicked. We're all brothers. We get along extremely well. There's not a huge age difference, so, as a result, everyone can relate to one another."

And about the offseason of controversy: "I learned a lesson -- you have to be able to separate business from the love of the game. There were a lot of decisions made businesswise that I wasn't happy with, and I took a lot of blame over the years. But you have to be able to separate that from the love you have for the game."

Credit Bryant's revised attitude with growing up -- he will turn 30 this summer -- or for wising up and realizing that playing elsewhere might not be much fun after all. The main reason for his state of satisfaction, however, is simple: The Lakers are winning. When Buss told reporters at Bryant's MVP press conference, "In the last six to eight months, he's really changed," he could have added "because we won the West."

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