Kobe backs Lakers getting Arenas, but not enthusiastically

The Lakers need a point guard. You know it. I know it. Kobe Bryant knows it. Heck, even Derek Fisher knows it, he’s just too professional to get his head down over it.

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak watched Gilbert Arenas work out on Sunday. So reporters asked Kobe what he thinks of the Arenas idea (from Mark Medina at the Los Angeles Times Lakers blog):

“It surely wouldn’t hurt,” Bryant said Monday after practice at the Lakers’ facility in El Segundo. “That’s for sure.”

Well, that’s a ringing endorsement. What does coach Mike Brown say?

“If somebody can help us, then I’m open to that,” Brown said. “I can’t say whether or not he can help us. I haven’t seen or talked to him and people who have seen him.”

He hasn’t talked to Kupchak about it? Riiiight.

Kobe’s attitude was that of a lot of Lakers fans the last 48 hours — Arenas is cheap and he can’t be worse than what we have, so why not? You can argue that position if you want, but desperation pickups are not how teams that fancy themselves contenders solve problems. Arenas shot 34 percent in Orlando last season and had a PER right where Derek Fisher’s is now. He is not the answer. The Lakers need to make a bold move (one that doesn’t get shot down by David Stern). Or at least pick up someone like Ramon Sessions, who will be an improvement at the one spot.

But if you want to bring in Arenas, it can’t hurt.