Kobe Bryant is synonymous with the Los Angeles Lakers. They just sealed a $ 48.5 million deal to emphasize that point. Now, the Black Mamba has more of a stake with the team, and he wants more weight on his opinion.

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kobe was very stern when asked about Mike D'Antoni: "Honestly, I didn't care."

Kobe backpedals and turns on the diplomacy: "Mike was dealt a really bad hand in dealing with all the injuries that he had here. This is a tough place, man. If you're not winning, you're not going to survive, man."

He also took a very understanding stance with Magic Johnson with regards to his controversial tweet of joy after D'Antoni was fired. "The first thing I thought of was seeing the munchkins on the Yellow Brick Road dancing and singing, 'The Wicked Witch is dead. When he tweeted that, that song just came to mind."

That was a very smart and safe answer. He justified the emotion without having a judgmental tone. But he did not pull any punches with regards to the next task at hand-choosing the coach.

"On the last two they didn't." He's referring to the two Mikes, Brown and D'Antoni who both failed to endure the length of the initial contracts they signed with the Lakers before parting ways. "On the third one, I'm hoping they do."

While it's not a good idea to hand over the reins of your team to the players, they must have an opinion or else the faith between management and the players will be strained.

No other player is as invested in his team as Kobe Bryant is to the Lakers. It's not the same situation as the Orlando Magic firing Stan Van Gundy to appease Dwight Howard. Kobe is already locked for the next two seasons which could probably be his last.

It sounds arrogant but it's reasonable. The players and the coach will be the ones who will interact and win the games on a near-daily basis. That is something that management must consider.

Kobe gives an assurance that it's not about pleasing him as a player, it's about winning. "Honestly, it's not really about whether the players like the coach or not. It's really about getting results. Liking somebody and those results don't necessarily go hand-in-hand."

The Black Mamba gives a sneak peek of what he wants the next coach to be like:

"Sometimes when a coach is driving you, you don't necessarily like it, but it's a part of the process, and then once you win, everybody is buddy-buddy after that."

Kobe has had two "players' coaches" in the last two seasons. He wants a gritty coach who will not mince words with the players just to drive them to victory.

Who will that be? Definitely not Swaggy P!