“I almost won an MVP with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown on my team,” Bryant said before Wednesday’s 93-75 exhibition loss to Portland. “I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it to Chris Mihm or Kwame Brown.”

Bryant was referring to 2005-06 when the Lakers’ roster included Brian Cook, Stanislav Medvedenko, Devean George and Parker, Mihm and Brown.

Bryant continued, taking aim at his favorite whipping boy, Parker, calling him “the worst. He shouldn’t have been in the NBA but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. So we let him walk on.”

— Reported by Janis Carr of the OC Register