Finishing up the exit interviews, and the 2008-09 season:

Now that the title is won, everyone wants to know, what are the chances the Lakers can repeat?
Phil Jackson certainly won't pull a Pat Riley and predict a successful defense of the NBA title, but clearly enjoys the possibility, assuming the team stays together.
"Age wise, it certainly favors this team," he said at a Friday media session as the team wrapped up its exit interviews. "The team that did it in Chicago was an older team, and the team that did it here in the first part of the decade was an older team than this team is. So age-wise, they certainly have an advantage."
He also said it would "be nice to have that possibility" of bringing the team back to defend its title.
"One year in Chicago when we won the 72 games," he said, "I think we actually asked the league if we could bypass drafting a draft pick, which wasn't possible. ... And we traded Travis Knight to the Lakers, and kept the 12 players intact that were on that team. And they won 69 games the next year, so that really set the table for that being able to happen.
"If this team could do that, it would be remarkable in this day and age, especially with the number of free agents we have."
Jackson also shared at least a little of his Thursday conversation with President Barack Obama.
"Basically, I told him that sometimes when you're a lefty, sometimes you've got to go right to shoot the ball," he joked.
"No, we talked about going to the White House ... and we talked about some basketball things. And he obviously wanted to congratulate us on a great season."
Jackson said he hoped the team could make its White House trip "before the season starts, or during the season when we have an appropriate game in the territory" -- which is to say when the Lakers play the Wizards -- "which we've done before. ... It's going to be tough for us to get that together before then."
Parting thoughts: Jackson was asked if he'd heard anything that surprised him during the players' exit interviews.
"Well, yes," he said. "I did. I don't think I can share it with you."
Speaking generally, he added, "This is a challenge. I have to challenge some of the players, and there's some players that I felt didn't perform up to what I wanted ... and I wanted them to reconsider their dedication to the team and their work and their ability and come back with a fresh attitude.
That's part of my job to do that. It wasn't all pats on the back and have a great summer. This is going to be three or four months before we have a chance to go forward again ... so players have to have a certain dedication to what they want to do this summer."
No break: General manager Mitch Kupchak said he probably wouldn't really have time to savor the victory until August, once the draft and free-agent process are complete, and the Lakers have their roster together for next season.
With that draft on Thursday -- the Lakers have three picks -- Kupchak said there was a very good chance the team would select at least one foreign player it wouldn't need to bring to camp immediately.
"If we bring back the players we want to bring back on this team, we'll have at least 13 or 14 players on our roster," he said. "So it stands to reason if you bring all three draft picks to camp, you're going to have 17, and the NBA only allows 15.
"So we would look to either move a pick, trade a pick, exchange picks for future picks, or pick a player and look for them to play overseas for at least a year."
Wrapping up: Not surprisingly, Kobe Bryant called the championship season "extremely satisfying, because we put in a lot of time and energy to fix things and get better in certain things. And to see that finally happen for us, it's great."
He also noted that after eight preseason games, 82 regular-season games, and 23 playoff games, it was hard to get used to time off.
"It ends pretty abruptly," he said. "You kind of go through that phase where you wake up in the morning and feel like you're supposed to be doing something. It feels like you're late for something.
"That's the way goes. You're going and going full throttle, and all of a sudden, boom, it's over."