Buss addresses season-seat holders

Lakers owner Jerry Buss took the unusual step of sending a letter to season-ticket holders Friday that expanded on brief written statements he had dispatched since Kobe Bryant initially began demanding a trade almost three weeks ago.

In the letter, Buss said he wanted to address “overriding concerns or questions of the basketball side of the Lakers organization.”

Buss has owned the Lakers since 1979 and has rarely, if ever, addressed season-ticket holders in such a way. The letter was sent primarily to those who called or e-mailed the Lakers over the last few weeks.

“You want to win. We want to win,” Buss said in the letter. “We are on the same page. During my 28 years of ownership the Lakers have been to the playoffs 26 times. Lakers teams under my ownership have gone to the finals 12 times and won eight championships. Merely qualifying for the playoffs is certainly an accomplishment; however, we all want more. That said, and we know this from experience, making it to the [NBA] finals is never easy, and winning it all is even harder.

“Our goal has been, and remains to be, to build the Lakers into a team that can regularly compete for championships. I believe that we have always shown a willingness to do what needs to be done and spend what needs to be spent to deliver you championship caliber basketball. We remain committed to that philosophy.”

In fact, the Lakers have been to the NBA Finals 13 times since Buss purchased the team, most recently in 2004. They have not won a playoff series since beating Minnesota in the Western Conference finals that season.

The letter does not mention Bryant by name and was believed to have been sent out before Buss’ meeting Friday with Bryant in Spain.

Buss hoped to calm Bryant in that meeting, but the nine-time All-Star reiterated his demand to be traded.

In one of his earlier statements, Buss said the Lakers would “continue to pursue every avenue possible to improve our team with him as the cornerstone.”

Also in the letter, Buss referred to a flood of e-mails and phone calls the team had received since Bryant went public with his trade demand May 30.

“When I heard of the volume of calls we were receiving, I was not surprised at all,” Buss said. “I have never known a more passionate group of fans than those that support our Los Angeles Lakers. Winning eight championships is a result of not only hard work, but also being observant and listening to good people with good instincts who offer good advice.”

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An Associated Press report Sunday referred to a dispatch on Bryant’s website that was dated June 17 but had been posted on kb24.com for almost three weeks. The dispatch was initially posted the day Bryant first publicly demanded a trade.

The Associated Press report was picked up and distributed Sunday by numerous media outlets.

“The more I thought about the future, the more I became convinced that the Lakers and me just have two different visions for the future,” Bryant wrote on May 30.

“The Lakers are pursuing a longer-term plan that is different from what Dr. Buss shared with me at the time I re-signed as a free agent.... All of that was frustrating in itself, but then, this week, to have someone ‘inside’ the Laker organization try to blame me in the media for us not being a contender right now -- that is what brought me to my current position today.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com