With the New York media in town, Kobe Bryant made a rare pregame appearance before the media Thursday night, covering a fair amount of ground over six-plus minutes. Among the highlights:

• Bryant again showed support for Mike Brown. "We all want to win for him, because you see how hard he's working."

• On whether it's too early to say if this team can or can't win a title: "It's hard to tell. We've got to wait until we get everybody back, and then see what that looks like. I think Pau will feel like he has more space to operate, because he won't have to deal with guys that outweigh him by a great deal. I think Bynum will free up a lot for him."

• Is he worried about it? "Not really."

• He called his knee "As close to 100 percent as it's going to get... I'm 95 percent better. Just not going to say 100."

• He talked about steering Yankees star Alex Rodriguez towards same knee therapy Bryant underwent last summer. Is he happy A-Rod decided to do it? "As a Yankee fan, hell yeah. Absolutely."

• On using more cutting edge therapies: "[You do it] if it makes sense. You can't just try something just to try it. It has to make sense. It has to be something that you can back with research and study and things like that."

• On learning about the option: "It's my job to know these things... You have people that you pay to know these things, that you keep around you to know these things. You sit them all down, talk to them, listen to their opinion, listen to the facts, the research, and then you make a decision."