Kobe Bryant: Lakers Are ‘Not Going Anywhere’

I thought Ty Lawson was the clear difference maker for his team in that series. They lost the final game on the road, but he was amazing and the Lakers had no answer for him during the series. He changed the game for the Nuggets and he didn’t take anything off the table. For the Lakers in that series, the bigs were the difference makers.
Blake is more questionable. I would say the work he put in against the Grizz Bigs and some of the stuff he did against Duncan was impressive, but the flaws in his game were clearly exposed this year.
Then again, the flaws in Kobe’s game were on full display and contributed MIGHTILY to the Lakers’ losses.
It’s all a perspective thing. If you believe that Kobe’s points outweighed all the other stuff he did wrong, then you think this is crazy. I’m sure many people feel that way. I think that if you’re touted as one of the greatest basketball players of all time your team shouldn’t lose because you refuse to make adjustments to your game. That’s just terrible in my mind.

Oh my…………….OBVIOUS Kobe haters make me cringe. James harden, Parker, Westbrook, Duncan, KD, etc. better in the playoffs……….hahahahahahahahahah James harden lol. Shot like 31 percent against Kobe

Garnett – James – Durant – Westbrook – Rondo – Parker – Duncan
.
are the only players that I think have been better than Bryant this post season. So I have him at #8

I feel like they lost because they played horribly as a team. And I feel like the main culprit in that horrible play was Kobe and the decisions he made.
Bynum pouted like a child, Gasol played soft and the rest of the Lakers were the rest of the Lakers.
But, that could have been massaged away, and was BEING massaged away in three of the first four games. And on two occasions the Lakers lost because Kobe decided he couldn’t abide by that state of affairs.
That is what I saw as a fact. I saw that fact, and I saw Kobe decide in possibly the final game of playoffs that he wasn’t interested in keeping is petulant immature big man involved (The same big man you touted as awesome a few weeks ago) because he’d rather take the shots he wanted to take. He made a lot of them, but that was never going to be enough. 0 assists is damning.

Completely agree with you on Durant, LbJ, Rondo. I think Kobe played as well or arguably as well as Westbrook, Parker, Garnett, and Duncan.
It’s apples and oranges though. There’s no way to compare them and what they “truly” did for their team, but I do think it’s ludicrous to not call Kobe a top 10 player in these Playoffs. It’s just such an unnecessary slight. You just expect to much out of Kobe if your going to downgrade his performance in these playoffs that much. He wasn’t legendary or prolific, but neither has anyone else.

Lakeshow, there is just no way I can put Kobe over guys who have not only had more success than Kobe, but do more on both ends of the court, and haven’t cost their teams a single post season game. You could put the onus on Kobe for at least 2 Lakers losses because he wasn’t willing to put the team above him self at the end of games or because he just played terribly. You can’t say that about any of the other guys on my little list.

all these goin fishin and there on vacation jokes are stupid. 29 teams will be fishing 2 by the end of the year idiots

Oh and please please please, explain to me how Kobe has been as good as Garnett and Duncan this post season? Those two are playing ridiculous basketball.

Is it Bynum’s fault that his teammates don’t understand how to pass to the post when defenses are fronting? That is basic basketball skill that is taught at a very young age.

My bad if already posted – Seton’s Stat of the Day (DP Show): Kobe has 4 assists in the Lakers’ last 5 elimination games. Let that sink in Beanbags…

Lake, no one is saying that Bynum deserves the same respect/touches as Kobe does but Kobe doesn’t deserve 33 shots while the 2nd best player on the team barely gets 15. If you think the lakers are coming close to competiting for a championship in the near future with Kobe taking that many shots, I overrated your basketball knowledge.

I see you Taylor. That’s not what i’m saying. I’m saying if Bynum was 6 for 10 shooting then yes he deserved more touches, but dude wasn’t being forceful or nearly aggressive enough for me to say, “Get that dude some more touches!” You see me. In a perfect world (as you know because I’ve said this before) I would have Bryant with below 22 FGA, Pau and Bynum both at 15-17. It’s not perfect, and sometimes Pau and Bynum cannot get their own shots, and sometimes they can’t complete the easy ones. I can’t be upset with Kobe making 55% of his shots. While Pau and Bynum are both sitting below 40% and just say “Kobe should have gotten them more involved.” He just plainly was not the most glaring problem to me. Bynum’s lack of concern and aggression with poor PG play with bad coaching mixed with Bryants HERO ball are all the attributing factors for the Lakers demise.

Then you and I are on the same page. I just wish Bynum made it easier for Kobe to want to give him the ball… Same with Pau. It’s partially KB’s fault for them being so scarred to fail that they can’t play with exuberance and joy, but it’s also just on them as MEN that have a job they get payed well to do and they just need to play up to their ability independently.

Whatever happened to great players making the players around them better. Honestly you don’t think Kobe pouting when someone else misses a shot has an impact on their confidence? if anyone is responsible for Pau turtling up its Kobe. You think Pau is worried about Mike Brown chewing him out? NO, its that look Kobe will give him. Think about this you think Kobe didn’t say something to Blake after that missed shot? You don’t think Pau had thoughts of that at the end of the game and thats why he forced that pass? Because we all know if he would have missed that shot he probably would have got the look from Kobe and death threats from the fairweather fans of LA. Lastly you don’t think Pau knows hes gonna be gone next year? he help the Lakers go from early playoff exits to 3 finals appearances and 2 chips. Yet most Laker fans were calling for him to be traded like he didn’t do sh!t for this team.

No, Shutup. In life one of the first things you learn is A.) Life is not fair. B.) Man up and make it better yourself and don’t rely on other people to motivate you.
Pau Gasol would not have made it to the NBA if he had banked on people getting him where he is. He is a MAN. He doesn’t need Kobe to motivate him or make him feel special to do well. He can do that on his own.
When Michael Jordan gave team mates a look of disapproval after a poor choice it was considered good leadership, and good no nonsense style. When KB does it he’s being a bad team mate…
LeBron is one of the best team mates ever and he chides Mario Chalmers all the time. I have seen Bron chew out a few different guys on occasion. IMO that’s good. If you think that’s bad leadership, then many, many, greats were bad leaders. Charles Barkley, Oscar, MJ, Wilt, Shaq, Bird. Nahh, I think that respect is the best indication of leadership quality and that is something that Kobe gets no matter where he goes.
If you don’t understand why Pau Gasol is not liked much in LA these days after the last 2 playoff performances, that is once again, on you.
We respect Pau for what he use to be able to do, but it is obvious that he is past his prime and he appears to be emotionally distraught. Those are not qualities you want in your 2nd best player…

So now we should act like disapproval from the alpha-dog doesn’t have a negative impact on other players. You think someone with Kobe’s success would understand the team dynamic. There is no one way to deal with people and clearly Kobe doesn’t understand what is needed from him to have team success. Despite putting up high scoring numbers his game has lost a step and usually as the greats age they learn how to use their team, this concept has been lost on Kobe. Oh and I understand why Pau isn’t liked in LA I just think its ridiculous to expect someone to flourish when Kobe plays the way he does; and people act like Pau didnt save LA, or do you not remember all the Kobe wants out drama?

@shutup
Stop acting like Bird, Magic and MJ didn’t have great players. MJ never won without Pippen. Bird without all of his HoFamers and Magic never won without Kareem. Cut out the Pau talk, because Kobe needed a big man and you act like Pau is Kareem or Shaq. Pau is a good big man that has skill. Pau is not great, he dissapears some nights then have great games. Pau is very inconsistent. What greats are you talking about, check what greats won rings later on in there careers like Kobe, you would be surprised. Also if Kobe was not a team player you think he would have 5 rings. You just don’t like Kobe, because MJ was way worst as a teammate or about the same. Rodman has stated they never talked, Pippen wanted out of chi at times, Grant left and MJ punched his teammates in practice and even Phil stated MJ was to hard on his teammates. I bet you won’t blast MJ. BOOK IT!!

Why does every convo about Kobe revert back to MJ? You wanna discuss MJ’s lack of leadership why not wait until a MJ thread pops up, I never understand why people insist on calling on MJ to defend Kobe. Kareem deferred to Magic and Duncan differed to Tony Parker, Shaq differed to Wade Kidd deferred to Dirk history is full of great players that age well. You think Bird had a problem giving the ball to McHale? Winning is all that matters but surely you cant equate Kobe’s performances with wanting to win. You know who is responsible for Kobe’s 5 chips? Phil Jackson, the Zen Master kept his team playing well despite Kobe’s selfish antics. Young Jordan played like Kobe has his whole career, then he matired and realized he had to rely on his team more, thats when he went from being a great scorer to being imo the greatest of all time. Book That, BeanBag( sorry had to use it Heals)

^^^ You straight dumb, you are actually going against what you posted earlier. Phil Jackson won Kobe his rings with Shaq and after Shaq. MJ wasn’t selfish later in his career. You need to read more, its a reason MJ stated Kobe can be compared to him. Go read some articles and learn the reason why. It will open you eyes.

I dont think I mentioned Shaq in this thread at all. But yes the first 3 were Shaq’s teams, the Finals MVPs show that. But if you don’t think Phil was the glue that held that team together despite clashing egos than you have a very short memory. I was pointing out that Kobe’s lack of leadership didn’t really matter because Phil was a master at managing personalities, so despite Kobe chucking the team still played at a high level. Like I said Laker fans act like Pau didn’t turn the franchise around and was the main reason that they went from early exits to 2 time champions.

Dear Mitch:
As everyone knows I do what I do. I have formulated a five year plan for the remainder of my Laker career. As you have probably learned by now,big people annoy me,they usually get upset if they don’t get 10 shots a game. As a favor to you and the organization I have scoured the NBA for players whose games are compatible and complementary with what i do when I do what I do. Here is a complete list of those players. In order to comply with my demand,trade or sell all 11 players who cost me a title this year. In return here are the players whose game is compatible with mine:
1. Chris Paul
2. Jason Kidd
3.Steve Nash
4.Rajon Rondo
5. Derek Fisher

Our starting lineup will be Paul,Nash,Kidd,Rondo and me. Derek Fisher will be our sixth man and my ambassador to the other four players.We won’t need any more players since I can’t any more whose games are compatible with mine. Goals for the five year plan include:

1. Pass Michael in career scoring.
2. Surpass Wilt’s 50.4 points per game scoring average for one season.
3. Pass Karl Malone in career scoring.
4. Pass Kareem in career scoring.
Sincerely,
K.B.B.

Of course Kobe should v’e passed more,Sometimes people act like Bynum always got the deep post position all throughout the playoffs….it really hasn’t been that way. So it’s kind of a hand-in-hand thing to me.

@The Seed, if the MJ was such a terrible leader why do Pippen (him wanting out of Chicago had to do with salary and nothing to do with MJ), and Steve Kerr (the guy who got slapped) call him one of if not the best teammates and leaders they’ve ever had? Dennis Rodman said the same thing and he played with a lot of the great ones. Just because they didn’t talk off the court doesn’t mean you’re not a great teammate on the court. What would the two of them have to talk about anyway? Rodman went out to party and be a freak show. Jordan went home to the family. Horace Grant left because he wanted more money and he was tired of being Phil Jackson’s whipping boy. If you want others to start doing their research, perhaps you should too

I don’t see where Kobe has ever been the best basketball player in the world or that versatile. Before him there was Jordan who excelled him in every aspect of the game,between Kobe and LeBron was Duncan who has always played much better than Kobe in every aspect except scoring(although Duncan was a more efficient scorer) and was a unifying rather than divisive influence with teammates and LeBron came into the league a better all-around player than Kobe in every aspect of the game except raw scoring(though he is far beyond Kobe in efficiency in scoring and enhancing the games of his teammates.
All things considered,raw scoring is a neutral statistic. It can be a good thing if you lead the team in scoring and you make the highest percentage on the team in fg% or it can be a negative or neutral statistic if you are below the team average and if there are other stars on the team who are higher percentage shooters on the team(which has almost always been the case with Kobe). When this is the case and you are a high volume shooter you are taking shots away from your most effective scorers which is a negative for the team. In every season except about two or three of Kobe’s there have been stars who are more efficient scorers who are deprived of opportunities because of Kobe’s personal need to be “the man”.
Now,unfortunately for everyone involved,Kobe has become a parody of himself with games like 42 points and 0 assists(it was not long ago when he had a thirty something game with no assists). In the few seasons he played where the team actually needed him to score tons of points and his field goal percentage was actually near the highest on the team,the team went nowhere. They missed the playoffs one year and were eliminated by Phoenix the other two. Kobe had great stats during that time,but the team went nowhere.
Bottom line on Kobe is that when it comes to individual play Kobe is great offensive player(and an overrated though good one, when he chooses to be, defensive player).
As far as top ten player of all time,that is ridiculous ,and better than Michael absurd, except for the Kobe worshippers who consider only scoring and hype when determining how good a player was/is.True greatness has to factor in how the player fit in and worked with them for team goals and while Kobe scored a lot of points,his high volume shooting to enhance his own stats has often made things more difficult for team chemistry and team success through the years.
As for “his” five titles,again irrelevant when you consider who his teammates were over the past 15 years. Consider that using that criteria,if DFish wins a title this year(a very good possibility) he will be greater than Kobe. Not as far fetched as you may think since Fish was an important person in smoothing over the many problems caused by Kobe’s personal contempt for his teammates at times. That stuff is important to a team.

I just love reading all of these arguments. You’re all so cute. You all think you’re right and you all refuse to accept very good arguments from each side.

I am a Kobe fan, but I am a basketball fan too. So I, unlike almost everyone here, am not so ignorant to the game itself. The stats, reports, and media will all say something at some time to disagree with what you think; your collective biases are why you will all never get along, shut up, and watch the game and appreciate it, before stars like Kobe Bryant are old and retiring and leaving you to watch only the highlights to reminisce on a time when basketball was much different, for better or for worse.

That being said, continue the naivete; it is entertaining.