Kobe on Critics: ‘I Don’t Play For Your [Expletive] Approval’

I have one question that can solve it all! If game 7 is on the line and you are down by 1, who do you want taking the shot? MJ or Kobe. I know my answer. Even die hard Kobe fans know the answer to this one.

@Caboose. The more I read this entire thread the less people started challenging your facts. Respect, I think these things but the arrogance of some is enough to make me reconsider posting! Shout out to all the young passionate basketball fans out there!

Guys who get into the literal debate..obviously don’t play ball. I mean, it’s a BALL-TALK thing…come on, i’m 6.1 and i;ve been called a midget on the court..probably hundreds of times, heck, i’ve even called myself a midget on numerous ocasions…i mean….it’s ball-talk people!!

Do you Drig, we’ll cross comment paths again, til then my man. Big games tonight…

How do you starve a black man?……Hide his food stamps in his work boots!

Why do Jews have big noses?…..”Cause the air is free!

What’s the best thing about dating a homeless girl?…..When you’re done, you can drop her off anywhere!

How did the Pollock break his arm while raking leaves?….He fell out of the tree!

Not only does Kobe not listen to critics,he doesn’t listen to coaches(including Phil) or teammates either. If Phil had taken control of Kobe early when he had some leverage,the Lakers could have 8 or 9 titles under Kobe’s watch by now and Kobe might legitimately be considered one of the top ten players in league history and legitimately compared to Jordan. It isn’t a question of basketball IQ or hard work on Kobe’s part,both are off the charts.
The weakness on Kobe’s part comes from the hard work he has put in has been almost exclusively centered on individual skills which are again off the chart. What Kobe has totally ignored to his detriment and even more so to the Laker detriment is that this is not a game of individuals(although the NBA pr machine tries to sell it that way),it is a team game. Kobe has been on championship calibre team 14 of his 16 years. He has always had top bigs,the biggest and primary requirement for excellence in the NBA. His tendency to want to compete with bigs rather than blend talents with them has cost the team several titles they should have won based on team talent over his career.
In his efforts to be top dog whenever the team didn’t live up to expectations his reaction was to criticize teammates,especially the ones who enabled the team to be a contender every year except maybe 2 during Kobe’s time in LA. It was never his fault even though he would often take bad shots in great numbers to try to pad his stats instead of passing to his higher scoring efficiency bigs.
As far as top three player of all time,the poster who wrote that has to be under ten years old and never watched a Laker game before 2005. Just on Lakers alone,these players were far better than Kobe. In order based on play as a Laker these are the greatest Lakers: 1. Magic Johnson 2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar(on total career you’d have to make him 1,2.or 3 all time overall,but going by Laker career alone I’d put Magic first)3. Jerry West(better fg% career average at 47% the best Kobe has ever had in his BEST single season is under 47%. Averaged more ppg than Kobe even though the many” threes” that he made only counted as two pointers. Way better range on his shot than Kobe. 4. Shaquille O’neal. Unquestionably the MVP and leader on all three of the championship teams they played on together. Arguably could be above West on this list. 5. Elgin Baylor. A true all time great. Was Michael Jordan and Dr. J. before either of them even picked up a basketball. He could hang in the air forever and continue switching moves until the would be defender landed,then he finished. Averaged about 27 or 28 points per game and at about 6’5 or 6’6 was usually among the top five or so rebounders in the league. This was in the era of Chamberlain and Russell. For those complaining about the lack of titles in the West/Baylor era(West had one,Baylor’s knees gave out the year Wilt and West won the title and he had to retire),remember their careers coincided with that of William Felton Russell(11 titles in 13 seasons). 6. Kobe Bryant. A very talented but very selfish player. His greatest contributions were his raw scoring statistics and even though he took more shots per game than the others(save Magic,who shot a much higher percentage,outrebounded Kobe and was the ultimate team player),he averaged less points per game than any of them. Even in his “strongest area” four of the other five top Lakers outshone Kobe. I left out two other players who deserve mention here. George Mikan who led the Lakers to five titles in about half the number of seasons that it took Kobe(and he was the Laker MVP on all five of those title teams),Kobe has only been Laker MVP on two and due to his horrible 7th game performance in 2010 even one of those is questionable. If not for heroics by Artest and Gasol in that game,the Lakers aren’t champions that year. I left Mikan off because he simply didn’t compare to Kobe in skill level. Of course there is Wilt who without question is above Kobe on the all time list overall, but only had a few years at the end of his career as a Laker. Please,those of you who actually believe Kobe is a top 3 or 5 or even ten player of all time,learn something about the game. Kobe is primarily a volume shooter and there are probably ten players or more all time who averaged more than his 25 points per game on a far higher shooting percentage. Missed shots are a negative and when you miss as high a percentage as Kobe does(about 55%) you are creating a lot of opportunities for your opponent to take the ball the other way.