[MopgrassParticipant]

After ESPN ranked Kobe the 40th best player, Kobe called those at ESPN "a bunch of idiots" and two days later they run an article that says that he is "crippling" the Lakers, that no one will play with him, that he’s almost missed more shots than anyone ever, and that "the best you can do is hope it will all be over soon." 

Those statements novel, but am I conspiracist or is that straight-up retaliation by a "news" company?

[Ahkasi ClayParticipant]

player just don’t want to play with him.

as for the most missed shots in the history of the game, how far away is he now? 

btw there are some impressive names on the top list for most missed shots.

 

 

[Ahkasi ClayParticipant]

player just don’t want to play with him.

as for the most missed shots in the history of the game, how far away is he now? 

btw there are some impressive names on the top list for most missed shots.

 

 

[MopgrassParticipant]

He’s supposed to pass the mark within the 1st few weeks of the season.

I meant to say that nothing the article said was novel, but I don’t know how to type.

[MopgrassParticipant]

He’s supposed to pass the mark within the 1st few weeks of the season.

I meant to say that nothing the article said was novel, but I don’t know how to type.

[DaGuywhodidurmaParticipant]

 @ang "players just don’t want to play with him"  how can anyone make this stupid statement and want to be taken seriously?

 

 

Can you name me 5 marquee free agents who have turned down the lakers? You can’t. 

 

 

The lakers don’t sign big time players (Except shaq) they either draft or trade for them. Dwight was the only guy to not want to play in LA, every other player available to trade for really wanted to play with Kobe in his prime. Kidd, garnett, even dirk said that if he wasn’t a mavs "lifer" that he would have loved to play with him. 

 

The lakers never had any cap space during kobes prime years and now that he is old and they do, it doesn’t make sense for FA to sign with a rebuilding team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

[DaGuywhodidurmaParticipant]

 @ang "players just don’t want to play with him"  how can anyone make this stupid statement and want to be taken seriously?

 

 

Can you name me 5 marquee free agents who have turned down the lakers? You can’t. 

 

 

The lakers don’t sign big time players (Except shaq) they either draft or trade for them. Dwight was the only guy to not want to play in LA, every other player available to trade for really wanted to play with Kobe in his prime. Kidd, garnett, even dirk said that if he wasn’t a mavs "lifer" that he would have loved to play with him. 

 

The lakers never had any cap space during kobes prime years and now that he is old and they do, it doesn’t make sense for FA to sign with a rebuilding team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

I was amazed reading this article. They literally dropped the atomic bomb on Kobe. I don’t know if this was some form of retaliation by ESPN, but it sure seems like it. 

I’ve never seen anything like this article. I’m calling BS on a lot of what’s in the article… All of these unknown sources, etc. Just wow… 

I’m not a huge Kobe fan, but I was just shocked to read this article and just like it’s negative, attacking, scathing, etc tone. I’ve never seen an article like this without any REAL sources to back it up. All of the primary sources are unknown. 

This is AWFUL of ESPN to even allow this to be published. This was just one pathetic article SMDH. 

 

 

 

 

 

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

Then again you do seem to usually take kobes side.. nothing said really seemed that far fetched

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

Then again you do seem to usually take kobes side.. nothing said really seemed that far fetched

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

You seem to think its outlandish, please re read it and try not to let your infatuation with kobe get in the way of the read. Take into account that this is the same guy that ran shaq out of town, saying basically me or him, neglected to run set plays at the end of games, drawn up by one of the most legendary coaches in NBA history, and who bashed former teammates (even i admit smush, chris Mihm and Kwame are trash) and reportedly wouldnt even talk to team mate he didnt deem worthy. Now you take yourself back to college or highschool or whatever level ball you played at and ask yourslef if thats someone you want to be around on trips across cojntry, in practice and everytime you play. Kobe is a ball dominate prick and a top 15 player (Icould make a case for top 10) alltime.. but none of this article suprised me one bit, even if its not legit. I tend not to call those that have dirt on me idiots..

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

I do agree that it was very attacking and unproffesional but thats life.

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

I do agree that it was very attacking and unproffesional but thats life.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

If you’re going to reply to what I post, can you at least read? I wrote I wasn’t a huge Kobe Bryant fan. You then reply that I’m infatuated with Kobe and usually take his side. You must be one of those people who choose to read, hear, etc whatever you want to.

I won’t even bother replying to the rest of what you wrote since I know you’ll probably just pick and choose what you want to comprehend from that too.

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

You can atleast have the respect as a fellow user to read what I wrote. Yes I read yours, how many time have you seen people lead with “I’m not a big fan of player x” to try and add meaning. Since I joined this site I love to hear what people say, especially you, very insightful and well thought, you can tell you are a fan of basketball, not reading would make this forum pointless. I assumed (wrongfully?) you were a Kobe fan not because your sentence in this comment but on many thoughts you have shared on here

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

You can atleast have the respect as a fellow user to read what I wrote. Yes I read yours, how many time have you seen people lead with “I’m not a big fan of player x” to try and add meaning. Since I joined this site I love to hear what people say, especially you, very insightful and well thought, you can tell you are a fan of basketball, not reading would make this forum pointless. I assumed (wrongfully?) you were a Kobe fan not because your sentence in this comment but on many thoughts you have shared on here

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

If you’re going to reply to what I post, can you at least read? I wrote I wasn’t a huge Kobe Bryant fan. You then reply that I’m infatuated with Kobe and usually take his side. You must be one of those people who choose to read, hear, etc whatever you want to.

I won’t even bother replying to the rest of what you wrote since I know you’ll probably just pick and choose what you want to comprehend from that too.

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

You seem to think its outlandish, please re read it and try not to let your infatuation with kobe get in the way of the read. Take into account that this is the same guy that ran shaq out of town, saying basically me or him, neglected to run set plays at the end of games, drawn up by one of the most legendary coaches in NBA history, and who bashed former teammates (even i admit smush, chris Mihm and Kwame are trash) and reportedly wouldnt even talk to team mate he didnt deem worthy. Now you take yourself back to college or highschool or whatever level ball you played at and ask yourslef if thats someone you want to be around on trips across cojntry, in practice and everytime you play. Kobe is a ball dominate prick and a top 15 player (Icould make a case for top 10) alltime.. but none of this article suprised me one bit, even if its not legit. I tend not to call those that have dirt on me idiots..

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

I was amazed reading this article. They literally dropped the atomic bomb on Kobe. I don’t know if this was some form of retaliation by ESPN, but it sure seems like it. 

I’ve never seen anything like this article. I’m calling BS on a lot of what’s in the article… All of these unknown sources, etc. Just wow… 

I’m not a huge Kobe fan, but I was just shocked to read this article and just like it’s negative, attacking, scathing, etc tone. I’ve never seen an article like this without any REAL sources to back it up. All of the primary sources are unknown. 

This is AWFUL of ESPN to even allow this to be published. This was just one pathetic article SMDH. 

 

 

 

 

 

[tuck243Participant]

 That’s interesting since throughout his career they landed good players…  But when majority of the great players in the league were Free Agents either the Lakers already had players or Kobe was injured…  Plus you look at his age, why would any legit superstar "try" to come play with Kobe…  Even with that said, Melo entertained the idea…  ESPN has lost its way big time…  You don’t retaliate when you blatantly disrespects one of the greatest SG’s to ever play with a 40 ranking…  There aren’t 39 players better than a healthy Kobe Bean Bryant right now…  

[tuck243Participant]

 That’s interesting since throughout his career they landed good players…  But when majority of the great players in the league were Free Agents either the Lakers already had players or Kobe was injured…  Plus you look at his age, why would any legit superstar "try" to come play with Kobe…  Even with that said, Melo entertained the idea…  ESPN has lost its way big time…  You don’t retaliate when you blatantly disrespects one of the greatest SG’s to ever play with a 40 ranking…  There aren’t 39 players better than a healthy Kobe Bean Bryant right now…  

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

No mention of how the Lakers acquired Chris Paul in a trade and David Stern reversed it? That was crippling to me. 

Then he brings up Paul George and says he didn’t consider the Lakers because of Kobe lol. WTF? There was no way in hell George was ever even going to become a free-agent. He was returning to Indiana regardless.

Did this guy really bring up Ramon Sessions??? Did Kobe hire and then fire Mike Brown? Did Kobe sign Steve Nash to a guaranteed 3 year deal? Did Kobe hire Mike D’Antoni? 

I’m just calling BS on this article. It’s a piece of trash. 

 

 

 

 

 

[tuck243Participant]

 Is Paul George’s favorite player and I don’t remember him looking at another team other than Indy…  He’s reaching

[tuck243Participant]

 Is Paul George’s favorite player and I don’t remember him looking at another team other than Indy…  He’s reaching

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

No mention of how the Lakers acquired Chris Paul in a trade and David Stern reversed it? That was crippling to me. 

Then he brings up Paul George and says he didn’t consider the Lakers because of Kobe lol. WTF? There was no way in hell George was ever even going to become a free-agent. He was returning to Indiana regardless.

Did this guy really bring up Ramon Sessions??? Did Kobe hire and then fire Mike Brown? Did Kobe sign Steve Nash to a guaranteed 3 year deal? Did Kobe hire Mike D’Antoni? 

I’m just calling BS on this article. It’s a piece of trash. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Toronto16Participant]

One of the worst articles I’ve ever read.  So much inaccurate information to try to make Kobe look bad.

[Toronto16Participant]

One of the worst articles I’ve ever read.  So much inaccurate information to try to make Kobe look bad.

[bloodshyParticipant]

People love him or hate him.  I have no idea if ESPN’s article was retaliation or whether it’s just an article to drum up ratings/interest. And I really don’t care. 

The general premise that Kobe is crippling the Lakers is true. His massive contract is a major burden, especially when considering his production in these, his declinging years. This is a topic that has popped up several times on this site. On the other hand, I don’t think he’s crippling the team on the court and I agree with everyone above that has been critical of the unnamed source game that is so prominent in the article. 

The good news is that Kobe has the power to prove the haters wrong (or right) with his play this year. What he does on the court will either make ESPN look foolish or brilliant. 

 

 

 

 

[bloodshyParticipant]

People love him or hate him.  I have no idea if ESPN’s article was retaliation or whether it’s just an article to drum up ratings/interest. And I really don’t care. 

The general premise that Kobe is crippling the Lakers is true. His massive contract is a major burden, especially when considering his production in these, his declinging years. This is a topic that has popped up several times on this site. On the other hand, I don’t think he’s crippling the team on the court and I agree with everyone above that has been critical of the unnamed source game that is so prominent in the article. 

The good news is that Kobe has the power to prove the haters wrong (or right) with his play this year. What he does on the court will either make ESPN look foolish or brilliant. 

 

 

 

 

[llperez]

 the article attacked kobe and made some fair points where he deserves criticism. But overall, they went overboard. I mean ending the aricle with "all the lakers can do is hope he is gone soon" is just totally unprofessional and comes off as something you expect to see on a chat forum, not from a major sports site.

some other issues i found in the article:

they dont name a single source. Lots of people with inside information, and gm’s and agents and what not. 

-it talks about franchise talent not coming such as lebron, melo, love, george and bosh. But reality is we are talking about a 2 year window here where the lakers havent gotten elite talent. And just becasue it is the lakers doesnt mean everyone wants to be here above all other destinations. There werent a ton of stars this summer and the ones that were there preffered other destinations. It happens. Nash, malone, payton, gasol all came. FIsh came back. Odom was depressed when he got traded. Artest said he loved playing with kobe. Bynum resigned without testing free agency when he was considred one of the top up and coming bigs. Chris Paul was very happy to get traded to the lakers when it was announced. Lakers are in a tough spot right now, but how much of that has to do with injuries, uncertain coaching, kobe’s age/health and just other markets/teams being more appealing to individuals? Why is it automatically on kobe personality?

The article then uses multiple paragraphs on ramon session’s departure. Lol, ramon took a better deal which the article even states with more long term security. And why are we even talking about sessions, he hasnt publicly said one bad thing about kobe nor does the article claim to have any of their annonymous sources say he did.

The article says people dont like playing with kobe becasue when things go bad he gets a pass and blame goes elsewhere. Probably true, LA loves kobe and he has proven himself over and over so he gets lots of leeway for messing up that others wont get in los angeles. I agree that is not fair. But fact is, a lot of that negativity is due to the media. Media writes the stories, not kobe. And by the way, phil and shaq were 2 of kobe’s mentors and they were infamous for speaking their minds and not worrying about people’s feelings. You gotta have thick skin to play with kobe. 

And the dumbest comment in the whole article has to be this gem: "By the old points per game measure, he(kobe) was not just a perrenial all-star but one of the best ever. But the league has changed. Ball movement, 3’s, rim attacks, defensive effort and generating open shots for teammates are what’s winning now." uhmm… im pretty sure all those things have always been important, not exactly change. And im pretty sure kobe has brought all those things as well. To summarize the measurement of his past contributions as simply a  "points per game measure" is laughable. 

Two years ago, the lakers were struggling big time and were 8 games under .500 at the begining of february. This was when they had dwight and big things were expected. Kobe promised they would make the playoffs and then he proceeded to go nuts and averaged something like 30ppg 7 and 7 over the final month of the season leading the lakers to the 4th best record in the west post all-star game. The team was winning and then kobe tears his ankle and they get swept in the playoffs minus kobe then play like crap the following year when kobe only plays in 6 games and suddenly kobe is to blame for all this poor play when he isnt even on the court?

all in all though, the lakers need all the help they can get right now and i truly think something like this article can only help with motivation from both kobe and his teammates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[llperez]

 the article attacked kobe and made some fair points where he deserves criticism. But overall, they went overboard. I mean ending the aricle with "all the lakers can do is hope he is gone soon" is just totally unprofessional and comes off as something you expect to see on a chat forum, not from a major sports site.

some other issues i found in the article:

they dont name a single source. Lots of people with inside information, and gm’s and agents and what not. 

-it talks about franchise talent not coming such as lebron, melo, love, george and bosh. But reality is we are talking about a 2 year window here where the lakers havent gotten elite talent. And just becasue it is the lakers doesnt mean everyone wants to be here above all other destinations. There werent a ton of stars this summer and the ones that were there preffered other destinations. It happens. Nash, malone, payton, gasol all came. FIsh came back. Odom was depressed when he got traded. Artest said he loved playing with kobe. Bynum resigned without testing free agency when he was considred one of the top up and coming bigs. Chris Paul was very happy to get traded to the lakers when it was announced. Lakers are in a tough spot right now, but how much of that has to do with injuries, uncertain coaching, kobe’s age/health and just other markets/teams being more appealing to individuals? Why is it automatically on kobe personality?

The article then uses multiple paragraphs on ramon session’s departure. Lol, ramon took a better deal which the article even states with more long term security. And why are we even talking about sessions, he hasnt publicly said one bad thing about kobe nor does the article claim to have any of their annonymous sources say he did.

The article says people dont like playing with kobe becasue when things go bad he gets a pass and blame goes elsewhere. Probably true, LA loves kobe and he has proven himself over and over so he gets lots of leeway for messing up that others wont get in los angeles. I agree that is not fair. But fact is, a lot of that negativity is due to the media. Media writes the stories, not kobe. And by the way, phil and shaq were 2 of kobe’s mentors and they were infamous for speaking their minds and not worrying about people’s feelings. You gotta have thick skin to play with kobe. 

And the dumbest comment in the whole article has to be this gem: "By the old points per game measure, he(kobe) was not just a perrenial all-star but one of the best ever. But the league has changed. Ball movement, 3’s, rim attacks, defensive effort and generating open shots for teammates are what’s winning now." uhmm… im pretty sure all those things have always been important, not exactly change. And im pretty sure kobe has brought all those things as well. To summarize the measurement of his past contributions as simply a  "points per game measure" is laughable. 

Two years ago, the lakers were struggling big time and were 8 games under .500 at the begining of february. This was when they had dwight and big things were expected. Kobe promised they would make the playoffs and then he proceeded to go nuts and averaged something like 30ppg 7 and 7 over the final month of the season leading the lakers to the 4th best record in the west post all-star game. The team was winning and then kobe tears his ankle and they get swept in the playoffs minus kobe then play like crap the following year when kobe only plays in 6 games and suddenly kobe is to blame for all this poor play when he isnt even on the court?

all in all though, the lakers need all the help they can get right now and i truly think something like this article can only help with motivation from both kobe and his teammates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

Paul George replied on twitter

"Now how crazy does that Kobe story sound to you?" #MediaReachingAgain

[MopgrassParticipant]

 And today ESPN ran an article where Kobe chalks it up to negative reports to being "part of the news cycle." It said that’s how Kobe responded to "an article that was written about him." Ha! As though THEY didn’t write it. I guess they had some backlash. 

[MopgrassParticipant]

 And today ESPN ran an article where Kobe chalks it up to negative reports to being "part of the news cycle." It said that’s how Kobe responded to "an article that was written about him." Ha! As though THEY didn’t write it. I guess they had some backlash. 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

Paul George replied on twitter

"Now how crazy does that Kobe story sound to you?" #MediaReachingAgain

[Author]

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