Can't figure out how a man I never met could have my heart strings like this. Life really blows sometimes.
I will admit I had a love/hate relationship with Kobe. His ruthless personality that made him a top 10 player of all time is the same personality that led to a lot of his weaknesses (refusal to pass when he was cold as ice, etc.). Most of my discontent with him is we saw "Perfect" Kobe in the 2001 playoffs. For that playoff run he found the perfect balance of killer scorer and distributor. If he continued down that road, does Shaq leave? Does Shaq maybe work a little harder to stay in shape? Who knows? But that 15-1 playoff run was a taste of what I thought he could have been. Kobe playing like that with Shaq was nearly unbeatable. They weren't just winning games, they were beating excellent teams by double digits. I remember after the Spurs series, David Robinson walked up to the podium and just said "Wow." He could not believe what had just happened to them. Instead we had to "settle" for a mere 3 more rings after that.
Questioning greatness leads me to: In the end, you can't really question Kobe's methods. Kind of like Phil Jacksons methods. Bottom line is, Kobe was great, and he won a fair number of rings. The guys he played against all know it. Too late to question it. I could NEVER understand almost anything Phil did as a coach. Other guys, like Riley, I could read like a book and knew almost every call they would make, before they would. Phil confounded me, I could rarely predict his calls. He drove me crazy because he was so unorthodox. He won, he was right, I was not able to grok him. Kobe operated on a different level and rarely came to trust other guys. At times he did, you can ask World Peace.
I remember the frustration on CL and here, with in later years, even prior to the achilles, the "bad Kobe" nights. To counter that though with regard to the Mamba Mentality, you only have to remember how in awe he is now held by pretty much anyone who ever played in the league and against him or was encouraged or inspired by him. Aside from Ray Allen. And Shirley, some others he rubbed the wrong way. But it has all been on display since his passing.
That's usually always the case. The greatest skill can sometimes be the worst skill in different circumstances. Many times the same thing that makes someone great, also hurts them at the same time. Jake LaMotta was a machine with a steel mug. His craziness was perfect for the ring but a disaster outside the ring in his prime years. Kobe, same thing.
Kobe is the only reason I’m here he’s the guy that made me fall in love with the game and the Lakers. Wouldn’t be a die hard Lakers fan without Kobe, which is why it is so bittersweet this weekend that Kobe is being inducted into the HOF knowing he’s not here with us anymore.
It really sucks that he will not be @ the HOF. I still can't believe he is gone. He had so much more to give to the world, though he did more than most people while alive. The world of today needs hard people in the world like Kobe to show them the way, this world has gotten so soft. Every time I hear a athlete b**** about things of being a victim, it makes me miss Kobe even more.