Kobe Bryant Discussion: Mamba Out!

A few things that I hope we can come away with from this tragedy.

Love your family, support your friends and APPRECIATE the process!!! This is analogous to appreciating the journey. Nothing in life as a given. We all dream of winning the rings and that is important but while you view that as the goal, the bigger gift is the process or the journey. Winning without the journey is an empty vessel. Filling the vessel during the journey is what life is all about. This is true in every single thing in your life. Kobe knew it and appreciated it. So should we!

 

A mother eulogizing her 13 year old daughter just isn’t right. It’s not fair. It’s not ok. It’s just heartbreaking. Her pain is unimaginable.

 

really wish pau would've spoke

 

I don't think Pau is in any condition to speak there without completely breaking down, he took Kobe's death hard and it's not in his personality to publicly speak about it

 

I thought that was incredibly irresponsible of Mike D’Antoni. He exploited Kobe’s competitiveness.

 

After Kobe guaranteed that we're making the playoffs, i don't think there was a person on planet Earth, that could play him less that 44-45mins. a game. That being said, f*** Pringles.

 

yeah d'antoni deserves some blame too but i really don't think kobe would've let him take him out of games

 

They're both to blame probably. I would even bet the idea of playing so much was of Kobe, and would even be willing to bet D'Antoni asked him if he wanted to sub out or something of the sort. As much as I dislike him, he was not a rookie coach and was also a player back in the day. Knowing Kobe, and considering how some of those games went (speaking only by memory), he would've probably insisted that he was staying on the court and getting that W no matter what.

D'Antoni had a big problem as a leader there though. For example, a guy like Phil Jackson would've just taken Kobe out no matter what Kobe said. This is even more true in that Warriors game that still pains me, as Kobe was clearly hurting way before the Achilles injury took place. I remember being screaming at the screen "Take Kobe out dammit!". But not even just Phil or Popovich, but even a guy like Byron Scott, who was a pretty crappy coach here, would've taken him out, no doubt in my mind about it. I could understand that mistake a bit from a young coach, but Pringles is actually a guy with experience, and that's what really infuriates me about that situation.

Anyways, I'm off to watch that Kobe and Gigi memorial complete now since yesterday I could only watch MJ and Vanessa, so it's crying time again I guess.

 

Well I don't call him damfony for no reason. One of the coach's job is to protect the players, even if the player protests.

 

I just finished watching the complete memorial. This is the first time I watch Dear Basketball since Kobe's passing, and actually the first time in more than a year.

I don't think I was prepared to watch that now. I'm a mess. It's gonna be a month tomorrow and I still can't really process all this. The reality, my feelings towards this. It's so freaking tough, so freaking tough.

I just hope I can take to heart for the rest of my life all the inspiration Kobe has given me through the years. We gotta be stong Laker fam', but it sure is tough.

All of that said, I can't be more glad about the existance of this forum, because this is the one place I know there's people having the same hard time I'm having, and it's good to know there's people who understand the grief. I love having a place to just write this stuff, which is much better than having them bottled up inside. And it's also great to read other people going through the same feelings.

 

You can't blame D'Antoni there. Someone mentioned Phil Jackson. Yes, but Phil had respect and tenure with the Lakers. Who was D'Antoni in the hierarchy of things there? Remember, Phil was dating Jeannie. If Phil had an issue with something, Jeannie would listen. D'Antoni is a nobody in the grand scheme of the Lakers history.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...mike-dantoni-says-minutes-not-factor/2082715/

According to D'Antoni, Kobe insisted on playing. I always hate when coaches get blamed when they play a player too much but also get blamed when they don't play a player enough. You can't have it both ways. We all knew Kobe had to play an insurmountable amount of minutes for us to make the playoffs. The franchise and Kobe himself felt okay with that decision. To try and blame D'Antoni when D'Antoni is getting information from Kobe, doctors, upper management, etc., is just not fair.

 

I honestly don’t see what he could have done in a battle of wills publicly if he tries to pull Kobe for rest and Kobe waves him off. Stand there grimacing and pointing at Kobe? LOL. How was that going to go?

 

he wasn't strong enough to say no to Kobe, so he was clearly the wrong coach

You simply call timeout and sit him. It's how it is.

 

It's completely fair and justifiable. And I do it repeatedly. And nobody can tell me DanTony doesnt' feel like crap for not being strong enough to say no either. He affected one of the greatest careers of all time.