Lakers Front Office Can't Wait For Kobe To Retire.....

ESPN, just straight hating on Kobe with all their headlines and articles right after Kobe called them a bunch of idiots. It's too funny!

 

I don't agree with a couple of things you are saying, in the process of making otherwise valid points.

1. "Obviously they know he's not worth even half of that salary in terms of on the court production in today's NBA." Wow! Where to start? You do realize that even young superstars have serious injuries, right? See Paul George. See Kevin Durant. See Russell Westbrook. So....aside from the fact that Kobe is older and had a back to back serious injury "event" (gonna lump them together because he has earned that) .... are you honestly saying a healthy Kobe Bryant at 37 years old "is not worth even" $11,750 if any other GM in the league wanted to win a championship in this next 2 years, and could have him sign for that much? No, I'm sure you didn't mean that and I am taking it out of context somehow, considering your history at CL. At least I'm hoping. Because that is crazy talk. Just grant him reasonable health and not let him be "fragile" with same types of injuries over and over like Derrick Rose. If Kobe's not worth $11,750 toward a championship this year or next, what is Rose worth?

2. "Nor can anyone really dispute the fact that not one star has wanted to come to play with Kobe other than Steve Nash" Who even knows if Nash "wanted" to play here.... he got traded here. We all know all about Dwight Howard's DEAL in hindsight now after his time everywhere he has been in the league, and his act once he got to the Lakers, and how his first season and attitude went last year in Houston. (ask Jeremy Lin) (off the record) Same prima donna, clueless as to his own weaknesses and lack of work ethic to fix them GUY as he has always been. Melo, you don't know that, period. A lot of speculation about it being the wife .....and kids in school issues keeping him in NY. Pau Gasol was "thrilled" to come to the Lakers and even though Kobe was tough on his a$$, "loves" Kobe. He left this year because he genuinely wanted at least a "chance" at another ring, not because of Kobe. What other "stars" that were worth a bleep have ever been rumored to have not wanted to come here. I hope you don't have Shaq TOO in this someway in the back of your mind, but maybe you do. Way too much to even get started on that topic.

 

First of all what the OP pasted is a quote of realgm memeber NOT the actual article. As far as Abbott not lying about sources..what sources? The poster said: "Abbott cites multiple Laker sources" - that line is BS and if you read the article you'll see that there are no FO sources and that he's talking about Laker players (Bynum, Sessions, D12, Nash) who really just say the usual stuff, that Kobe is ball dominant and that they had/have to adjust their games. No kidding, people had to adjust to Jordan too. He also lists a few agent quotes that said their guys didn't want to play in LA. That's because their guys were players like Paul George who would take huge backseats to Kobe compared to elsewhere. What about a guy like CP3 who was very excited to come play here before that got blown up? What about Pau Gasol who said it was VERY hard for him to leave Kobe, Ron Artest etc? It's like stats, a journalist can make anything look the way they want to.

 

Even funnier is you picking, "VinMillerHearn24" for a tag. How the hell did Vin Miller get in there?

 

Huge, giant grain of salt with this article due to who the author is. Abbot has a long history of being a Laker and Kobe hater. Doesn't mean he is necessarily wrong about everything he said, but it's a very biased point of view to present. To place all the blame on Kobe is simply irresponsible. The current state of the Lakers is somewhat Kobe's fault due to his personality/injuries/contract, but there is also blame on David Stern for the CP3 fiasco, Lakers management for giving away draft picks and poor contracts, Steve Nash for injuries, etc (Players aren't to blame usually for injuries but they do still hurt the team and franchise).

Shouting "Sources! It's all Kobe's fault!" is a great way to stir up lots of hits and get people talking, but certainly isn't a very positive indicator of Abbott's integrity.

 

Since when does ESPN actually have to have a 'source' to grab a headline. Have to agree with LT. Just like the story I read / heard on how lakers and Knicks are going to be 'what might have been' when compared to each other. Too easy to generalize, oversimplify and sensationalize. Lakers demise stories create circulation and thus Kobe demise stories create even more for BSPN.

I think it's great motivation for Kobe and what's done is done with the contract. Remember Kobe did come out and make a statement about TV revenue and cba recently. Let's keep it in perspective. A grain of truth about Kobe talking about jimbo and cash rich does not make a rift.

 

It's pretty harsh to lay all of this at Kobe's feet. I'd wager that Dwight and Pau ran because management was showing their incompetence, not because they didn't want to play with Kobe. The bad coaching hires, the lack of direction, the internal squabbles. IMO that's why Pau left, and it contributed to Dwight leaving.

 

Pau certainly didn't leave because of Kobe, so to include his name in the "list" is a bit cheating.

Also, I see that at work all the time. When there is a talented programmer, teaming him/her with mediocre ones is a chore. Some are intimidated,
some are slacking and let the star do all the work. Not all want to work with the talent.

I am sure that the same psychological patterns apply to these guys. Add in various CBA implications and the pool of people who both want and can play
for the Lakers is quite small.

In any case, I don't care, I will take 2 years of Kobe working his magic and developing our yongsters, even in a futile attempt to gain relevance,
over some ill advised Melo-like acquisition - so, no harm AFAIAC.

 

Man, Kobe called ESPN idiots and now they are on a crusade to destroy his character. Have you guys seen all the articles they've written in the past couple days besides this one?

 

I don't even know where to start. Abbott uses Bynum as one of his examples for crying out loud. Paul George has already pretty much shot down what was said about him.

This is the same old "blame Kobe" BS that has been going on for years.

 

they are afraid he will be a beast this year and force them to give him the MVP as he carries this team to Top 4 in the West.... I said they were afraid damn it.

 

They won't give him an MVP.

The bad press began over the rape charge. The NBA and Stern were scared to death that his golden boy status would ruin the NBA image. So they created a villain persona for him, instructing the talking heads to spread the word that he was selfish, a copycat, a dirty player, not that talented, etc. and it's been going on for ten years. The newer journalists have grown up on this propaganda; it's all they know. Kobe has become a statesman for the game, and it's time for this image propagation to stop, but it's hard to change the culture. Espn keeps blindly churning out these stories, and side-of-the-mouth remarks. Only the older analysts, or the players who know him from the day know better.

 

Kobe buys the Lakers organisation two years to plan a rebuild after he goes. He keeps us relevant and watchable even if we don't exactly go 72-10. I can understand a top shooting guard not wanting to play understudy to Kobe (he would lose too much playing time despite the trade off of having a living legend teaching him every day.) I feel Kobe has cost us nobody to be honest. If the Buss families is sick off Kobe then what is 48 million dollars, extreme sarcasm? I felt genuine anger looking at the ESPN home page today. Completely groundless, it assassinates Kobe as a player and is an affront to the Lakers organisation.

All of this is being done while the Elephant in the room is walking around pooping on the sofa. What about the Brooklyn Nets! Why are they not being lampooned on a daily basis for shooting for the moon and blowing a whole in the roof. The Lakers had a chance to develop a star to go with Kobe. It was called the Chris Paul trade. Unfortunately at midnight the trade was turned into a pumpkin that eventually turned into Steve (10 game) Nash. Arrrrrrggggghhhhhhh!

 

anyone defending abbott or using the word "integrity" in the same sentence without a complete negation needs to read up a bit on abbott's history with kobe and the lakers.

dude's got some weird vendetta. it's sort of sad, really.

 

Anyone need any lotto numbers, stock picks or "horses" ? As predicted ^^^ now on Yahoo front page. The character assassination continues.

http://deadspin.com/anonymous-nba-agents-nobody-wants-to-play-with-kobe-br-1648725291

 

Seems to me like it would be "nice" for Jeanie, maybe even Jeanie & Jim to issue some kind of statement about what's going on at ESPN. Especially since "they" are the ones responsible for the recent contract. Would be nice to hear from KD again as well, or more players on twitter that respect Kobe and whom he's actually helped with their games.

 

Best response I've heard...I didn't even read the article or even get into these debates. I hope this is used as bulletin board material for Kobe & this team included to beat everyone's expectations on the court. That's how you make them (ESPN) eat crow...

 

ESPN's lead article is now about how popular and amazing LeBron is. Abbott has showed a serious lack of integrity with his piece and to run the LeBron propoganda piece right after it shows ESPN's agenda.