Honestly, if they had written that Kobe might be a deterrent I would have been fine with that. People have made similar comments before. But the Abbott article laid everything at Kobe's feet. The entire demise of the Lakers is his fault. That was just going too far and that's why I liked what Jeanie did so much. As I said above, I think Dwight leaving and free agents not wanting to come here had a lot more to do with D'Antoni and his system than Kobe. If we bring back Phil, I think we would be looking at Kobe, Dwight, and maybe Melo suiting up for us this season. The decision to hire D'Antoni instead of bringing back Phil (or even one of his disciples like B Shaw) cost this team a lot more than anything Kobe has ever done and there is little anyone can ever say to convince me otherwise. As far as Kobe is concerned, like most Laker fans I have had my share of moments of frustration with him over the years. But the good has more than outweighed the bad. Some of the criticism lobbed at him has been fair. But other times I feel like he has been scapegoated for larger issues happening with the team and I think this is one of those times.
I don't think his presence as a person or a personality is a deterrent to the people we really want on our franchise though. Honestly, what names have we seen that are really, truly star quality players that have stayed away because of Kobe? Dwight. That's it! We had Chris Paul for 20 minutes and for every second we had him, Chris Paul was excited to be here. I hate Chris Paul and his antics, but he's a star that would have fit in perfectly with a fading Kobe Bryant and (eventually) Dwight Howard. It would have been a fantastic vision for the Lakers' future. Carmelo only gave Los Angeles an interview BECAUSE Kobe asked him to. If it weren't for Kobe, Carmelo's plane wouldn't have even stopped here. What other stars has he kept away? I think maybe the only way I agree with Kobe keeping stars away is because if he signed some deal that was unreasonably low we'd have an opportunity to add TWO stars instead of one. One star (Carmelo) probably looks at LA with Kobe and a bunch of scrubs and thinks "We're not enough" so they pass. I get that. But if the alternative is for Kobe to take a cheap deal after all he's done for us... I get it. I'd rather just give him the contract. Any other inclination that Kobe is a guy that others don't want to play with I find ridiculous. The younger generation reveres him. Paul George, Julius Randle, Dante Exum, Klay Thompson, etc etc these guys all absolutely adore Kobe for what he's done. Older guys like LeBron, Carmelo, and even begrudgingly Dwayne Wade respect Kobe for everything he's done to them and for the League. Does Kobe's personality keep some players away? Sure! He's a jerk! He's extremely difficult to get along with, but any player that sees Kobe on the Lakers and says "oh man I don't want to have to deal with that guy" is probably not a guy we want anyway. Who wants that guy? Who wants the player that is intimidated by Kobe's demanding work ethic? The player that doesn't want to play with Kobe is literally a loser. A guy who doesn't win or want to win or want to put in the effort to win.
Ah, come on now. It is not worth the breath. In the words of our fearless leader: "They are a bunch of idiots".
real, what you said above, especially at the end.... it was you speaking from the heart....truth. And that's what Jeanie did too and said the same thing. I'm proud of her.
