For someone with such an allegedly high bball IQ, I don't get why he's shooting all these 3s. I don't get what he's trying to do out there. It's as if he's purposely sabotaging our success. Byron needs to grow a pair and bench Kobe.
It pains me a great deal to say this, but I dread Kobe at the end of games now, especially when it's close. He's just turned into a black hole in those instances. Today was bad, bad, bad. He was just awful down the stretch. As I said in the MWP thread, if Byron were really serious about wanting to win games he should have kept Ron in and Kobe out for the rest of the fourth quarter.
... and to think i was so excited when we resigned him for that last contract (not the $$$ mind you). Now, i almost root for an injury. B-ball iq is OVERRATED!
He obviously doesn't care one bit about the future of the Lakers , it's all about him ... I will say it again : GET INJURED and soon
How can people wish injury to Kobe Bryant? Like seriously, thats an extreme lowpoint in humanity going on here. Dude is a straight Laker legend. Is he hurting the Lakers right now with his absolutely HORRIBLE shooting? you bet he is. But nontheless he has earned the respect to retire in dignity. I'm ok with that...for all the good things he has done in 2 decades. I'll gladly throw away a season for it. He is annoying me too but I'm too thankful for everything he has done for this franchise to wish him anything but the best. Lets just hope he stops chucking up brick after brick after brick.
That's exactly what I was wondering. Throughout the entire game, it looked like the passing to Kobe and his chucking was done by design. It seemed to be part of the plan. This kind of play might just be Byrons genius plan. If it is, than I'm officially done with him and his old-school s**t. I'm not defending Kobe, he played some extremely ugly basketball. I never thought I would feel that way, but yesterday I hoped he would not come back, each time he touched the ball in the second half I cringed. I do not want to ever feel that way. Very good that some of the Lakers' legends called this kind of play out, maybe that will somehow get into the heads of these two. Man am I pissed at tchem right now.
Agree, they have to stop catering to him. But if you're a young player and Kobe just runs right at you demanding the ball, its understandable. Some better coaching direction, and players that stop catering to him will help a great deal.
This X 100000000 Wishing an injury on anybody is just bad. Wishing it on Kobe as a Lakers fan is just... I don't have the words
Accountability for Kobe from Byron? I'll believe it when I see it. Cooper has held Kobe more accountable in one game of post game analysis than Byron has ever done.
I agree. I want him to quit on his own terms. I'm hoping he stays true to his word (not sticking around averaging 18 points) and holds a press conference to announce his retirement.
So chucking at will , laughing about it and completely disregarding the future of our franchise is retiring in dignity ? Being a legend shouldn't allow you to s*** on your team as he's currently doing ... This is the 2nd season we are throwing away ...
Come on, literally no one was shooting well. We would have lost with anyone else shooting the ball. As we've seen before, if someone, anyone, moves off the ball, he will make the pass. Frustration is one thing, but wishing someone's career to end in shame is low.
It's not about shooting well or not , it's about playing his own game without caring one bit about the team ... Byron and Kobe need to go ... what an embarrassment . We're not a good team but at least we should try playing with a purpose on both ends off the floor ....
Yeah I thought watching Kobe get hurt twice was hard to watch.... this is a whole other taste of sad. I don't doubt that he still has a great shot, even physically. I don't think his confidence is down either. Mentally, his issue is in the other direction; he's borderline delusional. Seeing him take these 2006-Kobe contested fadeaways is just crazy and sad to watch. Let the rooks play. Let them make mistakes. I don't want Kobe to do this to his own legacy. Seeing him go out like this is depressing.
I could never wish injury on our Laker hero, man. That's just messed up. He's carried us for 2 decades.
How do you know he doesn't care one bit? He did give it all out there yesterday IMO, not trying is the least of his problems. He's delusional as some have pointed out, but it's not that he's hurting the team on purpos or not caring. His BB IQ seems to have dropped dramatically, and he has never been very good at identifying own mistakes. There are more than enough reasonable arguments to bash Kobe for his play, let's not get overboard with these kind of accusations