Kobe the Saint

I love how everyone seems to ignore the fact that Kobe didn't even want to be in L.A. at the beginning of the year.  I love how he still had the same cast as he did before except they added Gasol, but yet his teammates "mean a lot' to him now and they are all buddy buddy.  And I love how the media is kissing his a$$ now just because you know they want to interview him.

I'm not going to deny that he's got game, if I did I'd be a moron, but still I'm not going to call him a great teammate, I'm not going to look up to him as a role model for children, and i'm NOT going to forget that he trampeled on his teammates at the beginning of the year like a little child not getting his piece of candy.  So now all you Kobe lovers can give me the "youre an idiot," card, but Kobe is extremely selfish. 

Good luck in the Finals, but I won't be rooting for ya.

All great players are selfish.  Trust me, MJ was one of the most-selfish players ever and he berated his teammates over and over again.

Did Kobe act inappropriately during the off-season?  Of course, taking a team's problems public never helps.  But, the main thing is you knew when the game started Kobe would come out and play to win.  He hates to lose and even when he was unhappy he played his ass off.

To say he has the same teammates as before except for Gasol is idiotic.  Fisher is a huge addition to that locker room.

I'd say your thread was idiotic, but anyone who sees you have Raja Bell clotheslining Kobe as your avatar already knows that about you.   Says a lot when you have a pic of a dirty player as your avatar.

im not gonna call you an idiot...but only because i choose not to insult those who are mentally challenged

First off, I dont think Kobe ever really wanted to leave LA. He simply wanted change, he wanted improvement. He wanted to be shown that this LA franchise was intent on winning a championship and that they would whatever necessary to win it. He got fisher, a valuable veteran player, and Andrew Bynum started the season amazingly, playing great basketball, and shutting up Kobe (which im glad about, not because Kobe was proven wrong, but because Bynum proved his value to the team) and perhaps Bynum's newfound inspiration was a result of Kobe's statements. Perhaps the entire team stepped it up a level in order to prove to the best basketball player in the world that they could win, that they could accomplish great things...and do them together.

So..did Kobe go about it in the right way? No, not really. But did it work? Sure seems like it...So thank you Kobe, thank you for being a so-called "baby", thank you for vocalizing your feelings, thank you for bringing about change, thank you for this season, thank you

Secondly, in terms of being selfish...

"TO BE SUCCESSFUL YOU HAVE TO BE SELFISH, OR ELSE YOU NEVER ACHIEVE. AND ONCE YOU GET TO YOUR HIGHEST LEVEL, THEN YOU HAVE TO BE UNSLEFISH. STAY REACHABLE. STAY IN TOUCH. DON'T ISOLATE." -Michael Jordan

Kobe is selfish in order to be unselfish...he plays selfishly only when his team needs him to, only when he needs to in order to win, he plays selfishly so that his team as a whole can succeed, Kobe doesnt care about stats, he cares about winning, he does what he has to do, and he gets the job done, so again THANK YOU Kobe for being "selfish"

Terminator, that was all a bunch of crap.  Kobe did not have a plan at all and everyone knows that.  He just cried like a baby and wanted his way.  If the team came out and didn't play as well as they did this year he would be just as disatisfied as he was before the season started. 

It's easy to act as if you know what kobe's mind was thinking but actions speak louder than words.  If you look at how the Lakers were playing at the beginning of the season, all of his teamates didn't give a crap about kobe and his "wanting the ball" all of the time when he calls for it.  They just played with no fear of him yelling at them like in the past because he just said in the off season that they all "sucked" basically.  Kobe had no more power over them like in past years because of that, also D-fish is a vet and kobe knows he can't tell fish what to do. 

Basically, all of kobe's teamates this year have put him in this position because they went and played without worring about bryant being all over them.  Then bryant sees that they are pretty good when you "let them play and not have a psycological , you suck! mindset" over them just because they make a mistake or aren't as good as hiself. (kobe) Kobe isn't doing anything different that his teamates haven't made him change.  They changed kobe, he didn't change them.  It's not hard to see. 

Now, to kobe's credit he has realized that it works when you let your teamates play without thinking you have to do it all of the time, then they can actually get better and have more confidence.  This is why you see him have more assists and rebounds because they made him trust them and he does now.  He get's it now because he see's that he does't have to do it all the time and can get his points and pick when to be more aggressive or not. 

He had no plan, the plan fell into his lap and he is running with it, period.  Good luck to the lakers but I don't see them beating Boston  with the Defense that both Detroit and boston play.  It looks like it's sloppy play but it's really the defense both teams play and it will be evident once they match up with the lakers.  Kobe will get his points and the rest of the team will struggle.  Hope Kobe doesn't revert back to his old "slamming on his teamates" instead of helping them play through it and get better.  I don't think D-fish will let that happen anymore though.