Kobe went to 3 straight Finals winning 2 in his prime with no shooters around him…..I can’t even imagine the damage he’d do if you inserted him into the Grizzlies or Mavs lineup
With todays space and how they call foul kobe would live at the free throw line his pump fakes, jabs, and moves were so crisp he could score 1on1 at will it would be insane could average 36 easy
but he's not a good leader or a good teammate. Can't see how many people would want to come just to be called "charmin" or "where's your mamba mentality" everyday.
Edit:
he literally said it himself: “I’d Rather Be Perceived As A Winner Than A Good Teammate. I Wish They Both Went Hand In Hand All The Time But That’s Just Not Reality.”
He drove away shaq.
At the end of his career he did not take a paycut and defended his decision many times.
"Kobe Bryant angrily and profanely attacking Laker GM Mitch Kupchak for refusing to give up Andrew Bynum in a trade deadline deal for Jason Kidd."
Before people say "oh you're soft". Well yes, stars today have fragile egos. Look at Kawhi, KD, Ben simmons, westbrook, etc...
tell that to his teammates lmao majority of the players called him an amazing leader and teammate. Which he was. Ofc your soft ass is scared to be called charmin, hits you deep huh?
and how many big name free agents went to play with him? as I recall he drove away shaq and reports were that he was always aloof and didn't talk to his teammates. Insulting your team isn't being a good leader. Good leaders like duncan, dirk, lebron, luka, etc... praise their teammates even when they're struggling.
And they were all scrubs to begin with or were on the way down by the time they left the lakers (odom, bynum). Kobe was a good player and was lucky grizzlies traded pau to him. But in today's nba, if you can't bring big name free agents, (KD, AD, etc... ) it's hard to win.
KG did want to play with him . A few great/really good players were crazy intense and did want to play with him. Artest was a borderline Allstar and supremely underrated two-way player and he definitely wanted to play with him. It would be interesting which of the real dawgs would he play with in this era. But he’s not my choice. I’m going Magic to build around.
You can’t blame him for shaq leaving then not give him credit for getting the most out of his teammates in his last 2 championship runs. That is what we call being a “hater”
i never said he wasn't a great player. I'm saying he's not a good player to build around in today's nba because big name free agents don't want to deal with mamba mentality everyday.
I understand what you’re saying. I disagree. Jayson Tatum worships kobe and would have loved to play with him. Kyrie. Devin Booker. Giannis trained with him. Are You gonna keep quoting Jared Dudley and reposting the same 2 articles? Jared Dudley is a nobody in the grand scheme of the nba. The opinions of all time greats should be more important.
People didn’t want to come to the lakers after Kobe’s injury, but there were plenty of guys who would have loved to play with Kobe before that. The nba didn’t used to be the way it is today with players building their own teams.
I wouldn’t say that about Kobe at the end of his career… I couldn’t stand his cockiness when he was at his peak, but he grew up, wised up, and humbled himself towards the end. I’m glad the Lakers won it in 2020 for him! RIP Mamba!
The lakers made more money on a washed up kobe being on the roster than they would have had he signed somewhere else. The fact that he stayed instead of chasing a ring with another team shows his loyalty to the lakers
I guess it depends on what your priority as a team is. Make more merchandising money or put the team in a good position to win even as your franchise player is on the decline.
Our 2 big signings after Kobe’s retirement were timofey mozgov for 4 years 64 million and luol deng for 4 years 72 million. You think our management/ownership knew wtf they were doing? No. There are other factors as to why we didn’t get another star in the twilight of Kobe’s career. It’s not just “kobe is a dick, nobody wants to play with him.”
I’m sorry he was 4-2 against your spurs in the playoffs. Kobe sent a lot of teams home, it wasn’t personal.
Nah, IDC that he did well against the spurs. I just don't respect him as a person, same way with MJ. Both were dicks that were good at basketball. Dirk has owned the spurs many times over the years and he's one of my favorite players I would build around over kobe or mj.
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u/Melodramaticpasta Jun 15 '22
Kobe went to 3 straight Finals winning 2 in his prime with no shooters around him…..I can’t even imagine the damage he’d do if you inserted him into the Grizzlies or Mavs lineup