Kobe Bryant. Those two names together compose perhaps the most divisive sports personality in modern times. Some love him. Some hate him. There is seemingly no in between.
Those who love him say he is perhaps the most talented player to ever lace up a pair of NBA sneakers. They point to his amazing talent on both ends of the floor and the fact that he has already won three NBA titles. His 81-point performance last season against Toronto only added fuel to the fire. Moreover, they argued last season that the Lakers had no business making the playoffs, and the only reason they ended up qualifying is because of Bryant's brilliance.
Those on the other side of the argument say that Bryant is selfish. They believe he won three championships because of being teamed up with Shaquille O'Neal, and they believe Bryant won't win another one without him. They paint him as a me first type of player who cares only about personal accolades and adulation despite the persona he portrays to the media. They even make the argument that Bryant has discovered a way to pass selfishly as exemplified by his unwillingness to the shoot the ball a couple of years ago against the Kings and also in Game Seven last season in the Lakers' first round loss to the Suns.
So where does the truth lie? Well, in the words of the great Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, "Remember that all things are only opinions and that it is in your power to think as you please."
Such is the case with Bryant. Love him or hate him, though, he's got to get some help on his roster. Vladimir Radmanovic is a nice start but most will probably agree that he is not enough alone. So perhaps the opinions about Bryant that matter the most are those of his peers. Not just his teammates, but players from around the NBA. After all, it's all of the other players in the NBA who will ultimately decide whether they want to team up with a player like Bryant or not.
So what's the verdict?
Basketball News Services set out around the NBA to get the truth about how players feel about Bryant. No, this is not just another one of those pieces were a reporter asks, "Hey, what do you think about Kobe Bryant," only to get a response like, "Oh, yeah man, I think he's got a lot of ability, and you know we just have to take it one game at a time, and blah, blah, blah . . . " No, this was a series of interviews that wouldn't settle for such mundane and contrived responses.
That's not to say that some of the players interviewed for this pieced didn't try and give some dodo bird answers, but it's just that your friendly neighborhood columnist wouldn't settle for that. In short, if players didn't want to give their true feelings on the topic, this writer simply moved on.
Finally, the quotes themselves are simply not enough. Many of them require some kind of context to fully embrace and understand the meaning behind what was communicated. Taking something that's spoken and trying to translate it into written text that captures the essence of what was said, and exactly how it was said (including voice inflection, speech rate, volume, etc.) is a very difficult task. Hence the reason why so many people in this media Mecca we live in claim that they were misquoted. To try and limit this as much as possible, a promise was made to the players interviewed for this piece that their words would be captured in their entirety with as much context as possible.
Inside The Lakers' Locker Room
Any legitimate discussion of whether or not players like playing with Bryant has to start within the Lakers' own locker room, and trying to find players who will talk honestly about how they feel about Bryant can be a challenge. Many players just refuse to answer questions that aren't generic questions to which they can produce generic responses. However, a few Laker players were brave enough to voice how they feel.
Let's start with Laker forward Brian Cook. Cook addressed the issue of Bryant being selfish head on, but to truly understand Cook's feeling, you must read the quote in its' entirety.
"I think he is selfish," Cook responded. "But he has to be. He's our go to man. He needs to take shots for us to win and that's what he does."
Cook went on to describe his experience playing with Bryant.
"It's good. He's obviously a player that can take over ballgames, and that's what he's done all year. On another note, the defense is keyed on him, so it allows us to get our points and do our thing on the weak side. I mean, I've had open jump shots all year just because of him and that's what I do is shoot. It's good playing with him. When he gets in a zone, he gets in a zone. It's good for us."
Guard Aaron McKie also addressed the idea of Bryant as a selfish basketball player drawing an analogy to a fellow named Tim Duncan.
"You don't reach this level without being selfish to some degree, and I think that depending on what type of team you have and the type of players you have . . . for instance, you could take a situation like a Tim Duncan. Now everyone wants him to be so much more aggressive, because he hasn't scored 20 points in the last 20 some odd games or whatever. I mean it's like a double-edged sword. Once he starts doing it, and the teams having some success, or the team loses a few games, then they're going to flip the script. They'll say, 'Maybe he needs to fall back on his shots a little bit. Maybe he needs to take less shots.' It's a double-edged sword. As long as the team is comfortable with it, and you're successful with it, do what works."
McKie continued with this assessment of Bryant's game and what makes him unique.
"He's a great player. He's one of those guys that when he gets his foot on you, he wants to put it on your neck and finish the deal. You know, you have a lot of great talents and great players out here, but they don't have that killer instinct like he has. People are quick to say that this guy is a good player or that guy is a good player, but a lot of times I really don't see it. But he's been on that stage, championship level in game situations. So he's battle tested, and he has all of that under his belt. I look at him as one of the all time greats in his approach to the game and his respect for the game. It's just something that I admire."
Fifteen-year veteran Jim Jackson, similar to Cook, acknowledged that Bryant is selfish. Once again, though, his words have to be considered in their totality.
"I think every player who plays this game is selfish in some respects. For (Bryant), he wants to go out and dominate the game. Is it selfish? I think it's just a mindset that he wants to go out and dominate the game. I think people can perceive that as selfish. Sometimes does he miss some people on passes? Probably, but that happens to everybody. Everybody gets missed. Everybody misses somebody. All the stuff he's been through, they are going to label him (selfish)."
Jackson continued, "He's a hell of a competitor, along with having the skills and desire to become the best. That's a hell of a combination to have. He's a great player. He's right on the lines of the guys that have played in this league that have dominated. I think he's on the cusp of still getting even better."
Interesting verbiage from inside the Lakers' locker room to be sure, but what does it all mean? Is it possible for a player to be selfish and still make his teammates better at the same time?
In fairness, this is a sample of three players and what they believe. However, it's easy to see common threads in the comments of all three. Each of them acknowledged to some extent that Bryant is selfish, but they also acknowledged that it might not be such a bad thing for the team.
In other words, the argument over whether or not Kobe is selfish may not be a dichotomous one in terms of whether or not it's good for his team, as many pundits would have you believe. Instead, it appears that sentiment in the Lakers' dressing room is that it's possible for a player like Bryant to be selfish while simultaneously making his teammates better.
To Play With Kobe or Not to Play With Kobe?
Perception is reality -- or at least that's what they tell me -- and the perception of many non-Laker fans seems to be that other players around the league don't want to play with a guy like Kobe because of his shot happy ways. If this perception turns out to be true within the ranks of NBA free agents, it could have disastrous consequences for the Lakers. It would essentially mean that the team wouldn't be able to land any premiere free agents in year's to come. The end result would be an outfit much like the one this year in Los Angeles for the rest of Bryant's career-- an outfit that's a day late and a dollar short.
Again, it's hard to get NBA players to talk about anything that doesn't yield a writer a rambling page full of clichés. That said, it's even harder to get players to talk about wanting to play with teams or players that they are not currently playing with. Free agents are no different, as they usually say nothing of substance in an effort to avoid hurting their chances of landing top-dollar offers from teams league wide. However, a few brave men were willing to speak on the subject.
Exhibit A, Wolves' forward Mark Madsen. Madsen, while not a free agent, is an interesting case study nonetheless because he has been on the inside with Bryant as well as on the outside now in Minnesota. It should be noted, the quotes that follow from Madsen were said with a lot of passion and weren't simply regurgitated to look good on paper.
"I really enjoyed playing with Kobe Bryant," Madsen explained. "I mean, Kobe's always been someone who has always tried to involve me . . . on the court, off the court. On the court, he's done everything he could to get me easy baskets. I can't tell you how many games he just put the ball right in my hands and all I had to do was go up and lay it in. Off the court, he's really a great guy. He's a gentleman. He's someone that really takes the time with players, players' families and friends. He's just all-and-all a great guy to be around."
No doubt that Madsen wouldn't be averse to playing with Bryant again sometime in the future.
One guy who is still on the open market as an unrestricted free agent is forward Reggie Evans. Evans addressed whether or not he would welcome a chance to play with Bryant.
"I'd play with him. I don't think he's selfish. One thing I like about Kobe is that Kobe will play on both ends of the court. That's why I would play with him. He's a competitor and he's a winner. Why not play with a winner? If he feels like he's got to take a hundred shots to win the game, I'm cool with that. I've been on a team with Gary Patyon who shot a lot, Ray Allen who shot a lot, Carmelo who shoots a lot. So for me to play with someone like that, it wouldn't be nothing new. Just another player who shoots a lot."
Another guy who was a free agent before signing with the Mavericks last week, Greg Buckner, could have just as easily ended up playing for the Lakers had they come calling -- that is if you listen to what he had to say about the Lakers' superstar shooting guard.
When asked to describe what players around the league think of Bryant, Buckner responded, "I think people think Kobe Bryant is a killer. He's a guy that's always going to attack and not give you any time off. Whether he's shooting or passing, he's always going to make his teammates better. Kobe's like Jordan used to be. Anytime he's out there on the court he can win the game. A lot of guys in this league take plays off. Kobe takes his plays off when he's on the bench. He never gives you a moment to relax. He also plays on the other end, he plays defense, too. That's very impressive for a guy of his stature on the offensive end to go out there and try and shut down his guy also."
When asked if he would like to play with Bryant, Buckner emphatically responded, "Hell yeah, I would love to play with a guy like Kobe. I mean Kobe, he's sort of like a Shaq. Shaq makes the game easier for everybody else. Kobe's going to be a guy that makes the game easier for everyone else because he demands so much attention, and he's so good that he's going to make you even better. I think it would be an honor for myself to play with a guy like Kobe."
While the sample size was indeed a small one, the answer was definitive. Guys want to play with Bryant -- well, at least role players who were interviewed for this piece do. Buckner and Evans will never be confused with NBA All Stars, and it would be interesting to see if big time NBA players feel the same way. Still, the answers that were given were very emphatic. It's not like the above players wouldn't mind playing with Bryant -- nope, they each indicated that they would love a chance to play with him.
It should also be noted that during an exclusive interview with Basketball News Services about a myriad of topics, soon to be Utah Jazz guard Derek Fisher declined comment for this piece. Interesting considering that the affable Fisher is usually quite willing to shoot the breeze about most anything. Not to imply that Fisher would have anything negative to say, but it is possible that some dissenting voices exist and did not -- or chose not -- to have their voices heard at this particular time.
No doubt the debate about Bryant will rage on. Ultimately, it's probably a good thing for the NBA with all of the attention and storylines it provides. While this article, or any article for that matter, doesn't own the corner of the market on truth, it did lead to some interesting insights. Chief among them the idea that Bryant can be selfish and make his teammates better at the same time. It also shed a little bit of light on the fallacy that very few free agent's would welcome the opportunity to play with Bryant.
Love-Hate Relationship
Go on. Love him or hate him. Both groups can find fodder for their positions by reading the words that were written above and interpreting them as they want to interpret them. The reality of the situation, though, is that lovers are going to continue to love and haters are going to continue to hate anytime the words Kobe and Bryant appear in that order in print.
So here you are: KOBE BRYANT.
Have fun.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_18166.shtml
Good article
Those who love him say he is perhaps the most talented player to ever lace up a pair of NBA sneakers. They point to his amazing talent on both ends of the floor and the fact that he has already won three NBA titles. His 81-point performance last season against Toronto only added fuel to the fire. Moreover, they argued last season that the Lakers had no business making the playoffs, and the only reason they ended up qualifying is because of Bryant's brilliance.
Those on the other side of the argument say that Bryant is selfish. They believe he won three championships because of being teamed up with Shaquille O'Neal, and they believe Bryant won't win another one without him. They paint him as a me first type of player who cares only about personal accolades and adulation despite the persona he portrays to the media. They even make the argument that Bryant has discovered a way to pass selfishly as exemplified by his unwillingness to the shoot the ball a couple of years ago against the Kings and also in Game Seven last season in the Lakers' first round loss to the Suns.
So where does the truth lie? Well, in the words of the great Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, "Remember that all things are only opinions and that it is in your power to think as you please."
Such is the case with Bryant. Love him or hate him, though, he's got to get some help on his roster. Vladimir Radmanovic is a nice start but most will probably agree that he is not enough alone. So perhaps the opinions about Bryant that matter the most are those of his peers. Not just his teammates, but players from around the NBA. After all, it's all of the other players in the NBA who will ultimately decide whether they want to team up with a player like Bryant or not.
So what's the verdict?
Basketball News Services set out around the NBA to get the truth about how players feel about Bryant. No, this is not just another one of those pieces were a reporter asks, "Hey, what do you think about Kobe Bryant," only to get a response like, "Oh, yeah man, I think he's got a lot of ability, and you know we just have to take it one game at a time, and blah, blah, blah . . . " No, this was a series of interviews that wouldn't settle for such mundane and contrived responses.
That's not to say that some of the players interviewed for this pieced didn't try and give some dodo bird answers, but it's just that your friendly neighborhood columnist wouldn't settle for that. In short, if players didn't want to give their true feelings on the topic, this writer simply moved on.
Finally, the quotes themselves are simply not enough. Many of them require some kind of context to fully embrace and understand the meaning behind what was communicated. Taking something that's spoken and trying to translate it into written text that captures the essence of what was said, and exactly how it was said (including voice inflection, speech rate, volume, etc.) is a very difficult task. Hence the reason why so many people in this media Mecca we live in claim that they were misquoted. To try and limit this as much as possible, a promise was made to the players interviewed for this piece that their words would be captured in their entirety with as much context as possible.
Inside The Lakers' Locker Room
Any legitimate discussion of whether or not players like playing with Bryant has to start within the Lakers' own locker room, and trying to find players who will talk honestly about how they feel about Bryant can be a challenge. Many players just refuse to answer questions that aren't generic questions to which they can produce generic responses. However, a few Laker players were brave enough to voice how they feel.
Let's start with Laker forward Brian Cook. Cook addressed the issue of Bryant being selfish head on, but to truly understand Cook's feeling, you must read the quote in its' entirety.
"I think he is selfish," Cook responded. "But he has to be. He's our go to man. He needs to take shots for us to win and that's what he does."
Cook went on to describe his experience playing with Bryant.
"It's good. He's obviously a player that can take over ballgames, and that's what he's done all year. On another note, the defense is keyed on him, so it allows us to get our points and do our thing on the weak side. I mean, I've had open jump shots all year just because of him and that's what I do is shoot. It's good playing with him. When he gets in a zone, he gets in a zone. It's good for us."
Guard Aaron McKie also addressed the idea of Bryant as a selfish basketball player drawing an analogy to a fellow named Tim Duncan.
"You don't reach this level without being selfish to some degree, and I think that depending on what type of team you have and the type of players you have . . . for instance, you could take a situation like a Tim Duncan. Now everyone wants him to be so much more aggressive, because he hasn't scored 20 points in the last 20 some odd games or whatever. I mean it's like a double-edged sword. Once he starts doing it, and the teams having some success, or the team loses a few games, then they're going to flip the script. They'll say, 'Maybe he needs to fall back on his shots a little bit. Maybe he needs to take less shots.' It's a double-edged sword. As long as the team is comfortable with it, and you're successful with it, do what works."
McKie continued with this assessment of Bryant's game and what makes him unique.
"He's a great player. He's one of those guys that when he gets his foot on you, he wants to put it on your neck and finish the deal. You know, you have a lot of great talents and great players out here, but they don't have that killer instinct like he has. People are quick to say that this guy is a good player or that guy is a good player, but a lot of times I really don't see it. But he's been on that stage, championship level in game situations. So he's battle tested, and he has all of that under his belt. I look at him as one of the all time greats in his approach to the game and his respect for the game. It's just something that I admire."
Fifteen-year veteran Jim Jackson, similar to Cook, acknowledged that Bryant is selfish. Once again, though, his words have to be considered in their totality.
"I think every player who plays this game is selfish in some respects. For (Bryant), he wants to go out and dominate the game. Is it selfish? I think it's just a mindset that he wants to go out and dominate the game. I think people can perceive that as selfish. Sometimes does he miss some people on passes? Probably, but that happens to everybody. Everybody gets missed. Everybody misses somebody. All the stuff he's been through, they are going to label him (selfish)."
Jackson continued, "He's a hell of a competitor, along with having the skills and desire to become the best. That's a hell of a combination to have. He's a great player. He's right on the lines of the guys that have played in this league that have dominated. I think he's on the cusp of still getting even better."
Interesting verbiage from inside the Lakers' locker room to be sure, but what does it all mean? Is it possible for a player to be selfish and still make his teammates better at the same time?
In fairness, this is a sample of three players and what they believe. However, it's easy to see common threads in the comments of all three. Each of them acknowledged to some extent that Bryant is selfish, but they also acknowledged that it might not be such a bad thing for the team.
In other words, the argument over whether or not Kobe is selfish may not be a dichotomous one in terms of whether or not it's good for his team, as many pundits would have you believe. Instead, it appears that sentiment in the Lakers' dressing room is that it's possible for a player like Bryant to be selfish while simultaneously making his teammates better.
To Play With Kobe or Not to Play With Kobe?
Perception is reality -- or at least that's what they tell me -- and the perception of many non-Laker fans seems to be that other players around the league don't want to play with a guy like Kobe because of his shot happy ways. If this perception turns out to be true within the ranks of NBA free agents, it could have disastrous consequences for the Lakers. It would essentially mean that the team wouldn't be able to land any premiere free agents in year's to come. The end result would be an outfit much like the one this year in Los Angeles for the rest of Bryant's career-- an outfit that's a day late and a dollar short.
Again, it's hard to get NBA players to talk about anything that doesn't yield a writer a rambling page full of clichés. That said, it's even harder to get players to talk about wanting to play with teams or players that they are not currently playing with. Free agents are no different, as they usually say nothing of substance in an effort to avoid hurting their chances of landing top-dollar offers from teams league wide. However, a few brave men were willing to speak on the subject.
Exhibit A, Wolves' forward Mark Madsen. Madsen, while not a free agent, is an interesting case study nonetheless because he has been on the inside with Bryant as well as on the outside now in Minnesota. It should be noted, the quotes that follow from Madsen were said with a lot of passion and weren't simply regurgitated to look good on paper.
"I really enjoyed playing with Kobe Bryant," Madsen explained. "I mean, Kobe's always been someone who has always tried to involve me . . . on the court, off the court. On the court, he's done everything he could to get me easy baskets. I can't tell you how many games he just put the ball right in my hands and all I had to do was go up and lay it in. Off the court, he's really a great guy. He's a gentleman. He's someone that really takes the time with players, players' families and friends. He's just all-and-all a great guy to be around."
No doubt that Madsen wouldn't be averse to playing with Bryant again sometime in the future.
One guy who is still on the open market as an unrestricted free agent is forward Reggie Evans. Evans addressed whether or not he would welcome a chance to play with Bryant.
"I'd play with him. I don't think he's selfish. One thing I like about Kobe is that Kobe will play on both ends of the court. That's why I would play with him. He's a competitor and he's a winner. Why not play with a winner? If he feels like he's got to take a hundred shots to win the game, I'm cool with that. I've been on a team with Gary Patyon who shot a lot, Ray Allen who shot a lot, Carmelo who shoots a lot. So for me to play with someone like that, it wouldn't be nothing new. Just another player who shoots a lot."
Another guy who was a free agent before signing with the Mavericks last week, Greg Buckner, could have just as easily ended up playing for the Lakers had they come calling -- that is if you listen to what he had to say about the Lakers' superstar shooting guard.
When asked to describe what players around the league think of Bryant, Buckner responded, "I think people think Kobe Bryant is a killer. He's a guy that's always going to attack and not give you any time off. Whether he's shooting or passing, he's always going to make his teammates better. Kobe's like Jordan used to be. Anytime he's out there on the court he can win the game. A lot of guys in this league take plays off. Kobe takes his plays off when he's on the bench. He never gives you a moment to relax. He also plays on the other end, he plays defense, too. That's very impressive for a guy of his stature on the offensive end to go out there and try and shut down his guy also."
When asked if he would like to play with Bryant, Buckner emphatically responded, "Hell yeah, I would love to play with a guy like Kobe. I mean Kobe, he's sort of like a Shaq. Shaq makes the game easier for everybody else. Kobe's going to be a guy that makes the game easier for everyone else because he demands so much attention, and he's so good that he's going to make you even better. I think it would be an honor for myself to play with a guy like Kobe."
While the sample size was indeed a small one, the answer was definitive. Guys want to play with Bryant -- well, at least role players who were interviewed for this piece do. Buckner and Evans will never be confused with NBA All Stars, and it would be interesting to see if big time NBA players feel the same way. Still, the answers that were given were very emphatic. It's not like the above players wouldn't mind playing with Bryant -- nope, they each indicated that they would love a chance to play with him.
It should also be noted that during an exclusive interview with Basketball News Services about a myriad of topics, soon to be Utah Jazz guard Derek Fisher declined comment for this piece. Interesting considering that the affable Fisher is usually quite willing to shoot the breeze about most anything. Not to imply that Fisher would have anything negative to say, but it is possible that some dissenting voices exist and did not -- or chose not -- to have their voices heard at this particular time.
No doubt the debate about Bryant will rage on. Ultimately, it's probably a good thing for the NBA with all of the attention and storylines it provides. While this article, or any article for that matter, doesn't own the corner of the market on truth, it did lead to some interesting insights. Chief among them the idea that Bryant can be selfish and make his teammates better at the same time. It also shed a little bit of light on the fallacy that very few free agent's would welcome the opportunity to play with Bryant.
Love-Hate Relationship
Go on. Love him or hate him. Both groups can find fodder for their positions by reading the words that were written above and interpreting them as they want to interpret them. The reality of the situation, though, is that lovers are going to continue to love and haters are going to continue to hate anytime the words Kobe and Bryant appear in that order in print.
So here you are: KOBE BRYANT.
Have fun.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_18166.shtml
Good article
