NBA legends discuss LeBrons legacy, Kobe says LeBron has no excuses, needs to be a better leader

[ELESDEE616]

Yeah he did actually... applied appropriate pressure on the front office and got them to finally pair him with a Kevin Love-tier 20-10 all-star in Pau in the post Shaq era, and went to war... They had their run, went to 3 straight finals...won 2.... What he didn't do was, when it clear that window was closing, quit the Lakers to go play with the baby thunder or something

Pau Gasol led the Memphis grizzlies to the playoffs in the West. Compare Gasol to Kevin Love putting up points on the worst team in the NBA brehs.


So Kobe's pressure was to snitch on Shaq and cry? That's some great leadership. If only more superstars would have that Mamba mentality they'd have a wopping 2 finals MVPs.

 

[10bandz]

Kobe is spot on.

The context missing here, is that Phil was the one who took pressure off of Kobe.

Kobe bought into Phil tho....as did Mike.....took Kobe until the post-Shaq era to really buy in but he eventually did......Bron's never bought into a coach EVER

 

[panopticon]

Kobe didn't say anything wrong and said pretty much what'd you expect from all time great and one of the NBA's most prolific winners


He probably can't wrap his head around LeBron both getting ordained as the GOAT for beating a weak ass Eastern conference...then immediately having a fukking pity party thrown for him after getting swept in the finals and pretty much quitting in the last game blowout

"Figure it out" is pretty much the only choice you had when it wasn't cool for franchise players to flat out quit their teams that were good enough to make it to the championship round and run somewhere else to better stack the deck when they lose... being able to just jump from team to team exhausting their peak resources for contending runs and just pressing the eject button the moment you sense the run is over (the supporting players are older and not as good and the team is capped out) is some new school shyt... The last time Bron did it to the Heat he gassed all the marks and the media with that "I'm Coming Home" narrative ....this time there's not even any pretense...just "welp... pretty obvious the window here, like for every team ever in history, is probably about to close...so peace, so long Cavs...time for me to bounce to a squad with some nice underpaid good young players and plenty of capspace... enjoy TT and JR's contracts and remember the good days"... And has the media pretty much cheering him on

Being a GM in this new era has to be a fukking nightmare.

You can't plan more than 2-4 years out. Drafting players at 19 means they haven't yet hit their primes by the time they come off their rookie deals. So you're constantly stuck in dilemmas like "how much should we pay Weedplate Wiggins? If we don't pay him, someone else will...and we'll lose a potential trade asset down the line."

The lack of a hard salary cap means you're always at a disadvantage to larger-market teams, or teams with owners willing to lose tens, even hundreds of millions a year in luxury tax payments to maintain roster stability.

Even with the stretch provision, bad contracts continue to count against your cap for several years into the future, hampering your efforts to turn around a poorly managed team. Which means you have to turn to trading away bad contracts, along with 1st round picks, only to get equally terrible (or even worse players) back who's only saving grace is that they've got less years left on the books. And after moving those bad contracts...you're now out 1st round draft picks well into the future...only compounding your extended stay at the bottom of the standings and potentially putting the franchise into a never-ending death spiral (Orlando ).

If there's going to be fluid player movement around the league moving forward, then the NBA and the NBAPA ought to reopen the existing CBA and alter the way the stretch provision can be used. Stretched player salaries shouldn't be counted against the cap.

This would maintain the guaranteed nature of NBA player contracts while also giving franchises some breathing room to re-tool after the departure of major free agents, or to turn around poorly performing teams.

 

[NvrCMyNut]

this would be better received coming from someone like Dirk.....but the point still stands.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

Real talk... Cats forget that NY gave JR Smith and Shump away for literally nothing.... JR Smith was on his way out of the league until he secured that Bron influenced deal in 2016

Ultimately the reason why Mj and Kobe stand don’t want Lebron to win is because once Lebron catches up to MJ and Kobe in rings it will tarnish their supposed “GOAT” titles.

Imagine that Lebron winning 5/6 titles being an underdog while have 6 losses while MJ and Kobe outside their rings had no final appearances and none with no trash teams to run with.

The haters understand this narrative and don’t want it to be a reality.

Well for Kobe’s sake it will be

 

[T.he I.nformant]

So if/when GSW wins three more it’s going to be a sight to behold. The goalposts will be moved. People will change their tune. Those who say it’s all about the rings will find all kind of ways to justify the bu bu but it’s different for Klay, Dray, Steph, and Iggy. Why? Because it’s really not all about the rings. There’s more to it. But people want to continue the illusion it’s the most important thing because it then allows them to cherrypick arguments about how so and so is better because of the jewelry.

 

[Schmoove]

Why else would they bypass Kobe and go right for Michael Jordan comparisons?

 

[CSquare43]

I see the term "legends" is used pretty loosely around here

"....It bothers me when the gods get to actin' like the broads............."


And am I REALLY going to have to spend my later years hearing Kobe wax poetic about the league like a bitter ex-player?

 

[Dark Knyght]

Its funny how Kobe's calling out someone's leadership when he never was a leader. He has scoring and killer instinct, but he never was a leader for his team or making his team mates better. Neither was Jordan. They both had Phil to do that. Where was Kobe's leadership skills when they werent making the playoffs or getting bounced out in the first or second round. Oh yeah, he was having a meltdown, shytting on his team mates, threatening to leave the franchise. You guys have some selective memory and apply standards to Lebron that were never stressed when Kobe was playing.

 

[BXKingPin82]

This couldnt have been posted in the 100 OTHER muthafukkin Kobe/Bron threads?!!!!

 

[Dark Knyght]

And im not even making an excuse, but lets be serious here, this Golden State team is the best team that has ever been assembled. Jordan, nor Kobe has ever faced a team this good. This current GS team would beat every Champion of the past 30 years. Their only comp would be the Kobe/Shaq Lakers because no one on Golden state would be able to stop Shaq down low. And i still think it wouldnt be that close without a total meltdown from GS.

 

[MoneyTron]

Its funny how Kobe's calling out someone's leadership when he never was a leader. He has scoring and killer instinct, but he never was a leader for his team or making his team mates better. Neither was Jordan. They both had Phil to do that. Where was Kobe's leadership skills when they werent making the playoffs or getting bounced out in the first or second round. Oh yeah, he was having a meltdown, shytting on his team mates, threatening to leave the franchise. You guys have some selective memory and apply standards to Lebron that were never stressed when Kobe was playing.

He readily admitted that he didn’t have them and that he had to develop those over time.

Kobe’s game didn’t change but I think he handled the ‘07-‘08 team differently, even before Pau arrived. Saying that he wasn’t the leader of that team or didn’t help his teammates rise to the occasion is false. Nobody on that team got worse after joining the Lakers.

 

[Dark Knyght]

Kobe bought into Phil tho....as did Mike.....took Kobe until the post-Shaq era to really buy in but he eventually did......Bron's never bought into a coach EVER

All Bron's coaches been trash.

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

And im not even making an excuse, but lets be serious here, this Golden State team is the best team that has ever been assembled. Jordan, nor Kobe has ever faced a team this good. This current GS team would beat every Champion of the past 30 years. Their only comp would be the Kobe/Shaq Lakers because no one on Golden state would be able to stop Shaq down low. And i still think it wouldnt be that close without a total meltdown from GS.

These guys would run those lakers off the floor. Their third scorer was Derek Fisher at 10-11 points per game. The 2013 heat and 2014 spurs would match up well since they spaced the floor well, but besides them, it would be tough to find any team who’s style can keep pace with them.

 

[Dark Knyght]

He readily admitted that he didn’t have them and that he had to develop those over time.

Kobe’s game didn’t change but I think he handled the ‘07-‘08 team differently, even before Pau arrived. Saying that he wasn’t the leader of that team or didn’t help his teammates rise to the occasion is false. Nobody on that team got worse after joining the Lakers.

Yeah, but we're applying the new Lebron rules to everyone, then there's no excuse right. He shouldve thrown the team on his back and willed them through