If anything, this year has proven that Kobe is a great scorer and maybe the worst teammate of all time. Other than maybe Gilbert Arenas who pulled out a gatt in the locker room
Props:
Rasan
The Los Angeles Lakers
- Thread starter IronLungs420
- Start date
Please tell me you don't really believe he's the greatest of all time??? He's a great scorer but not the greatest scorer of all time. He's a great Laker, but not the greatest Laker of all time. By any measurement, he's not the greatest anything
Props:
Stony Gwynn
“What he (Bryant) has accomplished with this team, I don’t think there’s any question in my mind at this point in time – because of him being with this team for his whole career – that he has been the greatest Laker player.” - Jerry West aka the logo
His opinon>yours
His opinon>yours
If he's so great the why don't his teammates rally around him?? If he's so great how can he allow a team this stacked to be 17-24?? If he's so great why doesn't he place any blame on himself??
Props:
CHRISHOGGALYPSE and Rasan
WOW, worst comparison ever just stop, when the logo speaks people listen. He is widely respected in the NBA and has no bias towards Magic or Kobe unlike most of the haters in this thread. Jerry West had the chance to witness most of the lakers greats unlike most of you. So like I said I'll take his opinion over some people who obviously have some hidden agenda against kobe.
You make Zero sense! All your points are a major fail, this team went through a coaching change a few weeks into the season. A coach that is the complete opposite of the 2 prior coaches the lakers have had. Gasol, Nash, and Dwight have been battling injuries all season. The only constant has been Kobe who is scoring 29 points a game while shooting 46% from the field. LOL @ not rallying around him, Kobe still is the force that runs this team, only problem is he is pushing 20 seasons worth of NBA basketball and just doesn't have the legs to do it all like when he was 26 years old. Also in case you haven't noticed the West and NBA in general is competitive as hell, teams are going all out and gunning for the Lakers every night. Also please name all the studs on the Lakers bench or role players that make this team so stacked?? The depth on this team is horrible. That is a recipe for disaster for a starting line up who is injured and old.
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I wouldn't know who's on your bench since your coach refuses to play anyone off the bench... Kobe is the force that drives this team yet when he scores more than 30 they've only won like 3-4 games... So the better he does on offense the worse his team does... And if your bench is so bad how is it that earl clark took gasol's starting pf job?? Nash is back from injury and still no improvement... You can make a million excuses but this team shouldn't be this bad... The west is stacked but yall lost to the raptors... They dont play in the west... The real leadership of the lakers were players like fisher who yall let go because of age and then turn around and trade for steve nash who's pushing 40... Instead of drafting yall trade and sign folks and that shit aint working no more...
Props:
Rasan
You see I can quickly tell you have been watching to much ESPN analysts bashing Kobe. The 30 point argument is the worst statistic ever, of course the lakers are going to have a bad record when Kobe has to drop more then 30 points constantly. It most likely means no one else on the team could get it going so going into the 4th the lakers are down by 10+ points and Kobe has to go into beast mode. Who else is going to bring the team back Dwight? liability at the free throw line. Gasol? LOL Nash? He's more of a facillatator.
Also Earl Clark helps my point, he's not starting because he's a stud. He's getting playing time due to Jordan Hill hurting his hip and being out for the season and Gasol playing like straight trash and suffering multiple injuries.
As for your point about trading instead of drafting, well that point is irrelevant to this discussion. That is a Lakers front office problem not a Kobe Bryant problem.
Also Earl Clark helps my point, he's not starting because he's a stud. He's getting playing time due to Jordan Hill hurting his hip and being out for the season and Gasol playing like straight trash and suffering multiple injuries.
As for your point about trading instead of drafting, well that point is irrelevant to this discussion. That is a Lakers front office problem not a Kobe Bryant problem.
Also losing to raptors doesn't mean shit, Kobe has just been gassed lately. You could tell during that game that his legs were gone he had no lift. He doesn't have the luxury though of a Tim Ducan were he can take a game or two off to recuperate. This team counts way to much on him so there's going to be stretches were Kobe taps out. The talent around him is either trash or injured, add all that to the fact that he has had no time to build chemistry with these new pieces added to his squad.
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Average NBA Team Valuation Increases By 30 Percent
The average NBA team is worth approximately $509 million, representing a 30 percent increase over last year.
The increase is due to higher revenue from television, new and renovated arenas, and the NBA’s new collective-bargaining agreement, which reduced player costs from 57% of revenues to roughly 50%.
The New York Knicks are the NBA's most valuable franchise, worth approximately $1.1 billion. The Knicks' value rose 41 percent due to a $980 million renovation of Madison Square Garden.
The Los Angeles Lakers were the NBA's most valuable franchise last season.
The Chicago Bulls rank third at $800 million, followed by the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and San Antonio Spurs.
11. Sacramento Kings
12. Oklahoma City Thunder
13. Phoenix Suns
14. Orlando Magic
15. Portland Trail Blazers
16. Cleveland Cavaliers
17. Utah Jazz
18. Los Angeles Clippers
19. Denver Nuggets
20. Philadelphia 76ers
21. Toronto Raptors
22. Detroit Pistons
23. Washington Wizards
24. Indiana Pacers
25. Memphis Grizzlies
26. Minnesota Timberwolves
27. New Orleans Hornets
28. Atlanta Hawks
29. Charlotte Bobcats
30. Milwaukee Bucks
The average NBA team is worth approximately $509 million, representing a 30 percent increase over last year.
The increase is due to higher revenue from television, new and renovated arenas, and the NBA’s new collective-bargaining agreement, which reduced player costs from 57% of revenues to roughly 50%.
The New York Knicks are the NBA's most valuable franchise, worth approximately $1.1 billion. The Knicks' value rose 41 percent due to a $980 million renovation of Madison Square Garden.
The Los Angeles Lakers were the NBA's most valuable franchise last season.
The Chicago Bulls rank third at $800 million, followed by the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and San Antonio Spurs.
11. Sacramento Kings
12. Oklahoma City Thunder
13. Phoenix Suns
14. Orlando Magic
15. Portland Trail Blazers
16. Cleveland Cavaliers
17. Utah Jazz
18. Los Angeles Clippers
19. Denver Nuggets
20. Philadelphia 76ers
21. Toronto Raptors
22. Detroit Pistons
23. Washington Wizards
24. Indiana Pacers
25. Memphis Grizzlies
26. Minnesota Timberwolves
27. New Orleans Hornets
28. Atlanta Hawks
29. Charlotte Bobcats
30. Milwaukee Bucks
Props:
Rossibreath
Jordan Hill's hip surgery scheduled
Los Angeles Lakers forward Jordan Hill will undergo season-ending surgery on his left hip Wednesday, the team announced Tuesday after Hill received a second opinion on his injury in Nashville by Dr. Thomas Byrd.
he recovery period following the procedure will be approximately six months, according to Hill. However, the Lakers will update that recovery time following the surgery based on how it goes.
Hill has missed the Lakers' past eight games after suffering the injury on Jan. 6 against the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles has gone 2-6 during that span. Hill appeared in 29 games this season, averaging 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 15.8 minutes.
Hill, 25, signed a two-year deal worth approximately $7 million with the Lakers in the offseason.
Hill's injury has allowed for the emergence of Earl Clark in the Lakers' rotation. Clark has averaged 11.0 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 blocks in the past eight games.
Los Angeles Lakers forward Jordan Hill will undergo season-ending surgery on his left hip Wednesday, the team announced Tuesday after Hill received a second opinion on his injury in Nashville by Dr. Thomas Byrd.
he recovery period following the procedure will be approximately six months, according to Hill. However, the Lakers will update that recovery time following the surgery based on how it goes.
Hill has missed the Lakers' past eight games after suffering the injury on Jan. 6 against the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles has gone 2-6 during that span. Hill appeared in 29 games this season, averaging 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 15.8 minutes.
Hill, 25, signed a two-year deal worth approximately $7 million with the Lakers in the offseason.
Hill's injury has allowed for the emergence of Earl Clark in the Lakers' rotation. Clark has averaged 11.0 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 blocks in the past eight games.
GM: Mike D'Antoni not the problem
The Los Angeles Lakers already have fired one head coach in this disappointing season, but general manager Mitch Kupchak isn't placing all the blame for the team's 17-24 start on the current one.
"Without a doubt, we have utmost confidence in Mike (D'Antoni) as a coach," Kupchak told ESPNLosAngeles.com in a phone interview Tuesday from Memphis. "I think if you spoke to him, his vision on Day 1 was dramatically different than it is today. It's the coach's job to adjust and to make changes. Sometimes a player is just not going to fit. Sometimes a coach has to make changes and compromise in the way he's done things and I think that's what Mike is going through right now is just the process."
The Lakers have hit the midway point of the season riding a three-game losing skid as some of the promises made in D'Antoni's introductory news conference in November are starting to ring hollow.
D'Antoni claimed the team should "easily" average 110-115 points per game under his guidance. They've crossed the 110-point threshold just eight times in the 31 games since he took over, going 5-3.
At the time of D'Antoni's hiring, Kupchak said the new coach's system was "more suited to the talent" on the Lakers than Phil Jackson's Triangle offense, and yet several players have had a difficult time fitting in -- Dwight Howard has sniped publicly about his lack of post-up and shot attempts, Pau Gasol has balked at accepting his role off the bench and free agent acquisitions Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks have both had to endure strings of DNP-CDs (Did Not Play -- Coaching Decision) under D'Antoni.
Yet, Kupchak said D'Antoni's shuffling of the roster is evidence that the coach is willing to change and try new things in order to try to start winning.
"It's not like he started a week or two ago trying to figure this thing out," Kupchak said. "He's been searching for combinations now for probably six to eight weeks. Understandably, I think the longer the season goes the more is at stake and the bigger hole you dig, the more dramatic your adjustments or your take on coaching has to become. I think that's what he's doing. He's grabbing every rabbit out of the hat trying to look for something that works."
While Kupchak is continuing to support the coach, the disappointment of the Lakers being out of the playoff picture with 41 games left to play is wearing on the Lakers' GM.
"You don't want to get too emotional one way or the other, but, we're halfway through now," Kupchak said. "Quite frankly, we've dug a hole and I think it's frustrating for everybody. It's certainly not what anybody or everybody expected halfway through the season."
Kupchak singled out the Lakers' effort, or lack thereof, as the most frustrating part to see.
"I'm a little bit concerned about our effort," Kupchak said. "I'd like to see better effort on the court. When the ball is not bouncing your way, when shots aren't going in, you just can't seem to get a break, the one thing you can control on the court is your effort and loose balls and running the floor, defending, offensive rebounding. I think back to the Miami game and I have that vision of LeBron (James) diving on that ball at midcourt. That's effort. It's natural when things get tough to hesitate and be unsure, lose confidence. That's one thing that we can't let happen. We have to maintain our confidence and our effort more than anything has to be at an all-time (high) to get through this period."
Kupchak is well aware of the Feb. 21 trade deadline looming if the team decides it needs to pursue a move if that confidence wanes and that effort fails to improve.
"We've got a little bit (less) than a month," Kupchak said. "Typically, it's unusual, although there was a trade today (between Memphis and Cleveland), it's unusual if things heat up five or four weeks out. Typically, as you approach the trade deadline, people get serious and they really begin to understand and know their team and they have a pretty good feel of what's out there.
"So, I don't think we're at the point where you say, 'It's time for a trade,' and a trade happens in 3-4 days. That's just not how this league works. I read somebody somewhere a week or so ago said, 'This is a deadline-oriented league,' and I think that's true even though there are exceptions. That's certainly one way to address the problem, to look into changing players."
What's tricky for Kupchak is that he's not convinced making a trade or signing a free agent would act as a cure-all for the Lakers' funk.
"Part of the frustrating thing about this season to date is that I just can't, or we just can't, put our finger on the problem," Kupchak said. "We mentioned a bunch of them and even getting through the injuries and the (roster) changes and the coaching changes and you just try look at the players and how they fit together, is there something that's missing? I could look at our group and nitpick and say that we could use something here or a better shooter there, but the bottom line is that the group as whole, we have not performed to the level of our ability.
"It's not like we don't have a player at a certain position and if we added a player -- an eighth guy or a ninth guy -- all of the sudden our record is going to go from 17 and whatever it is to 30-11. That's not going to happen by adding a bench shooter or a defensive player. You know what I mean? That's not going to happen. We're underachieving for other reasons, not because we're missing a bench player. Certainly you can add a bench player and become a better team, or hopefully a better team, but that's not the reason why our record is what it is. We should be better than our record says we are. But there's a saying in this league, and I'm sure you've heard this saying, 'You are what your record says you are.' "
The Lakers' record of just 2-7 over their past nine games says that the team is getting worse, but Kupchak believes it's just been more of the same.
"I'm not sure there have been recent struggles," Kupchak said. "We've struggled from Day 1. It's not like we played good ball and then all of the sudden the last three to four weeks, we're starting to struggle. We have struggled from Day 1 and it's frustrating for everybody."
That frustration will linger until the Lakers start to play up to their capabilities.
"We'll just have to figure it out," Kupchak said. "There's no end to this. It's not like if it's not figured out in a week it comes to a conclusion. It's just a process. We just got to keep on working at it and figure it out. It's basketball."
The Los Angeles Lakers already have fired one head coach in this disappointing season, but general manager Mitch Kupchak isn't placing all the blame for the team's 17-24 start on the current one.
"Without a doubt, we have utmost confidence in Mike (D'Antoni) as a coach," Kupchak told ESPNLosAngeles.com in a phone interview Tuesday from Memphis. "I think if you spoke to him, his vision on Day 1 was dramatically different than it is today. It's the coach's job to adjust and to make changes. Sometimes a player is just not going to fit. Sometimes a coach has to make changes and compromise in the way he's done things and I think that's what Mike is going through right now is just the process."
The Lakers have hit the midway point of the season riding a three-game losing skid as some of the promises made in D'Antoni's introductory news conference in November are starting to ring hollow.
D'Antoni claimed the team should "easily" average 110-115 points per game under his guidance. They've crossed the 110-point threshold just eight times in the 31 games since he took over, going 5-3.
At the time of D'Antoni's hiring, Kupchak said the new coach's system was "more suited to the talent" on the Lakers than Phil Jackson's Triangle offense, and yet several players have had a difficult time fitting in -- Dwight Howard has sniped publicly about his lack of post-up and shot attempts, Pau Gasol has balked at accepting his role off the bench and free agent acquisitions Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks have both had to endure strings of DNP-CDs (Did Not Play -- Coaching Decision) under D'Antoni.
Yet, Kupchak said D'Antoni's shuffling of the roster is evidence that the coach is willing to change and try new things in order to try to start winning.
"It's not like he started a week or two ago trying to figure this thing out," Kupchak said. "He's been searching for combinations now for probably six to eight weeks. Understandably, I think the longer the season goes the more is at stake and the bigger hole you dig, the more dramatic your adjustments or your take on coaching has to become. I think that's what he's doing. He's grabbing every rabbit out of the hat trying to look for something that works."
While Kupchak is continuing to support the coach, the disappointment of the Lakers being out of the playoff picture with 41 games left to play is wearing on the Lakers' GM.
"You don't want to get too emotional one way or the other, but, we're halfway through now," Kupchak said. "Quite frankly, we've dug a hole and I think it's frustrating for everybody. It's certainly not what anybody or everybody expected halfway through the season."
Kupchak singled out the Lakers' effort, or lack thereof, as the most frustrating part to see.
"I'm a little bit concerned about our effort," Kupchak said. "I'd like to see better effort on the court. When the ball is not bouncing your way, when shots aren't going in, you just can't seem to get a break, the one thing you can control on the court is your effort and loose balls and running the floor, defending, offensive rebounding. I think back to the Miami game and I have that vision of LeBron (James) diving on that ball at midcourt. That's effort. It's natural when things get tough to hesitate and be unsure, lose confidence. That's one thing that we can't let happen. We have to maintain our confidence and our effort more than anything has to be at an all-time (high) to get through this period."
Kupchak is well aware of the Feb. 21 trade deadline looming if the team decides it needs to pursue a move if that confidence wanes and that effort fails to improve.
"We've got a little bit (less) than a month," Kupchak said. "Typically, it's unusual, although there was a trade today (between Memphis and Cleveland), it's unusual if things heat up five or four weeks out. Typically, as you approach the trade deadline, people get serious and they really begin to understand and know their team and they have a pretty good feel of what's out there.
"So, I don't think we're at the point where you say, 'It's time for a trade,' and a trade happens in 3-4 days. That's just not how this league works. I read somebody somewhere a week or so ago said, 'This is a deadline-oriented league,' and I think that's true even though there are exceptions. That's certainly one way to address the problem, to look into changing players."
What's tricky for Kupchak is that he's not convinced making a trade or signing a free agent would act as a cure-all for the Lakers' funk.
"Part of the frustrating thing about this season to date is that I just can't, or we just can't, put our finger on the problem," Kupchak said. "We mentioned a bunch of them and even getting through the injuries and the (roster) changes and the coaching changes and you just try look at the players and how they fit together, is there something that's missing? I could look at our group and nitpick and say that we could use something here or a better shooter there, but the bottom line is that the group as whole, we have not performed to the level of our ability.
"It's not like we don't have a player at a certain position and if we added a player -- an eighth guy or a ninth guy -- all of the sudden our record is going to go from 17 and whatever it is to 30-11. That's not going to happen by adding a bench shooter or a defensive player. You know what I mean? That's not going to happen. We're underachieving for other reasons, not because we're missing a bench player. Certainly you can add a bench player and become a better team, or hopefully a better team, but that's not the reason why our record is what it is. We should be better than our record says we are. But there's a saying in this league, and I'm sure you've heard this saying, 'You are what your record says you are.' "
The Lakers' record of just 2-7 over their past nine games says that the team is getting worse, but Kupchak believes it's just been more of the same.
"I'm not sure there have been recent struggles," Kupchak said. "We've struggled from Day 1. It's not like we played good ball and then all of the sudden the last three to four weeks, we're starting to struggle. We have struggled from Day 1 and it's frustrating for everybody."
That frustration will linger until the Lakers start to play up to their capabilities.
"We'll just have to figure it out," Kupchak said. "There's no end to this. It's not like if it's not figured out in a week it comes to a conclusion. It's just a process. We just got to keep on working at it and figure it out. It's basketball."
I hope Mitch and Jim don't panic and make trades that require them to take back bad contracts. No need for anyone on this team or anyone joining this team to be signed pass 2013-14. Everyone comes off the books after that season, if things haven't got fixed by then blow up the team and re up in Free Agency.