What's everyone thoughts on Kobe's leadership?

[magic1fan]

Said it before and I will say again. Kobe is not a leader. Kind of like MJ except he always comes through when the game is on the line, Kobe is nowhere near as good or as clutch to blast his teammates when he's doing a poor job at distributing the ball and play handclap defense(i.e. against Brewer).

sorry but jordan was not a good leader. the bulls put thick skinned guys around him,who were able to look past him and do their jobs. the best leader of all time is the one and only earvin magic johnson...

[aroba]

Best all-time leader: Larry Bird.
It hurts, being LA fan, but it's true. Celtics were inferior team than Lakers in the 80's (in terms of pure basketball skills), but they still managed to perform as good as they did. Because of mindset. of course Magic was another great leader, but I think he was also more talented than Bird...and got similar results, sooo.

Kobe is not that kind of leader. He's the best player in the planet, and has individual killer instinct, but lacks the kind of leaderships Brid provided: Jumping to the stands for a loose ball, throwing elbows and being nasty when needed, involving all teammates on fastbreaks and being so vocal with teammates and also trash-talking opponents. And was unique making crucial shots!. No mercy, no prisoners. Never ever. Period.

Gasol's not a leader either, but he fits perfect playing Robin. Not his fault really, he's just what it is: A skilled, long and fragile PF. He's not the Spanish national team leader either. He's the best player, but other players fill the leadership role there.

Bynum is the opposite of a leader, should be traded while his value and spectations are sooo so high and overrated. Trade NOW. He should be killing himself at the gym to get in shape if he was a leader or wanted to become legend. He should kill or die in the paint to get a rebound. For me, he's another Ralp Sampson, or even worst: Another Michael Olowokandi.

Rest, including Odom...Pleeez!. No need to mention.

I love Chauncey Billups as leader. He doesn't look big on stat sheet, but he specialized on turning mediocre teams into contenders. Denver already on WCF.

[miltk]

Based on what his teammates have said, I can only assume he provides the leadership required, however he may not be as vocal as say,,,,Garnett or Lebron.

Since the Lakers are obviously a team that lacks motivation, I can see a more fiery personality cuz this team needs someone to light a match under their @rse. It would be different if the team brought 110% every game,,,but they don't.

As a player who involves his mates, I have a problem with Kobe. Seems he is either an enabler or a scorer BUT doesn't balance both,,,and so you get those "which Kobe will show up" questions. Lebron otoh does both equally well. Helping his teammates doesn't detract from his ability to take over as he does both very well. In fact Lebron is an enabler who is learning to score better, while Kobe is a scorer who is learning to assist.

I think Lebron does a better job.

[microfib4thewin]

I did say Jordan isn't a good leader. "Kobe is not a leader. Kind of like MJ"

Who wouldn't use handclap defense on Brewer? He's up there with Rondo as one of the worst jump shooters in the league. Kobe was for backing off Brewer and making him shoot jump shots. Also, when Kobe is not in force shot mode, he is a pretty damn good distributor just for the fact alone that he draws so much attention from the other team, leaving his teammates with wide open baskets.

1. Using a handclap on anyone, including Brewer, at an NBA level is a joke. We are also talking about him using it at ESA, most likely the loudest arena to play in, so Brewer can't hear it anyways. When your team captain does something like this you wouldn't be interested in playing defense either.

2. Kobe forces shots by default, so the question is, when is he in non-chucking mode? Kobe is a poor distributor in the sense that he could be a much better playmaker if he looks for his teammates first. Enough of this 'limited by the triangle' excuse, for a guy who handles the ball as much as he does he should be logging more assists, and with this year's cast being much deeper than any team he is on he should not look to score at every possession.

We need a veteran who can lead by example, unfortunately we don't have one in this team.

[TyCobb]

1. Using a handclap on anyone, including Brewer, at an NBA level is a joke. We are also talking about him using it at ESA, most likely the loudest arena to play in, so Brewer can't hear it anyways. When your team captain does something like this you wouldn't be interested in playing defense either.

If your team captain effects the way you play defense at the NBA level, you're a joke.

2. Kobe forces shots by default, so the question is, when is he in non-chucking mode? Kobe is a poor distributor in the sense that he could be a much better playmaker if he looks for his teammates first. Enough of this 'limited by the triangle' excuse, for a guy who handles the ball as much as he does he should be logging more assists, and with this year's cast being much deeper than any team he is on he should not look to score at every possession.

We need a veteran who can lead by example, unfortunately we don't have one in this team.

We need players who have the killer instinct like Kobe.

[magic1fan]

1. Using a handclap on anyone, including Brewer, at an NBA level is a joke. We are also talking about him using it at ESA, most likely the loudest arena to play in, so Brewer can't hear it anyways. When your team captain does something like this you wouldn't be interested in playing defense either.

If your team captain effects the way you play defense at the NBA level, you're a joke.

2. Kobe forces shots by default, so the question is, when is he in non-chucking mode? Kobe is a poor distributor in the sense that he could be a much better playmaker if he looks for his teammates first. Enough of this 'limited by the triangle' excuse, for a guy who handles the ball as much as he does he should be logging more assists, and with this year's cast being much deeper than any team he is on he should not look to score at every possession.

We need a veteran who can lead by example, unfortunately we don't have one in this team.

We need players who have the killer instinct like Kobe.

niff said...

[microfib4thewin]

If your team captain effects the way you play defense at the NBA level, you're a joke.

When your team captain doesn't bother to play defense, naturally it will be harder to muster the effort. The problem here is, Kobe is trying to be the man and lead this team, but when he doesn't bother to close out or defend his opposition with any intensity he loses the accountability of blaming his teammate's shortcoming, whether it be bad shot selections or getting burned by their assignment. The only way you can get an entire team to play great D with Kobe leading the way is if we have a defensive minded coach, since we don't you will always see a team defense with no principle.

We need players who have the killer instinct like Kobe.

The killer instinct to shoot 26 foot fadeaways. In that case I'd rather have Artest, at least we will be paying only 1/3 of Kobe's salary to watch that happen.

[Sedale Threatt]

I can and have dogged Kobe for a lot of different things, but lack of leadership isn't one of them. I don't think he's great in that department. But it's not his fault that this is a fundamentally weak-minded, passive basketball team. Other than he and Fish, there aren't really any guys on our roster that will go for the throat when given the opportunity. And considering Fish is playing the worst basketball of his career, he can't really be included. So there's really one guy on the roster that you can count in a street fight. That's not his fault.

[Luxury]

What the hell you some of you guys complaining about with that gesture. This is basketball. A rough, physical, and masculine sport. Get off your butt from your computer, head to the gym, and bring your girly complex on the court. You'll see toughness, and that's exactly what Kobe was doing to Pau.

[ddubb]

Kobe ain't no leader. Derek Fisher is the one in that locker room who garnishes the most respect.

He was the glue-guy who lead them to the Finals last year. Thing is, his skills have declined so much he can't really lead by example any more. LA needs to find a way to get him coming off the bench for 15mpg instead of starting and playing 30+.

[magic1fan]

Kobe ain't no leader. Derek Fisher is the one in that locker room who garnishes the most respect.

He was the glue-guy who lead them to the Finals last year. Thing is, his skills have declined so much he can't really lead by example any more. LA needs to find a way to get him coming off the bench for 15mpg instead of starting and playing 30+.

thanks for that great insight,now doesn't your team have a game 7 to worry about. kobe is a fine leader,people are always trying to find things to bitch about when it comes to the guy. i would say it's human nature,but it's really wanna be female nature. kobe is just as much a leader as pierce,kg,or allen,or anyone else not named magic johnson...

[magic1fan]

Based on what his teammates have said, I can only assume he provides the leadership required, however he may not be as vocal as say,,,,Garnett or Lebron.

Since the Lakers are obviously a team that lacks motivation, I can see a more fiery personality cuz this team needs someone to light a match under their @rse. It would be different if the team brought 110% every game,,,but they don't.

As a player who involves his mates, I have a problem with Kobe. Seems he is either an enabler or a scorer BUT doesn't balance both,,,and so you get those "which Kobe will show up" questions. Lebron otoh does both equally well. Helping his teammates doesn't detract from his ability to take over as he does both very well. In fact Lebron is an enabler who is learning to score better, while Kobe is a scorer who is learning to assist.

I think Lebron does a better job.

kobe's medium is pretty good,people just love to act like he is just some off the wall hot dog. the guy averaged 27/5/5 while lebron averaged 28/7/7... seeing as though the triangle doesn't usually let one person dominate the ball five assists is good. i never understood how five assists = not enough,and 7 = great...

[LL Cool Scott]

A leader (basketball-wise) is someone who makes the players around him better. Magic, Bird, Isiah, Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Kidd, Nash, Lebron, etc.

Has Kobe ever made the players around him better? Food for thought...

[magic1fan]

A leader (basketball-wise) is someone who makes the players around him better. Magic, Bird, Isiah, Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Kidd, Nash, Lebron, etc.

Has Kobe ever made the players around him better? Food for thought...

how do you define better,by number or what? kobe made smush parker relevant,since he left kobe where has he bee?. he was making bynum better last year before the injury. he got pau his first playoff game and series win. odom and pau had never been to a final without kobe. so like i said how does he not make people better. the attention he draws alone should make people better.

[milesfides]

Kobe not a leader?

Anybody watch the Olympics?

You don't have to be a loud, rah-rah guy (Lebron) to be a self-proclaimed leader.

You can show leadership by letting your play/actions/demeanor speak for themselves, like Kobe and Wade and Kidd.

Kobe was always a player who led more by example.

[LL Cool Scott]

^ I just look at the players on this team, and most of them are underacheiving. This is far and away the most talented roster in the NBA. But - Bynum should be better than he is, so should Odom, so should Pau.

Most teams take on the personality of their alpha-superstar (Bird's C's, Magic's Lakers, Jordan's Bulls, Lebron's Cavs) - but the Lakers haven't taken on Kobe's ultra-competitive cut-throat personality.

It's mystifying to me - I'm not hating on Kobe, I just don't understand why he can't get his team to compete like other superstars usually are able to... Is it his fault? Phil's fault? Or the other player's fault? Or a combination of all three?

[drama4life26]

Kobe is my favorite player in nba thought I'd get that outta the way..... LOL! No i think its just like if you are benching and your spotter starts getting you pumped on your last rep to get it up.... There nothing wrong at all for what Kobe did to Pau!

[magic1fan]

^ I just look at the players on this team, and most of them are underacheiving. This is far and away the most talented roster in the NBA. But - Bynum should be better than he is, so should Odom, so should Pau.

Most teams take on the personality of their alpha-superstar (Bird's C's, Magic's Lakers, Jordan's Bulls, Lebron's Cavs) - but the Lakers haven't taken on Kobe's ultra-competitive cut-throat personality.

It's mystifying to me - I'm not hating on Kobe, I just don't understand why he can't get his team to compete like other superstars usually are able to... Is it his fault? Phil's fault? Or the other player's fault? Or a combination of all three?

first off we need to stop lying to ourselves saying we have the most talent. we have some nice offensive players but other than kobe and trevor we have no one interested in playing defense. second like i said in another thread,i would rather have melo's or lebron's supporting cast,because they conpete regardless of what their stars do. when lebron struggles his team still plays defesne,still rebounds,still run plays and share the ball. the same with the nuggets,it doesn't matter if melo is on or not,guys like martin,billups and nene are still going to do their thing. jr smith is still going to be a spark off the bench. this team has been babysitted for too long. whenever we get off to a bad start they hang their heads and then expect kobe to save them. it's sad to see.

[microfib4thewin]

^ I just look at the players on this team, and most of them are underacheiving. This is far and away the most talented roster in the NBA. But - Bynum should be better than he is, so should Odom, so should Pau.

Even though two years ago this team was considered to have Kobe with no trade assets outside of Odom? Yes, Kwame for Gasol was big, but adding a player does not turn a team from bad to great unless it's someone as influential as Shaq or Duncan. Aside from some minor shuffles the team that everyone thought was awful was really not that much different from the team right now. If Bynum was actually playing well then I can agree that it's stacked. After all, nothing gets better than having two bigs who can log doubles doubles and aren't offensively challenged, but Bynum is not adjusting to the playoffs, and until he proves he could play well again he's still just a prospect with great potential, and the Lakers aren't worlds apart from everyone else. That seem to be agreed upon by both supporters and haters, so I don't know where you get this notion from.

I don't agree that Kobe is a good leader, but there is no need to exaggerate the team's talent level to make Kobe look worse than he is.

[semi-sentient]

A leader (basketball-wise) is someone who makes the players around him better. Magic, Bird, Isiah, Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Kidd, Nash, Lebron, etc.

Has Kobe ever made the players around him better? Food for thought...

Food for thought? For who? (Please Use More Appropriate Word) people?

Anyone with half a brain that has followed this team since Shaq left knows that almost every player has seen improvement playing next to Kobe.

That, and he can not do it alone. The true leader of this team should be Phil Jackson, yet he's apparently already planning his retirement. Kobe has done his job satisfactorily. No one else has. I'm not going to sit here and say that he's a great leader, but he's been pretty good considering the youth of this team. Guys like Pau shouldn't need to be potty trained at this stage of their careers. Same goes for Odom.

And what the hell is up with Pau sitting on the bench looking all depressed? Toughen up, moron.

Man we have some serious mental midgets on this squad. Great talent, but seriously lacking that winning attitude. Sedale is right -- only Kobe and Fisher have the right mentality. Everyone else needs to be coddled like little babies.