This is where we'll just have to disagree. I think the largest reason for the Hornets rise was the fact that they were healthy. Paul's statistical increase from one season to the next is not enough to account for such a turnaround, and his season wouldn't have been possible had he not had the right talent around him.
Fair enough. I don't disagree that the Hornets' health is a major factor in helping the Hornets becoming one of the best teams in the league. I just think if Paul plays at or around the same level as last year, the Hornets, regardless of their health, are not a top-2 team in the West.
The "Ship his ass out" comments were clearly directed at the FO for not trading an unproven big for a superstar type player. That's quite different than dissing Bynum or "trashing" his teammates like some writers are proposing. The truth of the matter is that Bynum had not proven much of anything, and throughout the season Phil (and others) had questioned his work ethic and professionalism. At the time, there wasn't very much working in Bynum's favor, particularly when you keeping hearing names like Boozer, Kidd, JO, Marion, etc. come up.
At the end, it still is saying 'Bynum isn't good enough to help me, get me someone in here who can.'
It should be noted that Odom was involved in a lot of the the trade discussions. So Bryant wouldn't just have been shipping out one unproductive player for a productive one. IIRC, he was involved in the Kidd and JO talks. I don't remember Marion or Boozer ever being linked to the Lakers or hearing the Lakers actually turning down a deal for these guys, but I would imagine Odom would have been a key component in those talks as well, as neither team would have been looking to just take back an expiring deal.
Either way, I think we can agree Kobe's tactics weren't the best, it worked out in the end -- especially in the trade department -- and we can leave it at that.
Was Jordan a good leader? Magic Johnson? You realize how many times those guys criticized players/coaches?
Anyway, blind faith is not a prerequisite to being a good leader. How can you possibly have faith in a team that has done nothing for 3 straight seasons and has shown no real improvement? At some point a leader absolutely has to say something to address that lack of improvement. You seem to see criticism as something negative (and I'll continue to note that we saw no negative effects of that criticism), but that's not always the case.
I don't think Magic or Jordan ever dealt with any issue quite like Kobe did, but I can't say for sure. I know they've been linked to having certain coaches removed, though.
Again, there are different ways of saying, "I need some help," or "We need to improve as a team." Kobe did his in one of the worst possible ways I can think of. I mean, it really was akin to a kid screaming at his parents for an ice cream cone in the middle of a mall.
How much should that affect his candidacy for MVP? Not much, I would think. But when people are comparing the leadership qualities of Bryant, Garnett, and Paul, I think it is has a place in the conversation.
Even though nothing negative came from it, the end didn't justify the means, which I think we can both agree on. No one wants to see their star player act like Kobe did. And I know you wouldn't want to see him do it again or any other future Laker star.
Take me for example. If I'm not performing my job at work because I'm slacking off (kinda like I am now by posting this at work), should my boss have faith in me if I do this over and over, while having been told several times that I need to be more productive because our profit margin has dropped? Shouldn't he criticize me after he has shown confidence in my abilities by giving me a pay raise and increased responsibility? I'd expect for him, as a leader, to tell me to pull my share of the load or he'll "ship my ass out" for someone that is more deserving of my salary that will help the company increase revenue. That's what a leader should do.
I get the analogy, but it is quite different, given that Kobe's responsibilities are not that of management. He is a player. Does he have the right to demand better working conditions? Sure. Does he have the right to downright embarrass his bosses and colleagues? No.
If you tried that stunt, I think you'd be posting from home in your underwear, Slacker
No, I didn't really just say that. Here's what I said, and I posted statistics to go along with it from each player that showed how they all improved:
Actually, you did say it. Here is the quote:
semi-sentient wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
So none of the Hornets role players improved, or more appropriately, actually performed due to being healthy? What is Chris Paul doing that is spectacularly different than last season? His stat increase, which isn't all that much to begin with?
