Henry Abbot: Lakers FO can't wait for Kobe to retire

[Star-Lord]

Shaq's behavior was unforgivably deplorable at the end of his Lakers tenure. Why the fact that he was the one with the out of control ego who seemed to actively burn bridges on every team he played for is never brought up is beyond me.

A Henry Abbott hit piece on Kobe isn't thread worthy. We have two for some reason.

[Star-Lord]

Because we're getting dime store psychology gold in this one.

[Cycklops]

I'm wondering also if Kobe is setting the stage to vanish from the face of the earth when he retires. If the Laker organization is as sour on him as this article is claiming, and that "bunch of idiots" comment is taken seriously by ESPN, he won't have much other place to go in terms of being honored or joining the media. Obviously the Lakers will retire his jersey and so on, but things may be frosty after that.

Shaq's behavior was unforgivably deplorable at the end of his Lakers tenure. Why the fact that he was the one with the out of control ego who seemed to actively burn bridges on every team he played for is never brought up is beyond me.

A Henry Abbott hit piece on Kobe isn't thread worthy. We have two for some reason.

It's one of the most threadworthy articles in years.

[JB2]

Kobe Bryant is the only reason the Lakers will be relevant and profitable this season, bottom line. Any article that fails to mention this fact is either negligent or willfully ignorant of the facts.

I guess, theoretically, Kobe could hold the team back from a personnel standpoint, if circumstances were different. He does clearly want to be the alpha male, and he is pretty clearly either declining or will be at that point very soon. Ideally it would be best for Kobe to take a backseat and let young talent carry the banner forward...except they don't have any. Moreover, none was available this year in free agency. So it's sort of pointless to say "Kobe can't be moved, he's not good for the team" when no "good" option has been passed up in his favor.

What move, realistically, did LA pass up to keep Kobe Bryant? Did the Lakers really want to outbid Dallas/Houston for Parsons? Or offer Bosh/Hayward the max? If they did, nothing was stopping them. Lebron wasn't signing there, and Love was clearly approached about going to Cleveland, so that's a big negative on both those possibilities. Melo considered LA, but there's no reason to think he passed it up because of Kobe. It's not like his Knicks teammates are any better, and by all accounts Melo and Kobe get along pretty well. Melo chose Phil, a bigger contract and New York City, Kobe had zero impact on that decision.

Kobe has made a lot of enemies through the years, obviously, and he's an easy guy to hate. Now he's weakened, aged, and likely never to be even close to what he once was as a player. If you want to throw hate at Kobe Bryant by all means analyze his play, surely there will be a lot to dissect and criticize there. But don't act like Kobe is the primary reason the 2014-2015 Lakers are going to be a bad team, or somehow preventing them from adding talent, because that is simply untrue.

This is probably the most intelligent, non-biased post in this tread. Whether you're a Kobe hater, Laker doubter, or Laker and Kobe die hard, this is the truth.

Let's totally admit that Kobe probably is not all that fun to play. Yes, Kobe pushed Shaq out in 2004-2005. Yes, Dwight wasn't keen on staying with Kobe. Still, Kobe has not prevented the guys this article mentions from signing in LA. Paul George had the opportunity to get his first big contract and he did. Just like Wall, Cousins, Irving, and Farried did. Did they all turn down the Lakers too or are we just assuming because PG13 is from LA that he chose Indiana over purple and gold.

Kevin Love was never a free agent. He had no say in where he ended up but he lay in the cut and waited to see what became available. He never shunned LA for Cleveland. The Cavs got blown by the basketball gods when Wiggins fell into their laps which was the precursor to the Love trade. No Wiggins and Love may still be the hottest trade target int he NBA.

I'm sure the Lakers want to start fresh and I would too. But to this point, I havn't seen any guys ignore LA because of Kobe. Artest, Odom, Barnes, Blake, Nash, Jamison. When you're winning, or set up to win, everyone wants to join you.

[jirojan]

I'm wondering also if Kobe is setting the stage to vanish from the face of the earth when he retires. If the Laker organization is as sour on him as this article is claiming, and that "bunch of idiots" comment is taken seriously by ESPN, he won't have much other place to go in terms of being honored or joining the media. Obviously the Lakers will retire his jersey and so on, but things may be frosty after that.

Shaq's behavior was unforgivably deplorable at the end of his Lakers tenure. Why the fact that he was the one with the out of control ego who seemed to actively burn bridges on every team he played for is never brought up is beyond me.

A Henry Abbott hit piece on Kobe isn't thread worthy. We have two for some reason.

It's one of the most threadworthy articles in years.

5 rings, been mostly loyal...why would the lakers sour on him?

[doozyj]

ESPN is crippling credible media outlets.

[kingkirk]

Not saying I would have done what Buss did, it's more like: How damaging of a decision was this really?

If there's no hope of getting free agents or building a team around Kobe any way, then all that's lost is a bit more money, and still the Lakers are making a profit off Kobe then, just less of one.

Personally, i hold the view that no one was going to LA to join an aging and injured Bryant and Nash, so splashing money on Kobe wasn't really going to change championship hopes.

LA wasn't winning anything, even if they landed Lebron this off season, despite people trying to tell me Kobe wouldn't give the alpha status to a player like that.

Despite this though, i can't help they went too far with it, and perhaps unnecessarily.

I mean, you have Duncan & Dirk taking massive pay cuts at the same stage of their careers as Bryant.

Is 15m a year instead of 24m really that much in terms of unders?

I know they're trying to avoid the negotiation process etc and just have it all done smoothly, but if their truly is disdain amongst the FO and that they can't wait for Bryant to go, then why go to that extreme?

I guess that's the part i can't comprehend. It's conflicting, to a degree.

[Cycklops]

I'm wondering also if Kobe is setting the stage to vanish from the face of the earth when he retires. If the Laker organization is as sour on him as this article is claiming, and that "bunch of idiots" comment is taken seriously by ESPN, he won't have much other place to go in terms of being honored or joining the media. Obviously the Lakers will retire his jersey and so on, but things may be frosty after that.

Shaq's behavior was unforgivably deplorable at the end of his Lakers tenure. Why the fact that he was the one with the out of control ego who seemed to actively burn bridges on every team he played for is never brought up is beyond me.

A Henry Abbott hit piece on Kobe isn't thread worthy. We have two for some reason.

It's one of the most threadworthy articles in years.

5 rings, been mostly loyal...why would the lakers sour on him?

If you don't mind me asking, is English your first language?

[Shaqsquatch]

Shaq's behavior was unforgivably deplorable at the end of his Lakers tenure. Why the fact that he was the one with the out of control ego who seemed to actively burn bridges on every team he played for is never brought up is beyond me.

A Henry Abbott hit piece on Kobe isn't thread worthy. We have two for some reason.

I don't recall Shaq blockading a hotel door with a dresser and having his way with the help before the 2003-04 season. Since when was a little trash talking more deplorable than being accused of raping hotel workers?

[TheDoors24]

You guys should read this article about Kobe and the stupid ESPN article.

It's far far better and offers insight on both sides of the story. The ESPN one is just garbage. Pure click bait.

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2014 ... n-downfall

[Archerbro]

There are so many reasons why this story is BS but I'll just name 2 since there's already a thread on this:

1. Revenue from the Lakers' TV deal is tiered based on ratings. Imagine this current Laker team without Kobe on it. Yeah. No ratings, no dollars, no sense (pun intended). In other words, management knows he's making them a whole lot more than he's costing them.

2. If Kobe had signed on to play for the minimum, which free agent(s) this summer would've signed here? Melo got more money to stay put and keep his wife happy. Lebron went to a better team in a weak conference. Bosh signed for more and gets to stay put (again, in a less competitive conference). Love is the only one Laker fans thought might've been a possibility but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with Lebron while both in their primes. Can't blame him.

I'm still struggling to find a single free agent that Kobe has costed the Lakers. I mean there's a whole article on it so it must be true. But who are these free agents? I keep asking but can't seem to get a reply. Just a bunch of haters kicking dirt on a legend's grave for no real reason.

1st one is why they "rationalized" the contract they gave Kobe. Even though it hurt them in building.

as for ur 2nd point, Abott talked to an agent who specifically said he had 5 good/decent players that didn't even want to play with Kobe. The agent said the players told him that too. So there's evidence he's prevented them from at least getting good/above average players of signing.

The question moreso is, has Kobe stopped LA from getting a superstar? it's definitely a reason (how much? we don't know) or one of that Dwight left, and we don't know at this point. all the superstars you mentioned had bigger money incentives, so we don't know if Kobe played a role in their decision at all (hint: it played "a" role, I'm sure-whether it be positive or negative)

[Slava]

I'm wondering also if Kobe is setting the stage to vanish from the face of the earth when he retires. If the Laker organization is as sour on him as this article is claiming, and that "bunch of idiots" comment is taken seriously by ESPN, he won't have much other place to go in terms of being honored or joining the media. Obviously the Lakers will retire his jersey and so on, but things may be frosty after that.

I don't think he ever had hopes of staying in basketball beyond his playing time anyways. He seems to be dabbling in some sport drink business and he has helped design some of his Nike shoes so may be he'll do some of that but he already ruled out coaching and managing teams saying he doesn't have the patience for that and he surely doesn't need the media money either.

He's a multimillionaire, trilingual and a hall of fame athlete, he'll be fine with life once he retires.

[EddieJonesFan]

It's not Kobe's job to run the franchise, his job is to play basketball, that's it. He did not put a gun to the Lakers' front office and force them to sign him to an extension. If the Lakers are frustrated with their circumstances, they only have themselves to blame for their own short-sightedness.

[Slava]

.as for ur 2nd point, Abott talked to an agent who specifically said he had 5 good/decent players that didn't even want to play with Kobe. The agent said the players told him that too. So there's evidence he's prevented them from at least getting good/above average players of signing.

This past season was the first when the Lakers had cap space to offer free agents in the Kobe era, so I'm not sure why 5 superstars would even say they refused to join Kobe. There never was an opportunity in the first place.

If you are talking about MLE level players, then I'm not sure those players would qualify to have an option anyways, they go to whichever team offers them max money. I mean there have been players who played for a notorious racist like Donald Sterling, surely playing with Kobe wasn't as bad as that.

[Archerbro]

You guys should read this article about Kobe and the stupid ESPN article.

It's far far better and offers insight on both sides of the story. The ESPN one is just garbage. Pure click bait.

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2014 ... n-downfall

alot of the espn one is almost all quotes from agents, front office execs.

Just sharing opinions about Kobe that really aren't groundbreaking or "new." which is why I'm shocked so many have problems with the article.

Not many are going to come forward and say it with their name on it. (it'd/could cost people their jobs especially if they work with the lakers organization)

[Archerbro]

.as for ur 2nd point, Abott talked to an agent who specifically said he had 5 good/decent players that didn't even want to play with Kobe. The agent said the players told him that too. So there's evidence he's prevented them from at least getting good/above average players of signing.

This past season was the first when the Lakers had cap space to offer free agents in the Kobe era, so I'm not sure why 5 superstars would even say they refused to join Kobe. There never was an opportunity in the first place.

If you are talking about MLE level players, then I'm not sure those players would qualify to have an option anyways, they go to whichever team offers them max money. I mean there have been players who played for a notorious racist like Donald Sterling, surely playing with Kobe wasn't as bad as that.

on the herd today, Abbott said the agent told him he had 5 good/above average players. they're not superstars and they all said they didn't want to play with Kobe.

I'm basically stating, the agent told Abott that these guys don't want to play with him. They've told the agent that directly.and I get what you're saying that they'd take the most money offer anyways, but that's at the very least an opportunity cost for the lakers that they won't get these players because of Kobe.

So, it's an opportunity cost if they didn't even bother to meet with the Lakers. (because they didn't want to play with him). If it wasn't an issue? There's a ton of great reasons to want to play in LA for the Lakers.

Again, it then comes down to if you think the agent is being truthful. Abott, and the editor thought so. (what does the agent have to gain from lying anyways? if anything he's risking himself for saying something like that)

[Slava]

.as for ur 2nd point, Abott talked to an agent who specifically said he had 5 good/decent players that didn't even want to play with Kobe. The agent said the players told him that too. So there's evidence he's prevented them from at least getting good/above average players of signing.

This past season was the first when the Lakers had cap space to offer free agents in the Kobe era, so I'm not sure why 5 superstars would even say they refused to join Kobe. There never was an opportunity in the first place.

If you are talking about MLE level players, then I'm not sure those players would qualify to have an option anyways, they go to whichever team offers them max money. I mean there have been players who played for a notorious racist like Donald Sterling, surely playing with Kobe wasn't as bad as that.

on the herd today, Abbott said the agent told him he had 5 good/above average players. they're not superstars and they all said they didn't want to play with Kobe.

I'm basically stating, the agent told Abott that these guys don't want to play with him. They've told the agent that directly.and I get what you're saying that they'd take the most money offer anyways, but that's at the very least an opportunity cost for the lakers that they won't get these players because of Kobe.

So, it's an opportunity cost if they didn't even bother to meet with the Lakers. (because they didn't want to deal with him).

Again, it then comes down to if you think the agent is being truthful. Abott, and the editor thought so. (what does he have to gain from lying anyways? if anything he's risking himself for saying something like that)

That doesn't stand up to facts like I said. From '97 to '14 Lakers had none more than the MLE to offer players.

[Slava]

I always thought Ding was very pro-Kobe so take it for what its worth but he's been a long time Lakers beat reporter for OC Register.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/KevinDing/status/524671495835226112[/tweet]

[TheDoors24]

You guys should read this article about Kobe and the stupid ESPN article.

It's far far better and offers insight on both sides of the story. The ESPN one is just garbage. Pure click bait.

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2014 ... n-downfall

alot of the espn one is almost all quotes from agents, front office execs.

Just sharing opinions about Kobe that really aren't groundbreaking or "new." which is why I'm shocked so many have problems with the article.

Not many are going to come forward and say it with their name on it. (it'd/could cost people their jobs especially if they work with the lakers organization)

The article is extremely one sided and puts ALL the blame on Kobe which is just not true. Read the article I posted and it gives a much more fair and just better opinion on the thing.

[jirojan]

I'm wondering also if Kobe is setting the stage to vanish from the face of the earth when he retires. If the Laker organization is as sour on him as this article is claiming, and that "bunch of idiots" comment is taken seriously by ESPN, he won't have much other place to go in terms of being honored or joining the media. Obviously the Lakers will retire his jersey and so on, but things may be frosty after that.


It's one of the most threadworthy articles in years.

5 rings, been mostly loyal...why would the lakers sour on him?

If you don't mind me asking, is English your first language?

third, why? lol