ESPN: Nobody Wants to Play with Kobe

[GTO]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_ ... ree-agency

The second reason the Lakers may struggle to get a free agent is that Bryant has gained a reputation as a difficult teammate. The Lakers have been a fine destination of late for role players, but not for would-be stars such as Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Shaquille O’Neal and Andrew Bynum, none of whom get the ball as much as they'd like, and all of whom, despite playing well, become targets for media scorn.

“Pau is a two-time champion and a five-time All-Star and he’s one of the most disrespected players ever,” notes one agent. “He gets bad press all the time.”

Another agent says: "The Lakers are Kobe. You have to understand that. It's not the organization for you if you want the ball or the spotlight. All that glitters ain't gold."

I asked a third agent, who has a Lakers client right now, if he thought Bryant might be a sticking point for free agents. His immediate response: "Uh, duh. Yes."

This might sound like a lot of rumor spreading, but players already have declined the option to play on the Lakers alongside Bryant. Howard turned down more guaranteed money to move on to a less celebrated franchise.

And don’t forget the fascinating case of Ramon Sessions. He was the toast of the Lakers for a brief spell -- and when he reached free agency there was every chance he could have returned as the Lakers’ starting point guard.

Instead he declined the Lakers' offer and opted to become the backup point guard for the Charlotte Bobcats, who were coming off the worst season in league history. Sessions has never expressed the slightest hint of regret.

The multiyear deal Charlotte offered was part of Sessions' calculus. But sources with knowledge of his thinking say tricky Lakers politics, where the blame tends to fall everywhere but with Bryant, was also on his mind.

The theory of finding a star to play alongside Bryant hinges on the notion that such a star would find joy in doing so. But who’s the role model for that? Here’s a Nash quote, from an interview this summer on Grantland:
I knew it wasn’t gonna be the same. I felt like I was going to try something new, and that I was going to adapt — and to accept that, and embrace it. I think it’d be nice to find a middle ground where he does his thing but the ball still can move for great parts of the game. Hopefully we can find that this season. But I knew it wasn’t going to be the same. When you play with Kobe Bryant, the ball is gonna be with him most of the time.

Does Nash sound joyous to you?

Bryant is the face of the franchise, a huge moneymaker and a global icon. It would take tremendous guts for the Lakers -- whose embattled lead decision-maker, Jim Buss, has already been belittled publicly, many times, by the likes of Phil Jackson -- to rile up Lakers fans by parting ways with Bryant.

[Durins Baynes]

Good post. It poses a dilemma on how to proceed in 2014, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[dockingsched]

its hard to take anything henry abbott writes seriously when it comes to kobe bryant. he takes a very negative slant with anything related to kobe. in this article, trying to make sessions' situation about kobe is quite a disingenuous reach, as is his attempt to make nash sound disgruntled.

the whole part about pau gasol was just mind boggling, the guy has so much love for kobe that its jaw dropping for abbott to try to paint gasol as an example for an anti-kobe movement. its just laughable.

[EArl]

Henry Abbot is the biggest Kobe hater there is.

[Dr Aki]

henry abbott.

abbotts are a scourge on the world

[Michael Lucky]

While there's some truth why is Pau of all people involved in this?

[leeprettyp]

Talking and writing about Kobe is this guy goldmine. We were all aware this Henry Abbott (Blazer fan) joke of an article existed.

[stunnar0b]

Lol it sure says something when you rather play for the bobcats then the most storied franchise next to Kobe

it's not like we didn't know this being how Kobe's a freakin **** but still I'm glad he's our ****

[stunnar0b]

While there's some truth why is Pau of all people involved in this?

Because most of the blame always falls on pau being too soft I'm guessing

[JustAwesome]

Gasol is mentioned in the article because he receives a ton of blame, much of which is from the fan base,but some of it is probably from within the organization as well.

[ballaholick]

People said the same Ish about Jordan.........Next

[Beethoven]

So what is the point of the article? Kobe's going to be Kobe and it takes a certain character and strength to come, meld with Kobe, and get the job done. Those who can't, leave after one year.
I wouldn't have it any other way.

[MAMBAEMD]

Pau is scrutinized by the media and that's Kobe's fault?
No one has been more supportive of Pau than Kobe.

And Pau has constantly said that he wants to stay with the Lakers and play alongside Kobe. He is always completely relieved when trade deadlines come and pass.

And the Sessions example is just stupid. He took a multi-year offer, and I believe the Lakers offer had less years. Most Laker fans were not shedding any tears when Sessions didn't return.

Kobe is probably not the most desired player to play with. I agree with that. He is intense. He expects a lot from teammates. He wants/needs to be the man.
Frankly, I'll take him over Dwight and Bynum anytime.

[Lost Angel]

not a good article.

Pau likes playing with Kobe and has said so many times.

anyways, we shouldnt be worried about FA's. as the past few seasons have shown us, stars sometimes get disgruntled and traded. the flexibility we will have for trades will be nice

[Tee212]

where was this article when gasol won back to back with kobe? lol

[MistyMountain20]

Yes, "would-be-stars" like Pau, Shaq and Drew have done very poorly with Kobe, what a ridiculous premise. Have they had it perfect? No, but they've had obvious success.

And as much as a fan I am of Pau, he has gotten scorned by the media before he was ever a Laker. Beyond the soft label, Memphis was just done with him as their franchise player. It only gets amplified now that he's a Laker.

And honestly the whole article is flat out silly. It makes it seem that Bryant is the catalyst for the bad press some players get. Maybe if this is coming from Howard's delusional head I can understand, but from a supposed journalist, this is plain shoddy. Howard, Bynum and Shaq have all received criticisms without Bryant's presence.

And lol at the notion that players are now figuring out that it's difficult to play with Kobe. Where the hell were they for the past 17 years of his career. And on top of that, it's funny to seem him group Shaq with the others when there's such a large time gap between Shaq and the likes of Pau, Howard and Bynum. Yet players are only stumbling onto Kobe's behaviors as a teammate.

If you want to talk about how the possibility of an older and stubborn Bryant might deter players from signing with the Lakers, that sounds like some interesting (yet baseless) conjecture, but Abbot actually tries to act as if there is evidence supporting his claim. Hysterical.

[MistyMountain20]

I also want to pick select parts of his article to look at.

This might sound like a lot of rumor spreading, but players already have declined the option to play on the Lakers alongside Bryant. Howard turned down more guaranteed money to move on to a less celebrated franchise.

Abbot says that players have already declined the option to play with the Lakers, then goes onto list all the players that have done so...which apparently only consists of Dwight Howard. Did he proofread what he wrote?

And don’t forget the fascinating case of Ramon Sessions. He was the toast of the Lakers for a brief spell -- and when he reached free agency there was every chance he could have returned as the Lakers’ starting point guard.

Sure...until he absolutely wet the bed in the Playoffs. At that point the Lakers wanted to search for an upgrade...which they indeed found. They signed Steve Nash on July 11th, Sessions signed with the Cats on July 13th. Who turned down who again?

The multiyear deal Charlotte offered was part of Sessions' calculus. But sources with knowledge of his thinking say tricky Lakers politics, where the blame tends to fall everywhere but with Bryant, was also on his mind.

Not a shred of evidence. I don't remember any reporting of this. I know Sessions said he was worried the Lakers may parlay him in a trade if he picked up his option, sounds like pure BS.

Bryant is the face of the franchise, a huge moneymaker and a global icon. It would take tremendous guts for the Lakers -- whose embattled lead decision-maker, Jim Buss, has already been belittled publicly, many times, by the likes of Phil Jackson -- to rile up Lakers fans by parting ways with Bryant.

And there it is, Abbot is part of the absurd opinion that the Lakers should do away with Kobe. And yes, it is completely absurd.

[Durins Baynes]

Does anyone think Lebron or Melo are keen to play with Kobe? That's the issue the article is touching on that has relevance, given the upcoming 2014 free agency.

[MistyMountain20]

I don't know, ask them if they are keen to play with Kobe. And while you're at it, ask them if they are keen to play with Dirk, Rose, Durant or any other player that hasn't "attracted" players to come play with them.

[Durins Baynes]

Well, in fairness I'm not sure Rose or Durant have really had much of a chance at this point. But sure, Dirk (and Duncan in 2003) show it's just plain hard to attract big names in free agency- period. But in the case of Lebron and Melo specifically, there are problems above and beyond the normal ones. "Whose team is it?" "Who gets more shots?" etc, etc. I somehow don't see Lebron or Melo having those same issues with Dirk or Duncan.