Kobe rips into Lakers after 6th straight loss by Kurt Helin | NBC Sports — 5 hours ago The Lakers fell in Portland Saturday night 121-103. Los Angeles was unable to slow down Damian Lillard (36 points) or C.J. McCollum (28), and the game was never really in doubt by the middle of the second quarter. it was the Lakers’ sixth consecutive loss. Kobe Bryant has seen enough — he ripped the Lakers in the locker room after the loss, singling out their star rookies in particular, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. "Bryant, who posted 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting and five turnovers in 25 minutes through three quarters, became upset both with the Lakers (9-37) for losing their sixth consecutive game and for some on the team smiling after the loss, sources said. Bryant took particular aim at Lakers rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell and second-year forward Julius Randle and even called them out by name, sources said…. But multiple sources confirmed that Bryant spoke for about two minutes after Lakers coach Byron Scott addressed the team." The Lakers are going to lose a lot of games this season because of their talent level and lack of experience, but the problems in the loss Saturday went beyond that — the Lakers were outworked by Portland at every turn. The Lakers were sloppy and did not take care of the ball. In the midst of a rough season, this was one of the Lakers’ poorest efforts. So Kobe did what a veteran leader should do — rip the team. Tell them this level of play is not acceptable. He’s not capable of taking the game over with his play often anymore (or not for meaningful stretches), but he still carries weight in the locker room. We’ll see if Kobe’s words have any impact on the Lakers’ effort. It’s not likely to change what is going on in the win column, with L.A.’s next three games being against Dallas, Chicago, and the L.A. Clippers.
i think kobe was trying to show them how a veteran is supposed to act in this type of situation rookies need to learn how to be vets by watching vets even if it means you gotta go out there and be the bad guy thats your job as a parent now in the future when these rookies are all grown up and some rookies are not playing hard they will know how to handle them its part of how kobe is has and will always be making the players around him better
I dont remember much about being young, but one of the few things I do remember is that hearing that shit from old people went in one ear and out the other. I had to figure out that shit for myself.
some seeds you need to rub in order for them to sprout and im not talking about a sexual metaphor maybe but young bulls who are still raging hormones have to be gently beat down by the big bull every once in a while its how the young bulls learn to be big bulls sure it goes in one ear and out the other but thats not the point the point is that they are not doing a good enough job of selling the public on the tank job sure some players had good scoring nights but they played lazy in the other aspects of the game that complacency is because they know byron is in on the tank probably why randle and the rookie keep getting benched they gotta play hard hard enough to put on a good show but not hard enough to win but hard is that so hard?
the problem with kobe is the hypocrisy if you're trying to get these kids to be team players then stop hogging the ball and taking ill-advised shots the "do as i say/not as i do" rhetoric never works
From what I understand, Kobe lit into them about smiling after the loss and that was it. Which IMO is cool. May not be able to win, but still...care about the outcome, lessons in maturity. Raising young talents is tough in general, but raising young talents that play for the Los Angeles Lakers ( forever in the public eye hype-wise) is that much tougher. Remember Javaris Crittenton's problems? Yeah, we don't need that happening again. Easy to take the wrong path in general in LA, doesn't have to go to the depths that Crittenton went to in order to be considered a failure. Byron and Kobe lighting into them is exactly what they need right now while they're still impressionable, and MWP/Bass/Lou playing good cops and relating to them to make the boo-boos feel better is why they're there. Coming off the bench can help development in terms of both giving them some confidence as they play well against 2nd units, and it also keeps them hungry and fighting for starting roles. Some salt mixed with some sugar. These kids don't need a smooth ride right now, playing for the Lakers and having all that comes with that is gravy as it is.
not hypocrisy at all, its the name of the game kobe taking 'bad' shots is his game what is a bad shot to you and me is good shot selection for kobe he is not yelling at them for shooting too much or anything like that or being bad teammates or some chemistry BS he is going to the heart of all of that BS play hard, dont laugh/enjoy yourself losing after a while you get used to playing soft and stop feeling any emotional pain when losing kobe wants to make sure these kids dont fall into those traps btw, the do as i say not as i do rhetoric is the only thing that works you are teaching then to be better you are teaching them not to copy others who may be slacking but to have your own guide as to what is the right attitude and the wrong its not the messenger but the message thats most important, but the kid with the wrong type of attitude will make it about the messenger 'who are you to tell me about x when you do x'... thats some 6th grade logic right there, ive used it many times myself but its wrong
big difference when you're making those shots don't kid yourself kobe is selfish and self-serving he bitches at these kids out of the frustration that he is no longer the player he once was he doesn't care about teaching those kids unless it benefits him kobe cares only about kobe
I slam Kobe for sucking with best of them, but the whole " selfish " stuff is overblown. Every player at his particular level is selfish and self-serving. LeBron averages more shots per game for his career than Kobe does. Even Magic had his head coach Westhead fired early in his career because he refused to continue to play at the pace that Westhead wanted, and that was after winning a championship together. Harping on selfishness just makes one look like they have a beef with a particular player. No need to even go down that road, it's so sketchy and opinionated. As far as Kobe goes off the court, the kids need to listen up. Kobe's the equivalent of a mogul in the NBA, made almost 400MM in his career...forget the titles, the money alone should be enough to say " OK, I'm gonna listen to this guy and learn all I can because he's where I wanna be eventually. " DLo's reportedly not a stubborn kid that won't listen, and as far as Randle goes, he and Kobe are supposedly really good friends and there's trust there. I'm not worried about either bucking what's going on, even though Randle may not like it because he's always been the man since he picked up a basketball, while DLo is more of a late bloomer. I'm sure Kobe's told Randle " even I came off the bench before, brah. " Neither is as strong as Kobe was at that age mentally, but there's also no Shaq on the team constantly challenging them in the media and what not. There was a full force vet committee made up of former champions/all-stars stiff-arming 17-18 year old Kobe back in the day and they were doing it both behind the scenes and in the media, in part because they knew he could handle it and that he was tougher on himself than they ever could be. Kobe can relate. Basically, they know what they're doing. Kobe had it done to him by Del Harris and LAL vets while he was a youngster coming off the bench, albeit for different reasons because nobody ever had to tell him how to act after a loss. One could chalk it up to being in a new era where it's soft in general, but LAL as an org is doing whatever they have to do to put some heat on their ass and make up for the era being so soft. Historically, Lakers don't win with softees...even Pau had to learn his lessons after years of takin ass whoopins in Memphis. Pau didn't have a championship attitude upon arrival, Kobe instilled that in him.
I agree with the idea that Kobe not being a team player is absolutely bogus. He took two completely different teams to the finals and won 3 with one and 2 more with the other. He made champions of Pau, Odom, Fisher, MWP, Bynum, Sasha, Luke Walton for Petes sakes. They almost beat a vastly superior Suns team in the playoffs with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown starting. Look, he shoots a lot, but who doesn't in the NBA if you are a star shooting guard. Look at Hardens numbers, LeBrons, Rose. Anyway. I'm not saying he's Magic Johnson, but he's not the anti team player either.
he's selfish but that's what made him such a great player and all the great players possess that to some degree
ill take them doing as Kobe did if it means five rings and being shitty to each other. I like Kobe taking a bite out of the young bucks every once in a while to keep em honest. You know the criticism that comes from Scott is ignored, maybe it'll help coming from KB.This "nice Kobe" has been a bit boring anyways.
and how do you think these young guys are going to learn how to be selfish and be great players? imagine if Odom would have been a laker as a rookie or next years rookie we all like who is like Odom great player but soft either in the body the mind or the heart or the balls
