Rip Q&A on Kobe

[tcf15]

Q&A: Rip Hamilton on Kobe Bryant, his high school friend and rival

 

[caw]

Kind of interesting the two guys that speak the highest of Kobe are RIP and Caron.

 

[jibsey]

It's an eye opener to see the sheer competitiveness of these 2 players. You have to have the talent sure but it's that inner drive that produces champions and I thank heaven that we had guys like Rip, Ray, Kemba and Bazz. Now one thing about Kobe, as great as he was he threw the Lakers under the bus so that he could have a glorious walk off his last contract, all about him, always was, couldn't play second banana to Shaquille or anyone else. Should have taken less money and played a supportive role for rebuilding, rather than squeeze the life out of his team. Not exactly a team concept.

 

[Yankees32123]

It's an eye opener to see the sheer competitiveness of these 2 players. You have to have the talent sure but it's that inner drive that produces champions and I thank heaven that we had guys like Rip, Ray, Kemba and Bazz. Now one thing about Kobe, as great as he was he threw the Lakers under the bus so that he could have a glorious walk off his last contract, all about him, always was, couldn't play second banana to Shaquille or anyone else. Should have taken less money and played a supportive role for rebuilding, rather than squeeze the life out of his team. Not exactly a team concept.

Kobe is definitely part of the reason the Lakers are in the situation they're in, but he's also the reason they have 5 more championships so it's an equal trade off IMO.

 

[Hoophound]

The idea that Kobe should have given up 12-15 million dollars for the sake of the Lakers is ridiculous. First, that is a ton of money. Second, I'm sure Kobe expected to get healthy and lead the team to a much better record and, if it went really well, delay retirement. Nothing broke their way and his health didn't rebound. It's over, he's gone and the Lakers go from here. After 20 years the Lakers have no superstar and need to find one. Next year the arena will be a morgue and people will realize Kobe was the Lakers.

 

[UConnStats]

Well they have a budding superstar in Russell, but the Lakers seem determined to ruin that kid's life.

I'm just happy that Kobe's stupid retirement tour is done and that I took the over on his scoring total in his last game.

 

[Dogdeacon]

The idea that Kobe should have given up 12-15 million dollars for the sake of the Lakers is ridiculous. First, that is a ton of money. Second, I'm sure Kobe expected to get healthy and lead the team to a much better record and, if it went really well, delay retirement. Nothing broke their way and his health didn't rebound. It's over, he's gone and the Lakers go from here. After 20 years the Lakers have no superstar and need to find one. Next year the arena will be a morgue and people will realize Kobe was the Lakers.

Disagree, there are valid points to both sides - in theory you are right that individual athletes have no duty or obligation to take less money and even if they do there's no guarantee that the team will spend the $ given up (See Brady, Tom), but there are also examples like Tim Duncan where this absolutely works. Its situational and possible for both things to be true at the same time.

It is an astonishing turn of events how this last year is re-writing Kobe's history and legacy. The Lakers are awful and Kobe's retirement tour took precedence over the development of their young players, that is a travesty. Yet at the same time the 'Kobe is really wonderful' story was more entertaining then the development of young players and it absolutely was enjoyed by fans. Since the NBA bottom line is entertainment = it worked. Again both things are true.

Curious about statement above regarding Caron thinking highly of Kobe. As I recall Kobe told Caron (I think it was Caron and not some other UConn alum) not to expect any shots the moment Caron arrived on the Lakers. At the time this was portrayed as a selfish/negative thing. Kobe is now in direct contrast to Jordan who got almost nothing but praise during his career, but post-career the overly competitive negative aspects of Jordan's personality are more emphasized. I remember a quote from Ray Allen from early 2000's when Kobe couldn't co-exist with Shaq and Ray predicted Kobe would eventually complain about no help.

Buying into the Kobe love, part of the reason Kobe has been hostile is he didn't get the love & adoration Jordan got and this fueled Kobe. But now that he's getting this love his ego is stroked to the point where the bitterness rescinded and he has become a better person.

Ray Allen Predicted Kobe Bryant's Trade Demand in 2004

 

[jibsey]

Kobe is definitely part of the reason the Lakers are in the situation they're in, but he's also the reason they have 5 more championships so it's an equal trade off IMO.

No question about the championships and what he did for them, but some teams are sentimental and are willing to make the tradeoff and some are not. Case in point the Yankees who continue to pay aging superstars like Jeter as they ride off into the sunset. The Red Sox do not have that sentimentality no matter what the player did for them. If Poppy didn't cut it last year he would have no farewell tour. Based on performance did Kobe merit that contract, because at the time there was a lot written that he didn't.

 

[ctchamps]

For Rip the competition was a motivator. For Kobe the competition was literally life and death.

Greatness is great when it isn't the be all and end all. Rip can live with himself knowing he wasn't the best. Kobe can't. Hopefully someday he will.

 

[Dogdeacon]

No question about the championships and what he did for them, but some teams are sentimental and are willing to make the tradeoff and some are not. Case in point the Yankees who continue to pay aging superstars like Jeter as they ride off into the sunset. The Red Sox do not have that sentimentality no matter what the player did for them. If Poppy didn't cut it last year he would have no farewell tour. Based on performance did Kobe merit that contract, because at the time there was a lot written that he didn't.

The problem was at the time the Laker's had little to build around Kobe and he was a HUGE risk for decline/injury. But they are the Lakers and knew their history of attracting free agents could buoy their chances and they were willing to go over the salary cap if it advantageous. Then they got unlucky (or in hindsight predictable) with Kobe's & Nash's injuries plus Dwight Howard fiasco that doomed the team the last 3 seasons. So although Kobe's contract was nothing but the max, I think both sides went into it with the understanding that the Lakers would still spend any necessary or advisable $ to win. So on court results would have worked out almost the exact same whether Kobe was paid 12M/year or the max. And although the contract was a bust for 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons in neither year was the money preventing them from being competitive. Then the counterintuitive happy ending this year and Kobe's stardom despite lousy play created a highly entertaining season worth every $ they paid him.