Or perhaps Kobe is one of the few players in the NBA over the past decade and some that other players realize is ALWAYS working to get better on the court. No one really needed Spike Lee and a camera crew to tell them Kobe has a strong work ethic. You can get to Wade's level by having immense talent and a passable work ethic. The next step would be for Wade to take it to the next level and damn if he does, I fear for every Heat opponent. If this is Wade with a passable work ethic then goodness knows how sick a player he'll be if he takes it up a notch. Unlike others slating GP for what he says AFTER HE'S THE ONLY ONE ON THIS BOARD THAT HAS PLAYED WITH BOTH PLAYERS much less met or talked to both players, I wouldnt take it as an insult if you consider where Wade is now as a player.
To be honest, I was glad when Nowitzki was getting screwed because we got royally screwed in 2005. I still remember him flailing and fading away with no contact against Ryan Bowen and still getting a call. Screw you, Nowitzki.
uh... i like gary payton. i think he's saying these things b/c he doesn't like all the hype the heat are getting before even playing a game. again, a player who is a "show player" usually doesn't succeed. wade won a DAMN RING the season payton played with him. and he dominated when payton played with him. if payton really feels these things, how come he didn't reveal them BEFORE this season? he could have said it last year. think about the damn timing.
hakeem is the greatest center of all time and a top 5 player in my book son. i said that a million times.
Or maybe he was asked a question in the Philippines and he answered it. I don't think he has an agenda against Wade. I think reporters ask more questions about Wade because of what happened in the offseason. They asked Payton to compare Kobe to Wade. He did. What he said wasn't far-fetched at all. Kobe's work ethic, as mentioned earlier, is well documented and praised. Players old and new praise his work ethic, calling him old school and comparable only to Jordan. Wade...not so much. Who to believe then? You, a Heat fan? Or Gary Payton, a HOF player who has first hand accounts of both players in question? I'll take the latter all day everyday. "Show" players usually don't succeed. Your own words. Sometimes a player comes along who is ridiculously talented and can succeed even if he is a show player. Shaq was a show player and he succeeded. LeBron is a show player, he's succeeded to the tune of 2 MVP's. Besides, you haven't even defined what a "show" player is. It's probably arbitrary and subjective thereby making all your conclusions about how these players can't succeed arbitrary and subjective. In conclusion, Kobe's work ethic > Wade's "show" work ethic
That may prove Kobe works hard, but that doesn't prove he works harder than anyone else. As an aside, I find it funny that Lebron gets labelled a narcissist because of "The Decision" and yet few people seem to remember "Kobe Doin Work."
b/c the kobe v. wade questions came up a lot more time than now. and he's just saying it now? it's common sense. again, do you all know what kind of diss that was when he said wade was an "all show" player. i think that is the ultimate diss to an NBA star.
Wade has obviously worked hard to get where he is. I'd call that more than a "passable" work ethic. It may be true that his work ethic is not what Kobe's is, GP definitely seems to think so. But is that even a bad thing? Since when is it a character flaw to want to have a life aside from one's job? You make it seem as if every person who isn't as obsessed with improving at basketball as Kobe is somehow cheating the game or themselves or the fans.
You have nearly 16,000 posts in two years - the vast majority have been about f'ing T-Mac -- few have been about true Rocket heroes.
When choosing what players to support, I think likability is important. I don't want to root for the best player just because he's the best.
how many hakeem threads are there? clyde as a player?. and i have REPEATEDLY said (and you can search those posts) that hakeem is ARGUABLY the great 2-way player of all time. and i still believe that. cassell, horry, max... they were role players and they were great. but most of the topics are started by tinman talking wack things. if you don't like what i post, put it on ignore. you don't like tmac, put it on ignore. there's a function for that. it ain't so damn hard to use.
T-Mac is on ignore - you may have noticed his league minimum one year deal. But please keep posting 16 times a day to defend your other non-Rocket douche-bag heroes.
But this is a BASKETBALL forum. Not a popularity contest, which posters like you confuse it as. Just because you dont "like" Gary Payton, you feel as though his opinion means nothing. Just because other posters "like" Lebron more, that makes him greater than Kobe (even though Lebron's won nothin ). "Likeability" is built through media. Hardcore basketball fans prefer a little more substance
Agreed. Wade's run from the 1st round through the championship was better than anything we have seen from a non-big since Jordan. Against Dallas, his team was completely out-manned except for him. Kobe hasn't carried a team to a ring like that, neither has Lebron. GP and Kobe are great great players who work tremendously hard as individuals. They are also comparable in the egomania, assholish natures, fickleness, and ticking off teammates (might put Pippen in this group too). Jordan had a lot of this too, - enough fickleness to still get always get buy in from his teammates that the others sometimes lose. So I am not surprised GP would side with Kobe on "work ethic" because he is a lot more like Kobe himself, even though Wade gave GP a ring (and both Shaq and Payton agree it was Wade's brilliance that made it all happen). Give me the Chuckster or Wade any day over these two (GP/Kobe) to be fans off. Perhaps their individual work ethic isn't the same (not sure about Wade, true for Charles for sure), but I'll take their phenom sense of the team game, creativity and fun loving natures even at the cost of not working on their own game in isolation of the team to the same degree. This is why I like watching and following team sports and not golf or tennis. Being a fickle, egomanical, pouty, assholish natured punk works great in those sports, but has a cost on a "team".
