Yea the misconception is they got Pau and went to no 1. BEFORE the Pau trade, that year they were actually number one in a a tough west, people like to look over that and take tidbits to support whatever views they are entrenched in As for miami, Dwade has a carried a team to the finals...and won a championship as the no one option, lebron has not, this is dwades team, lebron can fill the stats with the best of them, dwade is the reason they won, I feel bad for wade, once bosh came, I knew he would be dangerous in a title hunt, but now lebron came, and the espn jockies run behind this as lebron's team, theres only one champion among the leaders of that squad
Mo Williams was an allstar, same with Antawn Jamison, not to mention they even tried a Shaq experiment. I can't stand Varajao, but even he's better than the scrubs Kobe was playing with. Bottom line, LeBron's supporting cast was better than Kobe's when he wanted a trade. No contest. Not to mention Kobe was still in a Lakers unit last time I checked. He didn't leave town with his tail between his legs.
Kobe didn't ask. He whined and moaned about it. He went on 3 different radio shows making his case. If he were a free agent he would have definately left. The Team told him to shut up about it because it was a distraction at the beginning of the season and it was hurting his trade value. The Lakers never did stop trying to make a deal. Because nithing got done at the beginning of the season they had to wait until the trading season started to heat up That Cavs team was not stacked. LeBron was the ONLY reason the CAVS won 60 games. You haters act as if he was some role player himself. The guys they put him with were washed up SCRUBS, except Mo Williams, who would be a 6th man on a contending team. Only haters care about the batman and robin b***s***.
Ok, so what? I'm not arguing that LeBron's supporting cast was the worst ever. I'm arguing that Kobe is being a hypocrite for criticizing LeBron for wanting to leave for a better situation when he himself tried to do the exact same thing.
Shaq was a 18/8 all star in west. Right before traded to Cavs. Gasol was a 20.8/9.8 guy in his best Grizzle year. And Shaq was scrub? The team Kobe had in 06, 07, starting Kwame, Smush, Walton and Odom, remove Kobe and that team can't compete with Cavs' bench. That's how bad it was.
Kobe didn't criticize LeBron for wanting for a better situation. He criticized him for riding the coattail. Kobe would demand a trade, but he would want to be in a team that he's absolutely the man. LeBron just followed an alpha dog. That's the difference. You can talk about being the best in the team blah blah. Kobe's obviously the better player stat-wise since 03, and it's Shaq's team nonetheless. That's why he wanted to be a different team with Shaq. I doubt Kobe would say anything had LeBron joined Bulls instead.
i love how people say lebron is riding wade's coattails. let them play and see who rides whose coattails. wade has been stated to say at the end of the season that lebron is the most dominant player in the L. think about that. after the loss to the suns, kobe was stated to want to play with a PRIME kevin garnett, who was a top 5 player at the time. again, people can criticize lebron all he wants. and they can do it now b/c he's NOT PLAYING with wade and bosh yet. when lebron DOES play with wade and bosh in october, then start judging with your own eyes. it's ABSURD to think wade is better than lebron. nobody in their right minds would think so. hell, wade has NEVER been in his career considered a better player than lebron. 2-3 years ago, they may have been on par. but that's it. so again, let their play speaks for itself. we will see who takes the last shot or who controls the possession for the last play more often. we will see who is the vocal leader on the court. and we will see who is their most valuable player. all this discussing is useless. let their play speaks for itself. it's only 2 months away. we'll see whose team it is.
The coattail thing is one of the dumbest arguments to bring up. Who gives a damn? Winning a championship is winning a championship. And saying Kobe is the ultimate coattail rider is just foolish.
It's not like he got many credits for that 3 rings. We all heard how Kobe couldn't win a ring without Shaq before 09. So you want to argue LeRider can't win a ring without Wade now?
Fair enough. But Kobe should at least mention that distinction so that he doesn't sound like such a smug dick. Separate point, but I think LeBron will clearly be the alpha dog in Miami.
In 03 and 04 seasons, Kobe had higher win share, better stats than Shaq, controlled the ball in final quarter, got more MVP votes than Shaq, and that's still not Kobe's team. Parker won the FMVP in 07 and that's not his team either. That's why Kobe didn't want to be with Shaq. And that's why it won't be LeBron's team unless Wade had an injury or sucked really bad.
Kobe's PER was lower both those seasons. He only had a higher WS in 03-04. But lower in 04-05. 02-03 Shaq was also higher in PER and WS.
the reason is b/c shaq was their best player in previous years, and was easily their most dominant player in the playoffs in previous years. wade has NEVER been better than lebron. see the difference?
He had higher WS in both 02-03 and 03-04. They are not in the same team 04-05 and the WS can't be compared.
Note that those were seasons in which the Lakers did not win the title, as they had when Shaq was the main man in 2000-02.
First, Lebron played in the Finals the year after Wade. If he had been lucky enough to play against a team full of choke artists, with the refs sending him to the line 20+ times per game, maybe he could have won a title just like Wade. Second, your take on ESPN is just flat out wrong. An ESPN poll of columnists voted overwhelmingly that it was Wade's team rather than Lebron's.
Foolish how?? Kobe FORCED HIS WAY onto the Lakers on draft day. Why?? It wasn't because of the color of the uniforms. The Lakers were already a playoff team and arguably the gold standard of franchises at that time. He also knew Shaq was going to sign as a free agent there. If that aint coattails I dont know what is. Then when he wins 3 rings THANKS TO SHAQ he practically pushes the guy off the team so he could be "THE MAN" When he has one lottery season and one first round exit, he sees being "THE MAN" ain't as easy as he thought. So he makes an ASS out of himself criticising his teammates and trying to FORCE A TRADE His whining and moaning creates one of the most questionable deals in history in Gasol and wah-lah, 2 more rings. Look, Kobe is a hard worker and a great player, but to continue to compare him to LeBron and even Jordan is mythmaking. Lebron and Jordan started their careers with 2 crap franchises that they turned around and created in "their images" While Kobe began way ahead of the other 2 THANKS TO SHAQ. Kobe certainly worked hard for his skills and is a natural competitor, but the guy basically manipulated his way to championships.
I'm just going to highlight this because everyone seems to be ignoring it. Lebron left his team because they failed to bring in a valid #2 option. They brought in some good role players, but no real #2. So he decided to go play with another top level player in Miami. Kobe had the benefit of playing with the most dominant player of a generation at the start of his career, then spent three seasons without him before he started demanding that his team bring him help in the form of another top level player in either KG or Jason Kidd. How is Lebron's case worse? Because he left when he was able to do so as a free agent rather than trying to force a team that had him under contract to trade him unless they could bring in another elite player?
