For all yall who say that Kobe is the man on the Lakers, yall just need to think twice and realize that, without Shaq, this Lakers team would not make the playoffs. I am not a Lakers fan, but I think it's funny how each year people debate which player has the most meaning to the Lakers. Without Shaq, Kobe would not have three rings, plain and simple. He has been given every chance to be the man the last two games and has failed. I admire his wanting to get others involved, but if this was Jordan five years ago, Jordan would've grabbed the team by the throat and taken ahold of it. Shaq is the ONLY reason that the Lakers have three rings, so do not even try to argue that Kobe is the better player on the Lakers.
No one is dumb enough to argue that Kobe is better then Shaq. LA would definitely struggle to even make the playoffs with just Kobe.
Shaq couldn't make it without Kobe. There were teams in their championship history that was good in fronting him and taking Shaq out of the game. Shaq is a player you build teams with. But Kobe ain't mediocre.
Without Kobe, Shaq wouldn't have any rings either. That being said, Shaq's the center of that team, the main cog, and Kobe Bryant is the complement, the sidekick. If anybody argues otherwise, they're either blind or stupid. This Lakers team would be a perennial lottery team without Shaq. Without Kobe instead, they'd probably be around 5th or 6th seed.
I'll argue that if the Lakers didn't have Shaq, they would actually have an extra 23 million dollars in cap room and probably would've gotten another player or two who wasn't a complete scrub. Of course, that obvious point never occurs to anyone. Furthermore, who would you take right now? Samoulia Samake, Samaki Walker, and Derrick Fisher or Luc Longley, Dennis Rodman, and Ron Harper? Hump
Because it's not that simple. The Lakers would have about $10 million in cap room if Shaq's salary wasn't on their books, and that may be a tad generous. Who would you rather have - any other max player plus the current squad next to Kobe, or Shaq and the current squad next to Kobe? Nice idea in principle, but it doesn't work in reality. Shaq & the rest of the team is the obvious choice.
I could not agree more, and man Kobe sucks with the added weight for goodness sake he looks like Bruce Bowen on offense out there.
Kobe is better than Tmac...the lakers bench is so horrible the only person who could get them in the playoffs is Shaq. If tmac was in Kobes role now...he would be 0-2...Slavo medvedenko for crying out loud!! Id take Kobe over Tmac anyday of the week... Come February...youll see the ghost of larry birds back start haunting mcgrady's body again... that will happen for the rest of his career Bad backs dont get better. Kobe has avgd 25 pts and 10 reb in the 1st 2 games...while being double triple and quadruple teamed. Dont get me wrong Mcgrady is good... but Kobe is better.
Actually, you're all wrong! The Lakers could win a ring missing either Shaq or Kobe. It's the other 3 members of their lineup that they couldn't win without . . . You know . . . The guys in the black and white stripes
hardly Tmac is better than kobe in terms of their game, but kobe is mentally tougher imo than Tmac thanks to all the playoff/final situations he has been in. Tmac has taken a bunch of scrubs to the playoffs two years in a row on his own. With a real second threat now in Hill it will be nice to see how well they well do, they are already meshing pretty well.
Wrong? Ok, you try to explain how the Lakers were somethin like 2-5 without Shaq last year and now they start off 0-2 and it's only gonna get worse till Shaq comes back. Pretty hard to argue against facts. I'm not saying Kobe's not a good player; he's a great player. But he is incapable of leading a team by himself, so until he gets that done, all these Jordan comparisons need to stop. I think the Lakers would have won rings (maybe not 3 in a row) with just Shaq and another complementary player. But with just Kobe, the Lakers have proven to be no better than middle-of-the-pack, and that's being generous.
Kobe is 18 for 47 from the field. That is about 38%. Those are Allen Iverson numbers. Ron Mercer can do that.
1. Shaq is more valuable than Kobe. 2. Kobe is awfully, awfully good in his own right. 3. Expecting Kobe to do anything with the wretched supporting caste he has is terribly unfair.
The team as it is now is built around Shaq. The Magic minus TMac/Grant Hill is a much better team than the Lakers minus Kobe/Shaq. The role players for the Lakers are there to complement Shaq's game not Kobe's...I mean when's the last time you saw Fisher run a successful fast break? If the team was built around Kobe, they're playoff contenders. Don't forget that they're still running the triangle, and Kobe's still playing the initiator role because of a total lack of ballhandlers on the team. Case in point...Kobe in Lakers up by two against Portland..Kobe out, Lakers down by twenty. Minus Shaq and Kobe, the Los Angeles Lakers could barely field a CBA team.
I dont reall think its fair to judge kobe on the first two games of the season. First, they played San Antonio which is a really good defensive team. Then, they play Portland which has so much depth its not even funny. I think shaq is more dominate than kobe but without kobe, I dont think the Shaq could have won those two games either. On a side note, I thought kobe looks a lot quicker with his added muscles. Must be seeing things then.
For all yall who say that Kobe is the man on the Lakers, yall just need to think twice and realize that, without Shaq, this Lakers team would not make the playoffs. I am not a Lakers fan, but I think it's funny how each year people debate which player has the most meaning to the Lakers. Without Shaq, Kobe would not have three rings, plain and simple. He has been given every chance to be the man the last two games and has failed. I admire his wanting to get others involved, but if this was Jordan five years ago, Jordan would've grabbed the team by the throat and taken ahold of it. Shaq is the ONLY reason that the Lakers have three rings, so do not even try to argue that Kobe is the better player on the Lakers. ---------------------- Well look who is surronded by Kobe not much. The lakers are still a playoff team w/o Shaq. Theres no way Seattle Utah or Minesota are better than them w/o shaq. Kings Spurs Mavs pass them up though. Geez its only 2 games they lost to the Spurs and Blazers theres no shame in that. Give kobe good players ex pippen cartwright paxon armstrong rodman you get the idea minus shaq they would still be contending for chamionships just like when that team had MJ. Kobe and Shaq win the rings just not shaq. shaq couldnt do it w/o kobe
