Kobe is 8 years younger so keeping him was clearly the most logical choice. Of course, keeping them TOGETHER would have been the best case scenario but I guess that wasn't an option given that we're talking about two of the biggest egos in the NBA. I don't understand why you insist on suggesting that this was some sort of "debate". The real "debate" was: Who needed who more and who is better without the other. Up until last night that argument was wildly in Shaq's favor, now Kobe has evened the score.
I THINK THIS THREAD SHOULD OF BEEN TITLED "HEY KOBE-HATERS!"...HOW DOES HIS ASS TASTE! YES GASOL, PAU, ODOM WERE ALL PART OF THIS BUT YOU CANT HATE ON THE PURE TALENT AND LEADERSHIP THAT KOBE POSESSES...T-MAC SHOULD TAKE NOTES AND THE ROX SHOULD BE MOTIVATED NEXT YEAR TO WIN IT ALL KNOWING THEY DID A TREMENDOUS JOB TAKING THE LAKERS TO 7....AS FAR AS SHAQ GOES I THINK HES JUST AN ATTENTION-WH*RE WHOS BITTER THAT D12 IS/HAS TAKIN HIS SPOT AND THAT KOBE DID IT W/O EM...PROPS TO THE LAKERS COMING FROM A REAL AVID ROCKETS FAN WHO RECOGNIZES TALENT AND ISNT BLINDED BY BIAS IGNORANCE
Whatever floats your boat, tinman. As long as Horry still recognizes and openly declares that Dream was better than Shaq i'm cool with Horry being factored into this.
Yeah, but you know what else happened? Kobe could not make it past the first round without Pau Gasol, even when he had Odom playing out of his mind and the Lakers leading the Suns 3-1 in a first round series. So yes, Kobe is a great wing player, but if history is any indication, he struggles leading teams that are less than loaded with talent.
Shaq 4 rings 3 finals mvps Kobe 4 rings 1 finals mvp Duncan 4 rings 3 finals mvps same **** all great players. shaq won't win without kobe and kobe won't win it without shaq during the 3peat runs, as for the miami run, shaq got his equal share in that too. Too bad they will all get old and retire one day
What about Jordan's team? 55 wins without him, had teammates who ranked among the top 10 in every category.
I found this part pretty hilarious. The part about the toughest WC in NBA history was pretty good too. Nice work.
Is that the same boston celtics who were taken to a game 7 by the atlanta hawks last year? Can they possibly be one of the most talented teams in NBA history? Or how about a team with shaq, kobe, karl malone, and gary payton being one of the most talented teams in history? Thats the problem with you kobe fans. You think shaq was crap and kobe is the king. If you substitute kobe with vince carter, dwayne wade, lebron james, etc. with shaq in his PRIME, then the lakers still win those championships. If you substituted shaq, then you were probably a borderline lottery team.
You're giving Kobe too much credit here. This LA team was quite stacked. That Miami team was a 2 man show. Put it this way, if you put Kobe on that Miami team in place of Dwade, I doubt they win, maybe they wouldn't even make it past Detroit. If you put D wade in place of Kobe on this LA team, they would easily win the championship. Also, last year's lakers got to the finals by beating Denver (a mess of a team), Utah, and San Antonio (Ginobili hobbled), hardly the gauntlet you make it out to be. The West was strong record wise, but it was a bunch of good teams and no great team. I won't take anything away from this year's lakers, they are stacked. But I don't think the outcome is so cut and dry if they played that Miami team, it would be up to the officials.
