I know he whined about his team before the season started, but is he the only star player to do it? Why do some people criticize him for this? I'm sure all franchise players whine about getting better teammates and/or coaches if their teams suck. It's just that they don't do it as openly as Kobe. If you were as talented as him, wouldn't you want to get better teammates too? It's for the success of the franchise. And if you're the owner, don't you want to listen to him and get what he wants so he'll lead your team to a championship? It's like a surgeon has to have the right tools to do a successful surgery! Another thing, Gasol and Odom are not like Garnett or Allen. If you think the merging of Kobe and Gasol is cheating, what about Yao and T-Mac? Anthony and Iverson? Howard and Lewis? Most teams have 2 or 3 really good players. It's just that they don't have a good enough captain to lead the team. You can't expect Kobe to single handedly be the only scorer on the team and still lead the team to a championship. Even Jordan couldn't do that.
People don't like the trade because it wasn't a trade. It was a steal that is so difficult to pass off as fair that you'd only be wasting your time trying to justify it.
KB24 FTW! the haters need to stop hating, and appreciating. One day there will be no more Kobe to watch when he retires.
The thing about the trade is that no team has traded such trash for an All-Star player before. Rockets got T-Mac by giving up their OWN franchise player and another quality starter. Lakers got Gasol by giving up a rookie point guard and a bust center.
well lots of players whine. Tim Duncan is one of the biggest whiners in the NBA. Then Yao has to act like he's gonna cry everytime they call a foul on him. Dirk is a notorious crybaby. I don't think Amare Stoudamire is immune either. The list goes on.
For KG, the T-Wolves got 23 year-old Al Jefferson, who's 21pts/11rebs this season put him in a select category of NBA players. That was a very good deal for them and is a model for that kind of trade. They also got other players as spare change to make the salaries match. For Allen, the Sonics got the #5 player drafted, Jeff Green, from the Sonics along with Delonte West & Wally Szczerbiak. That was a decent trade for the Sonics because Ray Allen wasn't in high demand because of his salary and declining skills. Nobody is saying a team will get back equal value when trading a superstar or very good player. But it's a stretch to call the Lakers/Grizzlies deal a trade. The Grizz franchise won't live that one down.
Do we really need another thread on Kobe? I think everything is being discussed in one of the other four thread where we discuss Kobe.
It appears to be a single poster who has to constantly defend Kobe, whose member name also disses T-mac.
Kobe had 15 techs this season so he definitely does a whole lot of whining. I think T-Mac has 14 techs in his entire career. Of course, Kobe fans will say he is just showing passion.
Wasn't AI traded for Miller? Yep, it happens, and people don't whine if it doesn't work. Give Kobe some inside help, Lakers are going to have some success in playoff for sure.
So you're saying AI=Gasol and Miller=Kwome+Critt ? You're waaaaay off. Sixers were asking arround the league for AI, on the flip side Gasol was quietly sent to Lakers for change and we are pretty sure Grizlies could have got much more..
Gasol was NOT "quietly" shopped. Gasol to the Bulls was front page news for weeks. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2739345 Maybe "you" are sure but "we" aren't sure they could have gotten more. It's obvious they couldn't have gotten Deng and/or Gordon.
Come on, Gasol didn't even have 1/2 of AI's fame. And you can argue Gasol is not as good as AI's today.
At the time it seemed more like damaged goods on a monstrous contract for an expiring contract, a promising young guard and multiple draft picks. I think people are over reacting a bit to the lopsidedness of this deal. People forget Pau was hurt again when the deal went down. Sure, it has definitely worked out for LA so far, but Memphis isn't looking any worse for it in my opinion. They weren't going to go anywhere anyway.
The Bulls didn't want to give up Luol Deng, they didn't even want to trade him for freaking Kobe Bryant.. Memphis wanted to unload his contract for years, he was on the trading block and no team wanted to take on his contract... Gasol was making +14million a year in a small market team with the little revenue they were making.. People make it seem as if Pau Gasol is some kind of a superstar, the guy has never won a single playoff game(at memphis), never made a single All-NBA team, and has just been a 1-time All-Star reserve in his 7year career..
Gasol was clearly underrated since he was playing for the Grizzlies... He averaged nearly 21 and 10 in the 06-07 season while shooting 54%, only a few players are able to do that in the NBA. Look at his career stats, http://www.nba.com/playerfile/pau_gasol/career_stats.html
Duncan has to be one of the biggest whiners of all time. The guy does nothing but cry about getting fouled after those horrendous post moves where he jumps 2 inches off the floor into and underneath the defenders shoulder... Ya, u guys know what i'm talkin bout...Duncan is sooo overrated.
