The 95 Lakers were sacrificial lambs. Everybody knew they weren't contenders and had no chance of beating the mighty Dream Rockets. Unlike the 2009 & 2010 Cavs, who were considered by many to be the favorites to win the Championship. They even whupped the Lakers 2-0 in the regular season.
I hate that I can't edit my post. But to continue, when Kobe joined the Lakers, they had just traded their best player (Vlade) to the Hornets. The best remaining Lakers when Kobe joined were probably Cedric Ceballos or Elden Campbell.
It wasnt about Kobe being a sidekick. It was about forcing your way to not just a good franchise, but THE BEST franchise. As it was pointed out earlier. This was a playoff team. The whole premise of this thread is how hypocritical Kobe is, saying he wouldn't have done what LeBron did. When in fact this is exactly what this guy did from the time he was drafted.
VP of basketball for the Hornets said it himself "We wanted to win now, and we knew Vlade would do that. "I didn't feel the same way about Kobe". The Hornets had just traded Alonzo Mourning and were looking to pick a center in the draft, either Potapenko or Todd Fuller. Getting Vlade for their #13 pick was beyond their wildest dream...especially since the Cavs stole Potapenko at #12. So even the Charlotte Hornets didn't want Kobe; they thought he was just some 17 year old kid. Kobe wasn't even a top 5 pick, he was #13. Hornets wanted and welcomed the trade for Divacs, who got them 54 wins that first season while Kobe was a bench warmer in LA. Hornets thought they had stolen Divacs from the Lakers at the time.
You can't really say that Kobe rode Shaq's coattails. 1) Kobe was there first 2) Shaq couldn't carry the Lakers 3) The Lakers didn't go anywhere with Shaq carrying the team and Kobe riding the pine. 4) Shaq couldn't even get to the Lakers to the Finals until Kobe became a starter
Really? In that sense, Kobe should force a S&T to Spurs or Pistons in 2004 summer, when he's the free agent. Whatever Lakers had there would not be a contender and he knew that. It's clearly he wanted to win, and more importantly, won as the man with Lakers rebuilt around him. It's 3 years of wasted prime and the team didn't improve a bit that drew him into trade talk. LeBron on the other hand, had the best team in the regular season 2 years in a row. What LeBron did with his decision was exactly comparable to a hypothetical Kobe S&T to Spurs/Pistons in 04. In comparison, Kobe didn't wait until after finals to pick up his option in 09, they ain't even the best team in regular season and he's happy with what he had and he believed he could win it all. He could leave that option open to see if he could win with that squad and threat Lakers to show all hands like LeBron did but he didn't. If LeBron was all about forcing his way to a good franchise, why not Bulls? Since when Heat are a better franchise than Bulls? No, he's all about picking the best team that has cap. Of course Kobe never did anything close to that.
Kobe demanded a trade to a better place while he was still under contract. LeBron signed as a free agent at a better place. Which is worse, really?
Coz Lakers traded Shaq and didn't even get Heat's best player in Wade. It got worse when they traded Butler for Kwame. And what did Shaq do without an All NBA player?
Kobe was upset that his team was getting worse and management was making bad decisions. Lebron left a 60 win team, with the best record 2 years in a row. Management was bending over backwards to get the best team they could possibly get. Meanwhile, the Lakers were hiring Smush Parker, Luke Walton and Kwame Brown. If Kobe had the best team in the NBA, no way would he have left. Kobe wanted management to fix his crappy team. Lebron left the best team to join the bestest team.
Lakers got ripped off big time when they traded Shaq. Shoot, if Kobe had gotten Wade for Shaq, they would have hoisted up a couple more trophies. Shaq got to join up with another superstar. Kobe got to join up with Lamar Odom, Smush Parker, Luke Walton and Kwame Brown. Big difference.
LeBron didn't leave the best team, that's silly. The Cavs were brutally exposed in the playoffs. They had no flexibility to get better, and they were not going to win a championship unless LeBron raised his league leading PER another 5 points. They were a 60 win team because LeBron could carry them in the regular season, but the playoffs is a completely different story. The truth is the prospects for the Cavs were pretty grim.
Why did Jerry Buss feel compelled to trade Shaq? Maybe because Kobe couldn't get along with him. Shaq was at the end of his prime, Kobe at the beginning. The trade was stupid, but Kobe and Shaq could not co-exist. Whose fault is that?
You don't have the best record in the NBA two years in a row without a very solid team. No 1 player is that good. The Cavs were heavy favorites to win a Championship and had one of the highest payrolls in the NBA. Going into the Playoffs the past season, which team did you predict would win the Championship? I know there's a thread here I can go search for. I remember almost everybody said Cavs. When Kobe ranted, his team had nearly gotten swept and he was playing with the likes of Smush Parker, Luke Walton and Kwame Brown. You want grim, THAT's some grim prospects.
You can say Cavs were a 60 wins team because of LeBron. But Lakers were 40 wins team because of Kobe. The former gave you a legit chance to win it all however you want to put it, and LeBron can actually rest a few games before playoff. The latter gave you little chance to win the first round, let alone finals. and a little injury of Kobe will guarantee lottery. And that's the same situation? You LeQuitter homers should get your head checked.
So you didn't see what Buss said, he didn't want to pay Shaq 30M/y, simple as that. They couldn't win it all with F4, and that squad would not improve. What's wrong to start from scratch, Shaq got paid 20M/y in Heat, he asked 30M from Lakers and any less of that was lack of respect. Kobe would be stupid to be stuck in that situation for years. The mistake they made was not making the best deal they could get, e.g. get Wade or get Dirk.
Look, you can come up with all types of reasons why Kobe is different. Bottom line is he tried to force his way to a better team. He also helped engineer his drafting by the Lakers. LeBron signed with a better team as a FA. Sorry, I don't see Kobe as a super- honorable hero who was going to lead his team through thick and thin. He played politics more than LeBron did. Hey, Kobe is free to do what he did, and so is LeBron. You can call LeBron a douche all you want, but just recognize Kobe for what he is too, instead of making excuses for him.
Since when is a high payroll a sign of anything? Come on man. The Cavs were favorites, but they were exposed by Boston.
