[Woj] Rockets give Dwight Howard what Lakers, Kobe wouldn't: unconditional love

@dandorotik

Thanks for posting that article. Kobe's just from an older school way of thinking. If you listen to Jordan talking about Kobe, it's as if he was his son on the court. It's a no-holds-barred form competing that's just too severe for the newer generation that considers the super friends model more acceptable.

I am not going to fault Kobe for being too severe simply because it has worked for him and others before him. In fact, I would argue that the hard nosed approach has done more for championship teams than the super friends approach. Even one of the perceived kinder players in the league in Duncan shunned a young Parker. He wouldn't even give him the time of day till he started proving that he can compete at the highest level and it too has proven successful for their franchise with a hard nose coach as Pop. Whichever way anyone leans to, it's really a matter of winning in a competitive professional environment. Winning solves everything when it comes down it.

 

LA should have amnestied Kobe. That is the only way to rebuild.. not giving him another 3,4 years and wait until he retires

 

Add Karl Malone to that list. Malone hated his guts when he spent the one season in la.

 

Or interpret is the other way:

ya, bad mouthing city and team is all fair game - we stay ****ty things about you guys all the time as well. but we're still hoping we could sign stephen curry at some later date, so we are not bad mouthing him - so yo! stop badmouthing our harden!!

 

Pops is hilarious off the court and on it sometimes and Duncan can smile now and then when not playing. 'I want some nasty!' 'Knock the stuffing out of them!' 'Hey Craig Sager, what are you wearing today!?'

Kobe is just being Kobe. He has his own humor.

 

no one media interviews like popp. there hilarious.

 

Even if the Lakers were lucky enough to Draft Wiggins, how that would work with Kobe on the team is beyond me.

 

Nailed it.

 

can't believe what Kobe put on twitter..so immature.

 

Woj's article may be a tad overboard, but I am not sold on Dwight being portrayed inaccurately.

Talent-wise Howard is absolutely legit and elite. Maturity-wise, big question mark. Dwightmare, opting in then demanding a trade, getting Stan Van Gundy fired, demanding to be faded to Brooklyn, etc. etc. writers always like to go with a storyline. Fair or not, one could see why Woj chose that one.

 

I watched nearly every rockets game last year... Harden is NOT a bad teammate! He's kind of quite, but I never once saw him belittle a teammate like Kobe does...

I'm already loving the way teams and fans are gonna hate us! Bring it on!

 

Nothing to see here, move on.

 

Agreed. Don't think I've ever seen Harden lose composure.

 

Maybe if Kobe wasn't such a hardass he would have had Shaq around and Dwight to help him win more rings. Kobe has never been that supportive/bonding kind of teammate, to the point where he's a douchebag. If it works for him, fine, if some people can put up with it, fine, but don't expect everyone else to do the same.

There was this article on ball don't lie that had excerpts from Shaq's book about their fallout...

 

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Congrats you got an all star center who has already worked with hakeem once and didnt learn jack from him not to mention the fact that he went to the finals once already and got owned by pau gasol. Your team is stacked with great talent cant deny that but you didnt watch Dwight the whole year like lakers fans did and before that in the finals. There has been no progression in his game!! He has two post moves to speak of and most of the time he cant complete them because he gets the ball stripped. James Hardens game will suffer because he wont be able to get into the paint as easy as he has in the past. You laugh at the lakers and say kobe is selfish ball hog blah blah blah but HES GOT MORE RINGS THEN YOUR ENTIRE FRANCHISE HAS BEEN IN MORE FINALS THEN YOUR ENTIRE FRANCHISE so obviously he has done something right in his career. As far as pushing Shaq out, Shaq was fat and out of shape and this is coming from a shaq fan but he delivered, in 04 at that age he wanted a crazy amount of money to stay with the lakers so the lakers gave him what he wanted they traded him and he got his extension with Miami.

 

Lol, agreed with Pop. He definitely has his own brand of humor during those off beat moments. I do remember the time he poked fun at Sager. If I remember right, it almost derailed the interview. 2 favorites of mine were the DNP of Duncan under the reason "Old" that was reflected in all of the notices including the official roster for the game and his correcting an already nervous Barkley during a mid game interview. Cracked up the entire studio staff and Barkely's reaction of defeat was priceless. All in good jest of course.

As for Kobe, I've seen his attempts at humor and it's definitely his own.

 

Now he needs to deal with confrontations with Lin.

 

I'm going to be honest and I think I'm not the only one that thought Dwight didn't give his all last year, was goofing around way too much and didn't behave the way a dedicated player should. It was very different from his days in Orlando so I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. That he just had a down year; the injury and just being in LA with a dick like Kobe probably contributed to it.

Never liked MJ, never liked Kobe and how they impacted the environment, but people will always praise them because they won. If they hadn't, everybody would be down on them for being pricks. Dwight is just not the type of person that can handle a guy like Kobe and I wouldn't either. There's nothing wrong with having fun but when it's winning time, you have to be there. I hope Dwight will show this year he can do both, have fun and be serious about winning.

Harden seems to have the same type of personality, he's always smiling and everything but playing his but off and getting ready to fight as well. That's why I think they're a perfect duo and can make it work.

 

Hardin did lose his composure...against the ref. :grin: