For years the Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the top organizations in all of professional sports as they have won 16 NBA Championships. In 1996, an NBA Draft night trade saw the Lakers acquire the rights to shooting guard Kobe Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets. During his time with the Lakers, Bryant has gone on to win five NBA Championships and not only becoming one of the greatest players in franchise history, but also one the greatest players in league history. But at 36-years of age Bryant is faced with something that he is unaccustomed to which is losing.
The Lakers are currently 7-16 this season and with victories few and far between, the purple and gold are staring at consecutive losing years for the first time since the late 1950’s when they still called Minneapolis home. Bryant’s frustration erupted this week at Lakers practice when he ripped his teammates in a profanity laced tirade. During his tantrum Bryant also referred to his Laker teammates as “soft”. Bryant is not the first superstar in any sport to chastise his teammates and he won’t be the last. But in the new NBA, what we’re seeing is the current reality for the Lakers.
When the new collective bargaining agreement between the players and owners went into effect in 2011, it was primarily setup to put the kibosh on long-term dynasties. And unless superstar players like Bryant were willing to take less money in the effort for their respective team to land other top-level talent, the chances of them winning would become tougher. This season Bryant is earning $23.5 million of the estimated $70 million in payroll that the Lakers are shelling out. The Lakers financial status is evident in their team’s play this season as Bryant is leading the team in scoring at 25.5 points per game while the second closest player on the team in small forward Nick Young at 14.6 per contest.
Throughout his NBA career Bryant has been ultra-competitive while focusing on winning a title every season, but he always has not been the best teammate or the easiest person to get along with. Bryant consistently clashed with former Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal which led to several physical altercations between them. Bryant is all basketball, all the time while O’Neal was about his business, but not to the level of Bryant’s liking. In his prime O’Neal was arguably the most dominant center that the NBA has ever bared witnessed to and Bryant wasn’t willing to play second banana to him. The Lakers would eventually trade O’Neal to the Miami Heat in 2004. Jerry West had spent over 40 years affiliated with the Lakers as a player, coach, and then as a general manager. But in 2002, West had grown tired of the in fighting between Bryant and O’Neal as he would leave the Lakers to become the general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies. In his book that was released in 2004 entitled “The Last Season”, former Lakers head coach Phil Jackson was critical of Bryant as he deemed the phenom very difficult to get along with. Jackson would leave the Lakers in 2004 before being lured back to the team in 2005. In 2005, new Lakers reserve guard Smush Parker went to introduce himself to Bryant in the team’s locker room and he was rebuffed as if he were a parking attendant at the Staples Center. In spite of winning two NBA Championships with power forward Pau Gasol, Bryant never got along with him and Gasol is currently in the midst of a revival with the Chicago Bulls. In 2012, the Lakers acquired center Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic with an eye towards locking him up to a long-term deal. But Bryant and Howard clashed that entire season before Howard left Los Angeles in 2013 as a free agent to sign with the Houston Rockets.
Jeanie Buss
Bryant has never gotten along with star big men on the Lakers as they all were ready to leave town on the first thing smoking. For all intense purposes O’Neal and Gasol should have retired with the Lakers, but team chemistry is more important than what players are able to do on the court and Bryant could be categorized as a mad scientist. Bryant and Laker owners Jeannie and Jim Buss may not want to recognize it, but their aging superstar has alienated himself from the rest of the top talent in the NBA. Jeanie Buss can refer to players unwilling to play with Bryant as “losers” all that she wants to, but she needs to face reality which is that she won’t sign another All-Star caliber player in Los Angeles until Bryant retires. Bryant is a five-time NBA Champion, but it isn’t like he did it by himself. Bryant and O’Neal won three NBA Titles together and in those three seasons O’Neal never averaged less than 27 points per game as he was in the prime of his career. After losing to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals, the Lakers wouldn’t return there until 2008 when they acquired Gasol from the Grizzlies. In spite of what people may think, the game of basketball is still an inside-out game which is illustrated by the fact that there have been very few teams that have claimed an NBA Championship without having a dominant post player.
During the 1980’s when the Lakers won five NBA Championships, they were led by center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and point guard Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson never let their egos affect the team in a negative way as Abdul-Jabbar was the elder statesman of the team and everyone fell in line behind him. Jackson has coached two of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history in Bryant and Michael Jordan. Like Bryant, Jordan was not always the best teammate. Before Jackson became the head coach of the Bulls, Jordan alienated his teammates in Chicago which was highlighted by his third season in the NBA when he led the league in scoring at 37.1 per game. Jordan was scoring at will and he became a household name, but he wasn’t winning. Jackson became the Bulls head coach in 1989 and he made Jordan trust his teammates. Due to Jackson’s touch, by 1991, the Bulls were NBA Champions. Jordan bought in to Jackson’s system and he would go on to win six NBA Championships. Jordan would still push the envelope with his teammates, but never to the point where players were ready to leave Chicago in the fashion that players flee from the Lakers and Bryant.
So Bryant must accept the reality of the present day Lakers as he must rely on players such as center Jordan Hill, point guard Jeremy Lin, and small forward Wesley Johnson. These players may never be NBA All-Stars, but Bryant must find a way to build them up instead of putting them down. Some may call it tough love from Bryant, but these players have been beaten up enough and they need a teacher and a leader: two things that Bryant isn’t good at. Bryant should take a look at the adjustments that San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan has made throughout his NBA career. Duncan was the focal point of the Spurs offense, but in the mid-2000’s he would take a backseat to point guard Tony Parker. Duncan bought in to what Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was selling and the results is that he is a five-time NBA Champion with the potential for more rings. Bryant will more than likely finish his NBA career with five titles, but it could have been alot better if he had simply been a better team player and he may have gained the moniker that he has always wanted which is to be the best to ever play in the NBA.
Source: Basketball-reference.com
Leave A Comment