Kenny Smith said that Kobe Bryant is still the best player in the league

[LBJ23MJ]

So what you are saying is Kobe makes his teammates better?

Huh? He wasn't even talking about Kobe, he was just saying that the Lakers bench has played better than the Cavs bench in the playoffs. Simple as that...oh, but I forgot Kobe fanboys just love to squeeze Kobe's sweat out of a turnip in every post.

 

[marga86]

Dude, this is NOT Lebron's fault. This is team's fault that they got outplayed. Do you get it?

They did have potential. It has gone to waste due to their terrible play, lack of chemistry and bad coaching...Why is it so hard to understand?

Lakers don't need incredible bench, not in the playoffs. Just look at what Odom has done in the playoffs over the years. And tell me who on the Cavs bench last two years ever was at least as good as him.

LEBRON COULD NOT LEAD HIS TEAM.

Is it not the Leaders role to LEAD his team when they are stuggling, when the teams will is down, when the going gets tough?

This is more lebron's fault as much as it is mike brown's fault.

 

[marga86]

Re: kenny smith said that kobe bryant is still the best player in the league in his e

You are a moron...

Allow me to elaborate, first and foremost I think Lebron is a phenomenal talent and will someday win a few championships. But Kobe's 4 rings, 6 finals appearances, perhaps soon to be 5 rings and 7 finals appearances in a 14 season career is not 'LUCKY'. I understand you probably don't understand basketball.

You see Lebron and his fast acting moves and unstoppable speed and go, whoa, CLEARLY he is he is the best player in the NBA right? What you really don't understand is Lebron has the best ATHLETIC talent for the time being and the serious potential to add leadership and hunger to his game. As of right now he does NOT have either. I can forgive him for not showing up to game 6 @ Boston, but never in my life have I seen Kobe give up on his team 2-2 with game 5 @ home.

Oh and by the way I find it hilarious that during the regular season most of you were proclaiming that this team is so talented and Lebron finally has a stacked team and you are not worried about any team now suddenly it's oh Lebron has no supporting cast no fair! Kobe has Gasol, so his rings don't count. LOL yeah, you obviously don't watch Lakers basketball alot.

This is a guy who has three 7 footers in Shaq, AV, and Big Z, he has a all-star forward in Antawn Jamison, he has an amazingly underrated PG in Mo Williams. He also has a solid supporting cast in JJ Hickson, Moon, and Delonte West. You add Lebron to the mix and the dude can't even make it to the Finals the last few years or even past the 2nd round.

Meanwhile, yes Kobe does have Gasol, but he also has the worst PG in the NBA right now in Derek Fisher, Mr. Inconsistant Lamar Odom, Mr. My knee always is injured and I can only play 10 minutes a game in andrew bynum, and Ron Artest who has had horrible offense most of this year. Add the fact that there is NO bench on the Lakers and it amazes me that we have made it so far.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I was gonna address the part about luck there, but I'll hold up on that. Better suited for a philosophy thread.



Not a lack of hunger, just reliable playoff running mates. And yes, you've seen Kobe give invisible performances before, and all to "spite" his teammates (game 4 against the Thunder).

And that's just one example.



Well I can't speak for the other posters here, but even with Antawn I always wondered about the Cavs as a whole's abliity to play well in the playoffs outside of Bron (and also Shaq, but he's past his prime).



Of all those players, only Moon bothered to show up in the playoffs along with LeBron. And I love the "underrated" Mo Williams comment. Wanna take him off our hands for us? We'll throw in a bag of pretzels while we're at it.



Meh, Derek is long in the tooth but isn't the WORST pg out there. Odom is alot better player than you give him credit for, Ron is probably the one you're looking for inconsistency here. And Bynum has been terrific even with limited minutes.

LOL @ you giving the laker team TOO MUCH credit.

Look what odom did in the regular season, you will laugh. Derek fisher shoot 30% i think it was from 3 in the regular season, ron only gave us defense...and Bynum TERRIFIC?

LOL you guys are GOING CRAZY.

 

[LebronHasNoRing]

I think this sums it up:

KOBE...

LEBRON...

 

[LBJ23MJ]

Re: kenny smith said that kobe bryant is still the best player in the league in his e

LEBRON COULD NOT LEAD HIS TEAM.

Is it not the Leaders role to LEAD his team when they are stuggling, when the teams will is down, when the going gets tough?

Ahhhhhhhhh, you got us there. It turns out LeBron's Force powers weren't working that series like they usually do when he controls the flight of Mo Williams's shots into the basket. I credit Danny Ainge for that one actually. I think in addition to the towel-tossing during the Cavs foul shots, he also set up a top secret, magnetic "Force Jammer" device to block Bron's powers.

LOL @ you giving the laker team TOO MUCH credit.

Look what odom did in the regular season, you will laugh. Derek fisher shoot 30% i think it was from 3 in the regular season, ron only gave us defense...and Bynum TERRIFIC?

LOL you guys are GOING CRAZY.

You're right! How DARE I look at EVIDENCE like you know, RATIONAL people do and see what each of these players contributed instead of buy into the (false) hype that Kobe is beating these teams without a productive supporting cast. I'll keep that in mind for next time.

:gap:

 

[CzBoobie]

LEBRON COULD NOT LEAD HIS TEAM.

Is it not the Leaders role to LEAD his team when they are stuggling, when the teams will is down, when the going gets tough?

This is more lebron's fault as much as it is mike brown's fault.

Just another idiotic cliche...

I'm done with this thread. And looking forward to what you all be saying after Boston kicks Lakers' ass, too.

 

[Chris]

Just another idiotic cliche...

I'm done with this thread. And looking forward to what you all be saying after Boston kicks Lakers' ass, too.

So we're supposed to be all right cuz Boston is just playing really well?

Gee, this makes 4 years in a row we've lost in the playoffs to a team that is in the Finals. 3/4 years it was the NBA champion if Boston goes on to win the Finals like you say.

Sounds like a treadmill to me.

 

[CzBoobie]

So we're supposed to be all right cuz Boston is just playing really well?

Gee, this makes 4 years in a row we've lost in the playoffs to a team that is in the Finals. 3/4 years it was the NBA champion if Boston goes on to win the Finals like you say.

Sounds like a treadmill to me.

???

This is strictly about the "superhero Kobe leading his average bunch of supporting cast with his unparalleled will to win to another championship" crap. We'll see how he does against Boston. I won't lie that I hope he fails just like in '08 to stop this flood of Kobe homers here.

It won't make me feel better about the Cavs at all. Very few things can do this summer.

 

[marga86]

The funny thing is that when the Cavs lose... ALL OF A SUDDEN they had a "bad supporting cast"... "the team was just not built for the playoffs"... "no one else stepped up".

How about, they got outplayed? they SUCKED when it MATTERED? Seriously, how many serious teams dance during games?...thats how serious everyone in the cavs was... how do u think kobe would respond if he saw the laker bench dancing? we can only assume, but we know one thing: lebron joins his bench when he sees em.

I dont remember anyone saying anything when the lakers lost 7 of their last 11 games, when they went like 20/22 games without winning by > 4 points... how kobe made 6 games winners, how he HAD to average 33+pts when gasol was out... How come the team starts clicking and now all of a sudden they were ALWAYS that good?


And i also like the.. "kobe threw his teammates under the bus in 07".. so what? It lit a fire in all of their asses. We were #1 in the Western Conference by 3 or 4 games even before we made a SINGLE trade that season:

farmar
sasha
radman
odom
kwame
fisher
bynum
mihm
cook
evans

that was our depth chart before the pau and ariza deals... We got ariza and he broke his foot, then bynum went down and we got gasol.. then everyone jumps on this "he has a great supporting cast" bandwagon.

I seriously laugh at that.

 

[CzBoobie]

The funny thing is that when the Cavs lose... ALL OF A SUDDEN they had a "bad supporting cast"... "the team was just not built for the playoffs"... "no one else stepped up".

How about, they got outplayed? they SUCKED when it MATTERED? Seriously, how many serious teams dance during games?...thats how serious everyone in the cavs was... how do u think kobe would respond if he saw the laker bench dancing? we can only assume, but we know one thing: lebron joins his bench when he sees em.

How the hell is it not the same thing?

Once again, LeBron dominated his head-to-head matchup against '08 Finals MVP. What did the others do to help him?

 

[sisq0kidd]

How the hell is it not the same thing?

Once again, LeBron dominated his head-to-head matchup against '08 Finals MVP. What did the others do to help him?

Because Dwight Howard is still a great player even though he's had a horrible ECF. He didn't step up when it mattered, but are you gonna call him a "bad starter?"

Look, the Cavs' supporting cast was fine, they were simply beat by a more intense and mentally strong Boston team.

 

[CzBoobie]

Because Dwight Howard is still a great player even though he's had a horrible ECF. He didn't step up when it mattered, but are you gonna call him a "bad starter?"

Look, the Cavs' supporting cast was fine, they were simply beat by a more intense and mentally strong Boston team.

It's ok. The thing I'm arguing is that somehow it's LeBron's fault who therefore is not as good as Kobe...that's what this discussion is all about.

 

[blommen]

just let the lakers fans hate fellas. this is the first time they have had a "legitimate" reason to say that Kobe is the better player in what, a year? let them milk it for what its worth, they are obviously not interested in rationality

 

[Shawn817]

just let the lakers fans hate fellas. this is the first time they have had a "legitimate" reason to say that Kobe is the better player in what, a year? let them milk it for what its worth, they are obviously not interested in rationality

Actually if you go on Laker forums most of us do admit that Lebron is the best player there's no arguing that. The thing most of us will get mad at is when you try to discount Kobe for his rings saying that he didn't earn them.

 

[elcheato]

just let the lakers fans hate fellas. this is the first time they have had a "legitimate" reason to say that Kobe is the better player in what, a year? let them milk it for what its worth, they are obviously not interested in rationality

Yep, first time they've been able to say the best since last year when Kobe hoisted the Finals trophy and finals MVP award..