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"(Kobe) Bryant Doesn't Give 'a bleep' About Where LeBron Will Play" (NY Post)

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http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/serving_of_kobe_beef_ML3r3YyS0q3pmQlatrYs8H

Bryant doesn't give 'a bleep' about where LeBron will play

By MARC BERMAN

Last Updated: 6:02 AM, June 5, 2010
Posted: 3:29 AM, June 5, 2010

LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant, in a private moment at Staples Center yesterday, didn't care to hear the name LeBron James, who is stealing attention from the NBA Finals because of his impending summer free-agency drama.

Bryant is consumed with one item -- a fifth championship -- not the soap opera surrounding King James, who wears a crown but not a ring.

Bryant is three wins away after a flawless 30-point, seven-rebound, six-assist outing in Game 1 on Thursday lifted the Lakers to a 102-89 win over the Celtics and a 1-0 lead over the Celtics.

"You're asking me if LeBron is going to New York?" Bryant told The Post. "I'm trying to tell you in a polite way, I don't give a [bleep].

"As a fan, it' a big deal," Kobe added. "You're talking about LeBron and Dwyane Wade, it's two huge names changing cities. It alters things drastically in the NBA. But I really don't care about it."

Byron Scott, now an ESPN broadcaster, was standing with Bryant and cracked up.

"Why are people talking about LeBron anyway?" Scott said. "Let me tell you something. From me just knowing Kobe, he doesn't give a [bleep] what everyone is talking about anyway."

"I couldn't have said it better," Bryant piped in.

Indeed, it is a strange dynamic at these Finals. Bryant is approaching a fifth championship -- one less than Michael Jordan. He is playing in his seventh Finals -- one more than Jordan. Yet James is getting more attention even a month after his Cavaliers played their last game of the season.

Last night, CNN showed James' hourlong, much-hyped interview. During the Finals telecast of Game 1, ABC promoted a "Nightline" interview with James to be shown after the game -- even though the segment was taped on April 5 and already was aired in May.

During his formal interview session yesterday, Bryant said of the King James' cloud over the Finals: "I don't care about attention. It doesn't mean anything to me."

Fact is, Bryant, despite a sore knee drained in April, despite a healing broken finger, is playing at the highest level he's ever played. Historically speaking, Bryant is nearing Jordan's plane of greatness. James is nowhere in that discussion, even if he has two MVPs to Bryant's one.

Somehow, Bryant, at 31, is better than Bryant of his 20's.

"I think he's a better and a more well-rounded total basketball player," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said at a charity event in which a community center blocks from the arena was dedicated by NBA Cares. "And that includes leadership, teammate skills, things you get better at as you mature. Five, six years ago, he was off the charts athletically. Today he's still incredibly athletic but not as athletic as 26. When you look at the total package, yes, he's better now."

Jerry Colangelo, Team USA's CEO, told The Post Friday he has been informed Bryant likely will have right knee surgery after the season, which is why he won't play in the World Championships. According to a Lakers source, Bryant may undergo arthroscopic knee surgery because of wear and tear.

Bryant's broken finger has healed, but a Lakers source said the finger is puffed up.

Asked about his condition yesterday, Bryant said, "You just try to get healthy as you can for every game and you go out there and just do your best. You just forget about the injuries and put your hardhat on and go to work."

Kupchak said he is amazed Bryant played the whole season.

"If you talk to him now, he'll say he's feeling pretty good," Kupchak said. "He had a rebirth of energy after the knee was drained. But over the course of an 82-game season, we advised him in so many different ways it was time to take some time off, but he didn't want to hear anything about it."

Bryant has put on a surly persona for the media, with mostly clipped answers. His Finals face is on. The title drought from 2003 to 2008 seems to have him more determined.

"Just comes from understanding opportunities not coming along very often and making sure you focus in and take full advantage of it," Bryant said. "Early in my career, it's like we'd pop up, win three straight [titles] and after that was a drought.

"I want to make sure we don't leave any stones unturned."
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Thank God. I been waiting for Kobe to say more stuff like this. Kobe's an attention whore too, but LeBron's taking it to a whole other level.

Trust me. More and more people are gonna start speaking out on LeBron trying to take away from the finals. It's horrible PR decision making from his team.
 
sam_slam911 said:
Thank God. I been waiting for Kobe to say more stuff like this. Kobe's an attention whore too, but LeBron's taking it to a whole other level.
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No he's not. Goddamn revisionist history motherfuckers. Kobe has overshadowed more than a few NBA Finals in his time.

And unlike Lebron he's demanded to be traded publically, while throwing his teammates under the bus. say what you will about Lebron but for the most part he has always had his teammates back. Kobe throws the fucking knife in at his teammates.

I mean this guy's ego is so fucking huge he broke up a four time winning championship team just because he wanted more shine. Lebron would never do something that self-centered basketball oriented. Lebron just wants to win championships. Kobe wants to get all of the credit.

Kobe's a selfish prick primadonna of the first degree, and anyone saying otherwise has an agenda.

Oh and so is Michael Jordan for that matter. Wouldn't want to hang with either of those guys anywhere. Neither of them have much class, or seem especially fun to be around.

Nah, the guy who did it best, does it best is Tim Duncan. That man has always been class. Even when he was entertaining leaving the Spurs. Not many like him. If you want to say Lebron falls short of someone it's tim duncan. Not Kobe freaking Bryant.
 
Oh and fuck Kobe and his Finals. I'm glad Lebron is overshadowing it. Fuck the Lakers and the Celtics.
 
If Lebron only cared about winning championships, he wouldn't quit on his team during the playoffs.
 
ANYONE that defends LeBron and rips Kobe or does anything close to that is nuts.

Kobe and maybe our future coach are both in the right here. LeBron needs to back the hell off. This may not be the only sport he ruins either, he is on pace to ruin the coverage of the World Cup on ESPN.
 
I cant side with Lebron.

He should be in the back ground ESPECIALLY after the debacle against Boston.

That was the low point of his 7 year NBA career and how does he respond? By trying to upstage the NBA Finals while his rival is playing the best basketball of his life and on his way to his 5th NBA title.
 
How is Lebron getting more attention than the finals? Anyone have the ratings from his interview with Larry King?

I don't really what the problem is either. If someone asks Lebron for an interview, why should he put it off if he doesn't want to? Lebron is doing nothing wrong.
 
He shouldn't care.. He's playing for a championship, LeBron is not.
 
I think Kobe is trying to convince himself, and the rest of America that this is the case.

I think the fact that LeBron is (unjustifiably by the way) garnering more attention than Kobe during one of Kobe's best playoff runs here is eating away at him. This is a man with a huge ego we are dealing with. As a rule of thumb, anytime somebody says "I don't give a expletive" about something, they are lying.
 
jvpertz said:
I cant side with Lebron.

He should be in the back ground ESPECIALLY after the debacle against Boston.

That was the low point of his 7 year NBA career and how does he respond? By trying to upstage the NBA Finals while his rival is playing the best basketball of his life and on his way to his 5th NBA title.
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He's not trying to upstage the finals. That is what you and apparently alot of people on these forums would like to believe because of what people like Adrian Woj and Bill Ingram are saying.

He had a chance to be on Larry King during the same week as Barack Obama and Bill Gates to celebrate the 25th anniversary. That reason alone justifies his appearance. It doesn't take away from the NBA finals.

As far as Jimmy Kimmel and Nightline are concerened then you people need to get your facts straight. I know how hard that is for you guys since it's much easier to rip Lebron apart and accuse him of things. Chris Broussard reported that Lebron shot those interviews in early April. The people in charge of the shows decided to air it during the time of the NBA finals.

Lebron CANNOT control that, he has no saying in when the show will air. But ofcourse we are going to ignore the facts and listen to people like Adrian Woj, Ric Bucher and Bill Ingram. People who lack professionalism and fail to provide evidence for their claims. People who clearly have an agenda to criticize Lebron for everything that goes on. Heck, I'm surprised these idiots haven't blamed Lebron for the oil spill in the gulf or the flotilla attack in the middle east.

I have in the past talked about the dishonesty and lack of professionalism in the reportings of Ric Bucher, Adrian Woj, and Bill Ingram. When they start to accuse Lebron of trying to upstage the NBA finals and being a narrcissist while saying that Kobe never did such a thing and Lebron could learn from him, then the dishonesty in their reporting is quite clear along with a lack of credibility.

I've already talked about the "upstaging the finals" accusations. I'll repeat it though, Lebron has NO CONTROL over when the shows will air. He shot those interviews in early April (besides for the Larry King). Speaking of the Larry King Interview, he was totally justified in appearing on that show. Getting a chance to be a part of the 25th anniversary alongside names like President Barack Obama and Bill Gates is an honor. Heck, if he would have refused that offer then we could accuse of him of only caring about himself and not respecting the achievment of others.

As far as the accusation of narcissist goes then the truth is that Lebron certainly has some elements of the whole "me, myself, and I" going on. But the truth is that about 95% of the players in the NBA have that going on. The truth is that anyone with some real money and power develops into that.

My problem, again, is with those who say that Lebron is a narcissist BUT Kobe never was. And that Kobe never tried to upstage the playoffs/finals.

That is far from the truth. Maybe certain people here have a short memory span while people like Bill Ingram and Adrian Woj are simply parasites who despise Lebron.
In 2007, when the Lakers got eliminated in the first round Kobe PUBLICLY demanded a trade. He tried to overshadow the entire NBA PLAYOFFS. Couldn't he have waited until the finals was over to sit down with owner Jerry Buss and ask to be traded?? That is what you call narcissism.
To accuse Lebron of trying to upstage the finals because he is a narrcissist is just WRONG. He had no control over the interviews being aired at the time which they did. It is neither wrong or narrcissitic of him to go on Larry King Live for an interview.
Kobe on the other hand did have control over his comments in 2007.

Also, remember it was Kobe who ran Shaq, the best center of his era, out of town. It was Kobe who ran a hall-of-famer coach out of town. Even while having a hand in these moves to be the main guy for the Lakers, Kobe still went out to test free agency and flirted with the Clippers.
I think those things alonside his public demands for a trade in 2007 show a very narrcissistic Kobe Bryant.

I have no problems with people saying something about Lebron IF they can back it up with some real evidence. I also have no problems with people saying that Lebron should look at a guy like Tim Duncan for an example.

I do, however, have a huge problem with people saying that Kobe never did such a thing. I do have problem with people saying that Lebron should be like Kobe because the latter never did anything to show a narrcissistic side.

I doubt that the people here who agree with idiots like Bill Ingram and Adrian Woj, will apologize for acting so foolish. I doubt that they will actually accept the fact that Lebron really hasn't tried to upstage the finals.
 
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