JayBirdSlim:The Man, the Mission, the god!

That’s right, I said it!…or well…..wrote it at least. Kobe Bryant does not deserve to be in the top tier of the elite players in basketball history. Does he have as much if not more talent than most of the people on that list? Probably. Does he score point? Mostly. Does he have a lot of rings? Definitely. Then why do I, a lifelong Laker’s fan, think he is a sham? Easy…because of games like last night and game 4.

Kobe has always had a sense of “entitlement” surrounding him. Ever since he opted not to go to college and go directly to the professional ranks he has seemingly expected the title of greatest player ever to just be handed over to him. So laissez-faire games like last night happen. Kobe assumes if he puts it in cruise control he will just coast to glory. He takes games off. He may get up that morning at 6 am to practice…but (and I can’t believe I’m using this quote in a positive way) “Practice? We’re talking about practice?” Allen Iverson may have whined and moaned about practicing with his team but you have to give him credit he always put 100% into each and every trip up and down the court during a game. The same thing can’t be said about Kobe. He thinks he can flick on a switch and suddenly the game will be handed to him. “Oh Kobe is going o actually play now…games over…doesn’t matter if they’re down by 20+…that’s the rule.”

When you look at the greats, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Chamberlain, Russell etc… they all have one thing in common. They became great because they put everything they had into the game and earned greatness. Lebron seems to understand that you don’t become great just by winning some titles. It takes something more than scoring, or defending, or practicing.

As fans people generally don’t ask much of their players. They can use steroids and really it’s ok, they can gamble, commit adultery, swear, not be role models, it doesn’t matter as long as they play the game with everything they have. So when you hear me talk about Kobe and wish he would just lose in such a humiliating way that it wakes him up don’t ask me how I can say that and call myself a Laker’s fan…Kobe, as Magic implied in his rant, has earned the title of being called a Laker yet in my book.