Kobe Bryant (photo. Chris Sembrot)How does Kobe Bryant feel this morning? Following Tuesday’s humiliating Game 6 loss, where he had to watch an opponent celebrate winning an NBA championship at his expense for the second time in his career, Kobe was clearly furious in his post-game press conference — I’ve rarely seen one man who wasn’t headed to prison giving the Death Stare to a room full of people whom he had no reason to be mad at. However long it takes for that first wave of anger and frustration to wear off, Kobe will ultimately be left with one feeling: That of a man who’s been teased. In a way, Kobe will look back on this season and feel betrayed.
Think back to last summer, around the time the Spurs were dismantling the Cavs in the ‘07 Finals and Kobe had first declared his desire to be traded from the Lakers. At the time Kobe had just endured a second straight first-round playoff exit, carrying a roster on which Kwame Brown, Shammond Williams and Smush Parker all played prominent roles. With no immediate prospects for the Lakers improving on the horizon, their superstar was ready to go. Kobe was tired of losing, tired of his team not being among the League’s elite despite his own individual greatness, tired of watching other players win rings.
All during the offseason and even through Opening Night ‘07, trade rumors persisted involving Kobe and teams like the Bulls, Suns and Knicks. But at the end of the day he stayed with the Lakers, despite the fact that the team’s major offseason acquisition was signing Derek Fisher, or that L.A.’s ‘07 Draft haul (Javaris Crittenton, Sun Yue, Marc Gasol) was nothing to get excited about. Kobe stayed, and he was actually happy as the season progressed. It took him a while, but Kobe eventually saw Andrew Bynum turning into one of the League’s best centers in the first half of the season. He saw guys like Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton playing like they finally “got it.” He saw Lamar Odom producing consistently. Even after Bynum got hurt — an eventual season-ending injury — the deadline trade for Pau Gasol made Kobe even happier. I still remember the huge smile on Kobe’s face the night Gasol debuted for L.A. against the Nets: Kobe only had 6 points and injured his finger during the game, yet afterwards all he could talk about was how happy and thankful he was that Gasol was in his life.
On that night, Kobe felt legitimized. He felt that Lakers management had listened to him and done what was necessary to succeed. He felt like his team was going to win a championship.
The goodwill lasted through the end of the regular season, as the Lakers earned the #1 seed in the West and Kobe captured his first league MVP. It lasted through a first-round sweep of the Nuggets, through a relatively easy elimination of the Jazz in Round 2, and through a surprisingly efficient disposal of the Spurs in the conference finals.
And then the Celtics showed up. And well before the series-ending Game 6 loss, it became clear that the Lakers were simply not as good as Boston. After their colossal Game 4 meltdown, I wrote that the ‘08 Lakers were in fact up there with the worst Finals teams in history. (Which, again I have to stress, doesn’t make them a bad team, just not as good as most teams that make it to the Finals.) Every flaw L.A. had was exposed and magnified in this series, and it certainly didn’t help that almost everyone on the team seemed to forget what had made them successful in the 100-something games before the Finals.
With the Lakers embarrassing themselves in last night’s loss and ending the season on such a sour note, Kobe could understandably feel like a man who’s been lied to. He bought into Gasol as a strong interior presence, then watched as the 7-footer shrunk from contact when facing Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins. Kobe bought into Odom being his Scottie Pippen-like sidekick with Swiss Army skills, just to watch L.O. play downright amateur-ish when it mattered most. Kobe bought into the idea that Fisher could be just as effective now as he was when Shaq was in L.A., only to see him come up short. Kobe even bought into Vladimir Radmanovic as a starter on a supposed championship contender. Ultimately, Kobe was led to believe his team was championship material, when it turns out he’ll spend the summer of ‘08 the same way he spent the summer of ‘07 — steaming over a depressing postseason exit, one where his team fell flat and left him feeling empty. This morning, there is part of Kobe Bryant that may feel like this was a wasted season.
So what does he do from here? Kobe was in no mood to talk about it last night, but it’s clear some changes have to be made if the Lakers want to have a realistic chance of winning a championship in 2009.
Odom will be entering the final year of his contract, making him even more attractive trade bait if the Lakers go that route. Ronny Turiaf is a free agent, Sasha Vujacic will possibly be a free agent, and Trevor Ariza can opt out of his contract. And while you’d have a hard time convincing Lakers’ fans of it, the team isn’t going to just automatically get over the hump when they Bynum back healthy. While the 7-footer does automatically address some rebounding and shot-blocking needs and could potentially form a lethal Twin Towers combo with Gasol, keep in mind he’s just 20 years old and has only really had one standout half-a-season in the NBA. If the Lakers are fortunate enough to get back to the Finals next season, is it out of the question that Bynum will get the dry-throat like Gasol and Odom did this year?
As the “It’s All Love” version of Kobe disappeared during the Finals in favor of the “I Can’t Stand These Clowns” version, I wonder which Kobe is going to resurface after he’s had time to reflect on the season that was. If he indeed does feel like the Lakers — from his teammates to the coaching staff to the front office — let him down, what will push Kobe to succeed in ‘08-09 when he feels like he was in this same spot one year ago? Or even worse, what if he decides he’s been betrayed, and asks for a way out again?
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:39 am
SP says:
First!
Go 76ers!
June 18th, 2008 at 9:49 am
djKianoosh says:
2nd! Go Sixers!!
June 18th, 2008 at 9:49 am
TJ says:
Shammond Williams played 10 minutes a game for 30 games. I don’t think I’d call that a prominent role on the 06-07 team.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:51 am
djKianoosh says:
lol, as for kobe, he’ll calm down eventually.
but i bet you can trade radmanovic and get something better for him. the rest of the guys just need to get a little better individually and maybe Ariza can step up and make a big leap. of course, bynum’s legs need to be strong as well.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:53 am
ERIC says:
The 2007 Cavs were by far the WORST NBA Finals team. However it was a testament to LeBron’s greatness to get them there in the first place.
As I posted in Smack, hopefully the Lakers displayed enough potential that wiley veterans will sign on the cheap to play (and live) in LA on a championship caliber team.
The Lakers need more toughness and consistency.
However, I would never put Odom and Pippen in the same sentence. Pipp was a perenial All-Star (Odom has 0 appearances) who was also an All-Defensive lockdown defender.
Most teams need at least 2 H.O.F. talents to win a champtionship. Celtics had 3, Lakers only 1. (yes, exceptions do apply, read: 2004 Pistons)
June 18th, 2008 at 9:56 am
croak says:
hey, gasol may be soft inside, but at least he ducks out of the way of the basket and doesn’t get “posterized,” am i right dime? haha! mihm is such a doofus! blocks are overrated! duck out of the way, freakin heck!!!! never try anything in life if you risk being embarrassed
June 18th, 2008 at 10:00 am
oliver says:
sorry to see the fail of kobe, but he is still the best player in NBA,a fan of his said this on tall dating site: http://www.tallmingle.com when we chat online on that site.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:03 am
knoc says:
ahhh a happy ending to a pretty good season.
guess for now its just gona be dime and the draft and offseason trades.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:12 am
fallinup says:
C’mon now. It’s not like everybody on the Lakers EXCEPT Kobe was responsible for their demise. He should share just as much of that blame as everyone else. No one, but the Celtics forced him to miss the oh so many bad jumpers he rimmed out. And what ever happened to his defensive presence?? He didn’t exactly shut down Pierce or Allen for that matter. The signal of a great player is that you make everyone around you better..and I sure as hell don’t thing he did that.
Kobe loves his team, and his teammates when they win…but THEY need to make some changes when they lose. Gimme a break.
Kobe, and Phil for that matter. Need to forget that they won those rings by riding Shaq’s back and realize that it’s a team game. No more of the “We need to make some changes BS.” You win as a team, you lose as a team. It is no friggin mystery that Gasol is weak in the interior. And it’s no mystery that Odom disappears in the clutch. Goddamn, I could go on for days.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:16 am
ERIC says:
@ fallinup
Well said
June 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Yoooo says:
Would Detroit go for a combo of Vlad/Odom for Tayshaun Prince and a 2nd rounder? At least One of them (odom, vlad) has to go. Preferably both..
June 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Mister Sun says:
riding shaqs back?
worst comment today…
June 18th, 2008 at 10:23 am
fallinup says:
Mitch K. ignores Kobe’s jeers and doesn’t pull the trigger on trading Bynam for Kidd only to have Kobe publicly bitch about it and threaten to leave. What happens??? Mitch was right, Bynum turns into a beast and the lakers are feared once again.
Bynum goes down, and the Lakers strong start begins to slip. Mitch K. pulls off the biggest jack move in the history of the NBA and the team goes to the finals. But yet, now it’s “We need to make changes” from Kobe and Phil.
Give credit where credit is do. Mitch K. bent over backwards and more to appease Kobe and do what’s best for his team. Hardly a “betrayal”.
And I’m a bonafide Laker hater saying that junk. LOL
June 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
KB says:
Very true. After he cools off Kobe’s going to realize that with some minor personnel additions the Lakers are in a great position to make another title run next year.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:25 am
fallinup says:
Mister Sun, how many rings has the Lakers and Kobe won since Shaq left???
And how many has Shaq won since leaving L.A.??
Thank you, good night.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Zach says:
It’s not like Kobe averaged 40 for the series and doing it by himself just to be left a little short by teammates. He didn’t really do much in this series for being the best player in the L. I think Kobe let down Lakers fans more than his team let him down.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:41 am
doc says:
Kobe should be mad at himself for playing like he had a broomstick stuck up his ass all series.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:45 am
DO says:
how can people continue to say kobe was betrayed? he went to the finals and had a chance to win it. i don’t remember people saying lebron was betrayed after they lost to the spurs. kobe basically quit on his team last summer, his teammates played hard for him, he won the mvp and the western conference.
the 08 wasn’t guaranteed or promised to kobe just because he pouted and demanded a trade.
and he can’t really go off blaming his teammates when he shoots 40% from the field and averages almost 4 turnovers a game in the finals
June 18th, 2008 at 10:48 am
DO says:
and at post #11…
i doubt detroit would trade for odom.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am
the_don_mega says:
where are all those kobe cock suckers now?
June 18th, 2008 at 10:55 am
alex says:
kobe wasn’t betrayed. wtf! him and PJ are the most responsible people for the Lakers losing because they are the leaders! He played his worst games of the season in the finals! can’t even attack the rim. loser
June 18th, 2008 at 10:58 am
YOUNGFED says:
@Yoooo
Hell NO. We don’t want Odom. Now Kobe we’ll take allday. You can have Rip and Prince and our pick for Kobe. Dumars make it happen.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:05 am
karizmatic says:
I don’t like this post…this isn’t about Kobe and how he feels about the team, if he has anything to be disappointed about it is his own sad performance, he just needs to go back to the drawing board and find out what he can do to be better and encourage his teammates to do the same, and come back with more fire and intensity. 25 pts in the finals is not going to get it done and Kobe should have performed better it’s just that simple for him. For him to blame his teammates or management would be not taking his share of responsibility for the loss and if he can’t do that he’s not a leader anyway and he doesn’t deserve a championship. Just work hard in the offseason put a couple more wrinkles in your offensive game and watch how the team responds. That’s all Kobe needs to do. Leave managing to the managers.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:47 am
boba says:
Lakers don’t need any major changes! Does all the TV analysts (Barkely, Kenny Smith, Magic, etc) go back on their word now that the Lakers got skunked silly? According to MOST analysts, this Laker team is going to dominate for the next few years.
There are a few glarring weaknesses (interior defense and rebounding, poor coaching by Phil Jackson) that Lakers need to address. The only players they should consider expendable are: Walton, Rammanabiatch, Mbenga, Newble (last two don’t really count because they probably won’t be with the Lakers next year anyways). Lakers need to get a little more athletic and a little quicker.
As much as Lakers went down in burning flames, Lakers have grown huge over ONE season. Look at the development of Kobe, Fisher, Farmar, and gasp **Sasha**. I hated Sasha with a passion, but after this season, I just don’t like him.
Lakers keep the core guys. We are a young team and will be back next year with a vengence.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
MJAX says:
They should have never got rid of “Tuff Juice”!!!!! And on the real Kobe needs to stop playing with all these motivating factors and just play… How are you the best on the planet in the game of hoop, and you need to loose games and loose shaq and other players to make you mad enough to come back the following year with a strong desire to get to the ship… JUST GET TO THE SHIP, because you want to, not because you wanna shut everybody up. His emotions get in the way of his greatness, which is why he will not win another ship….
June 18th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Kermit the Washington says:
Lakers lost because Gasol and Odom went bye bye. That’s IT. No way you can win a series with that. Everyone’s like “Jordan wouldn’t have let that happen” but you never saw Pippen and Grant take NAPS during the Finals. If they had, then the same joint woulda happened.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Celts Fan says:
the Lake Show will be fine. These are hte guys that can contribute on this team:
Kobe (obviously)
Pau (not as the enforcer, but next to Bynum, he can be soft and not be completely exposed.)
Bynum (can supply the muscle Pau and LO obviously can’t)
Lamar Odom (extremely talented. either he comes off the bench, which makes him one of the better 6th men in the league, or hte Lakers start an all 6′ 10″ or bigger front court and are HUGE. can’t be worse at the 3 than Vlad)
Trevor Ariza (was doing a hell of a James POsey impression until his mid-season injury. I’d start him at the 3 if you don’t want to play LO there)
Vlad Radmanovic (if he’s your 10th guy, you’re in good shape, if he’s starting, especially completely over-matched at the 3, well… thanks Phil!)
Derek Fisher (the only guy not named Kobe that didn’t look completely shook all series)
Sasha (a solid streak shooter off the bench.)
Jordan Farmar (I like this kid a lot. is a hell of a back up and could be a decent starter in a year or 2)
Ronny Turiaf (Leon Powe light. dirty work)
I personally think this team gets healthy, gets a training camp under their belt TOGETHER next year, and takes a chip as Kobe goes all Cloverfield on the League. You do not want a pissed off Mamba on the loose, you just don’t…
June 18th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Tim says:
Grizzlies fan here. I am just so happy the world got to see the Pau Gasol we had to deal with for 7 years and not have to hear about how we gift wrapped a championship for the Lakers. All we did was give the Lakers hope and now get to watch all their hope fade away. And all it will cost you is 17 million a year, HAHAHAHAHAHAH!! Gasol is a joke and so are the Lakers. They will never win it all with Pau in the post. Go Grizz!!!!!!
June 18th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Austin Burton says:
@Tim — Serious question. What do you like about your team? Obviously Rudy Gay, and I think Conley can be good. I actually like the Conley/Lowry combo. What else? Is Darko gonna amount to anything? Would you want them to re-sign Kwame?
June 18th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Austin Burton says:
(And I’m not just asking because the Grizzlies might be moving to Seattle one day.)
June 18th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Claw says:
Can we dismiss the MJ vs Kobe comparisons, PLEASE!
If you want to compare players I would say in this series Pierce outplayed Kobe on both ends of the court, not even close, but it is having a competitive advantage when you have KG/Ray Ray vs Gasol/The Machine.
Just remember the hype, it was Lakers in 6, so Laker fans don’t start hating how Kobe had no team around him, you were all talking about Fish/Gasol/Odom before that first jump ball.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
doc says:
@ Kermit.I think Pip took a nap in that 98 series.You know the one where MIKE SNATCHED the w away from Utah.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
BlazeMcHerbs says:
Hold, this article/post is full of shit…
This “team” has really been operating this way since the Gasol Donation, they only had half a season together, and made it to the Finals.
I think the whole team will be happy to compete together next year, to go through the ups and downs of a season, so they’ll be better prepared to the playoffs next year.
This was really their worst basketball since the Donation, its expected for something that went up to come back down at some time, it was just the worst time.
They made it to the Finals, so obviously they were better than the rest of West, and are only gonna get better.
This argument is so stupid because had they won, what would have been said about the Celtics in the same vain? Thats instant hypocracy.
Kobe has the right to be mad for a few reasons, he lost, and he played like shit himself. Boston played harder, Boston played better, and thats what its all really about.
June 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Jay says:
Kobe has no right to be mad at other people. He has played just as poorly (in his standards) as the rest of his teammates. We all expected more from Gasol, Odom, and Fish, but we also expected a hell of a lot more from the MVP.
June 18th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Tim says:
@Austin Burton
Im a huge Grizzlies fan and my post was me being a prick a little bit b/c i was just so sick of hearing about how dumb the grizzlies were for getting rid of the “star” Pau Gasol.
But to answer your question, I think the Grizzlies have the most important off season ever, maybe deciding whether they will stay in Memphis like you said.
I think Rudy Gay will end up being are best swing player ever which isnt saying much but i think he could be an all-star and average close to 25 ppg. I think Conley could turn into at least a TJ ford type guard or even a better assist average version of Tony Parker. I think it is key for the grizzlies to attempt to obtain Beasley in the draft if any of those Miami rumors are true.
I think the Grizzlies have some really good young players but are a long way away from being in the playoffs or even being a solid team. But i am glad we got Gasol of the team and can hopefully forget about him and his giant contract that we dont have to worry about anymore.
June 18th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Austin Burton says:
I’m a huge Rudy Gay fan; I’ve always said that physically there’s nothing Kevin Durant has that Rudy doesn’t have, therefore Rudy should be just as big of a star one day as Durant will be.
I like Mike Miller as a role player/shooter, but when he’s the 2nd best player on the team you’re in trouble. Darko isn’t awful, but he’s not a starter on a playoff team. And I’ve always felt bad for Kwame; he got some tough breaks along the way. I’m rooting for him to get it together and become a decent player. And I also don’t mind Navarro.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
2 Easy says:
For the record, I dont believe that these teams were all that bad in the finals, it was the matchups that they had. I think that LA would have had a much easier time against Detroit than LA or that the Cavs would have been matched up better against Utah that year. Its not just the personnel its the matchups they have
June 18th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
kb24! says:
you guys forget that Mj had no up’s or downs?.. Mj was the best during his time. Now Kobe is the best right now. Mj had to go through many tough playoff experiences before he won his first ring. Give Kobe a little bit more time. And as for Shaq..he didn’t win the ring himself did he? He needed Kobe as much as Kobe needed him.
June 18th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
kb24! says:
@ Austin
Mike Conley got some skittles too. We gotta watch him progress.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
GEE...doing the wop, running man, cabbage patch and mudfoot says:
Kobe is straight. I don’t see him wanting out. I do see him making an issue of them getting someone in those forward positions who can play some serious D.
Still he has to know he has a great squad, they just have to play way better individual and collective D.
I like Fisher coming off the bench and getting a pg who can score more but still not be a liability on D.
Either that or Fisher just has to look to score more.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Lady Luck says:
Did Kobe say he felt betrayed by his team??? Or was he visibly upset because they lost? Should he have been happy that they lost? This article seems like an attempt to get the Kobe haters riled up.
June 19th, 2008 at 3:21 am
Slime Bucket says:
Lakers won’t win until they learn to play collective defense. So they need to find a coach or assistant coach to teach defense and they need to buy in on playing defense no matter what including when their offense is not going. This is what made players like MJ and even Bird special. They would do everything else even if they had a bad shooting night. Kobe Bryant is more like Dominque Wilkins at this point. I am not sure if he is ever going to get it at this point in his career. He is almost 30. He is what he is. He has been the in the league for 12 years. He is a great scorer but not a great player in the vein of MJ, Magic, or Bird.
June 19th, 2008 at 5:24 am
karan says:
“I wrote that the ‘08 Lakers were in fact up there with the worst Finals teams in history.”
austin, are you high?
let’s just look at the last 10 years shall we, and the finals teams…
jazz vs. bulls? ok, both teams better than the 08 lakers
knicks vs. spurs? 08 lakers better than that knicks team
lakers vs. pacers/nets/76ers? 08 lakers better than all 3 opponents
spurs vs. nets? 08 lakers better than the nets
pistons vs. lakers? both teams were arguably better than the 08 lakers
spurs vs. pistons? both teams arguably better than 08 lakers
heat vs. mavs? this is close… i’d say all three teams are near equal, and if anyone has an edge, its 08 lakers
spurs vs. cavs? 08 lakers much better than cavs
so, you see… in recent years, 08 lakers are actually one of the BEST losing teams in the finals… they just ran into a great celtic squad, which would’ve beated 90% of all finals teams easily in the last 10 years
and btw, i’m not even an LA fan, i’m just a bball fan with some sense
June 19th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Austin Burton says:
The Lakers ran into a Celtics squad that struggled to beat the Hawks and struggled to beat the Cavs. What about the way L.A. played in this series makes you think they’re so good? And which one of those teams above lost by 39 in an elimination game?
June 20th, 2008 at 4:28 am
karan says:
celtics struggled to beat hawks and cavs, thats true.. i blame that on playoff jitters… but they did win 66 games, remember? their season was especaily remarkable considering how well they did against westarn conference teams and on the road… and if i’m not mistaken, they had a near double-digit winning average in the regular season… and they beat the pistons in six.
why the lakers were good? well, for one, they topped the toughest conference that any one of us have seen in a long time… they efficiently broke down the spurs, which are supposed to be the benchmark team… and although they played really badly in the finals, it doesn’t make them a bad team…
its the same as saying that, altho the hawks played well in the celtics series, it doesnt make them a team even close to being as good as the celtics.
June 21st, 2008 at 11:32 am
trae says:
with all of these negative comments, let’s see if any of you haters can score even 2 points against the celtics defense. Keep your freakin’ day job, unless you need your superior to comment on that.