2012-13 NBA Season Thread

[dfwabel]

Kobe now being "the public, does not give a s#it" Kobe, is fantastic in terms of public knowledge and commentary. At his age, he is being honest about his team, his past performance and the like. I really like it and like him more since the Colorado items.

He is essentially doing what non-team athletes do at their height.

Kobe is now going FIGJAM, and it is great to read.

[The Six]

I'm no Laker fan, but I can understand Kobe's attitude. He doesn't want to waste his time playing with joke players.

Maybe those players wouldn't be "jokes" if he actually tried to be a leader and help them improve, instead of telling them from day one to "not talk to me until you match my resume," like he did with Smush Parker.

Yeah if only Kobe was nicer to Smush Parker, the guy who's been on like 11 different teams in 9 different countries, he would have made it.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Kobe knows his window is closing and he doesn't want to waste his time. That might not make him a good pal, but it makes him an effective manager (this season notwithstanding). Not many people have won five championships -- Tim Duncan hasn't, Shaq hasn't, Tom Brady hasn't, Joe Montana didn't, and so on.

Smush Parker? Give me a break.

[Lights Out]

Kobe knows his window is closing and he doesn't want to waste his time. That might not make him a good pal, but it makes him an effective manager (this season notwithstanding).

Well, you really can't just ignore this season, considering they brought in Nash and Dwight and were expected to win well over 60 games. Nor can you ignore the fact that he missed the playoffs in his prime after deciding he was too good to be Shaq's sidekick. Nor can you ignore the numerous playoff embarrassments Kobe has incurred through his selfish style of play (i.e. the '04 Finals meltdown, the '06 Suns series meltdown, 6-for-24 in the Finals clincher, etc.).

Duncan may have less rings (mainly because he didn't have prime Shaq or an insanely stacked Pau/Bynum/Odom combo to carry him) but I would take him and his style of leadership in a landslide over Kobe. It's telling that, for all the sob stories about "Kobe's window closing," Duncan has been keeping the Spurs' window open well past when it was supposed to be closed.

[Kramerica Industries]

Part of that is because Gregg Popovich is the best there is in the NBA at cultivating roles for otherwise-crappy players to thrive in. The continuity of having had the same head coach his entire career has had to help Duncan out.

And if you want to point out the post-Shaq failures, you also have to point out another post-Shaq statistic: Kobe has been on two championship teams (and played in three Finals), and Shaq was on one. I don't think Kobe is regretting that.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

In a star-driven league, Kobe Bryant has played in seven championship series and won five titles. It's not like he just happened to be there.

[kajeet]

As a Lakers fan, I might throw in the towel for this season.

[Rockstar Matt]

As a Lakers fan, I might throw in the towel for this season.

We're only a couple of games out. It's far too early to say that we're done.

[Shumway]

Lindsey Hunter named interim coach of the Suns. Not that this season really matters, but I was hoping they'd give the job to Dan Majerle.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/phoenix-suns-pick-lindsey-hunter-163220192--nba.html

[Lights Out]

This is just pathetic from Kobe:

He has Nash, Dwight, and Pau, and that isn't enough, he still needs more help.

[Rockstar Matt]

With how fixated you are on Kobe, I think you secretly like the guy. One would argue that you talk about Kobe and the Lakers more than you do about the Clippers, who are actually really good for once and will probably win their first Pacific Division title. But of course, all you do is hate on Kobe and the Lakers instead.

[dbadefense1990]

With how fixated you are on Kobe, I think you secretly like the guy. One would argue that you talk about Kobe and the Lakers more than you do about the Clippers, who are actually really good for once and will probably win their first Pacific Division title. But of course, all you do is hate on Kobe and the Lakers instead.

That's plausibly true for every anti-Kobe fan. There's legitimate hate for the Lakers (especially through Celtic fans), and then there are people so fixated on hating Kobe specifically (i.e. LeBron fanboys) that they have more interest in him than their own team. Like they have a mancrush orgy on him.

[dbadefense1990]

As a Lakers fan, I might throw in the towel for this season.

We're only a couple of games out. It's far too early to say that we're done.

They have too much talent to simply miss the #8 seed in the West. Then again, Kobe complains, Gasol flops like a napkin in an updraft, and Dwight goofs off in an abyss, all while our coach eats a can of Pringles while the team's on defense.

[Rockstar Matt]

With how fixated you are on Kobe, I think you secretly like the guy. One would argue that you talk about Kobe and the Lakers more than you do about the Clippers, who are actually really good for once and will probably win their first Pacific Division title. But of course, all you do is hate on Kobe and the Lakers instead.

That's plausibly true for every anti-Kobe fan. There's legitimate hate for the Lakers (especially through Celtic fans), and then there are people so fixated on hating Kobe specifically (i.e. LeBron fanboys) that they have more interest in him than their own team. Like they have a mancrush orgy on him.

I just don't understand why he doesn't talk about his own team. The Clippers are finally one of the best teams in the league. Top 4 easily. They're a legitimate title contender, but he'd rather hate on Kobe and the Lakers. I know some real Clipper fans in real life and they don't bother talking about the Lakers unless we specifically talk about a subject which involves them. They'd rather talk about the Clippers and understandably so.

[Kramerica Industries]

I don't blame D'Antoni for that Pringles bit. Those devilish chips are probably the most craving-inducing chips I've ever had. There's a reason I have to keep myself to only purchasing a trio of cans once every month or so. Otherwise I'd weigh 300 pounds by now.

[NEW.ERA]

Proud of the Raps! Even if they played the shi**y Lakers.

[IceCap]

I just don't understand why he doesn't talk about his own team.

Well in LightsOut's defence, he had a very bad reputation for trying to shoehorn the Clippers into any NBA discussion for a long time. It's kind of a jerk move to say "why doesn't he just talk about his team?" after all the crap the board gave him for only talking about his team.

That being said, his hate-boner for Kobe is pretty ridiculous. I'm no Lakers fan. Far from it. Still, you can't deny that he's one of the all time greats.

[Rockstar Matt]

Well in LightsOut's defence, he had a very bad reputation for trying to shoehorn the Clippers into any NBA discussion for a long time. It's kind of a jerk move to say "why doesn't he just talk about his team?" after all the crap the board gave him for only talking about his team..

I don't think it'd be so bad right now because, like I said earlier, the Clippers are very, very good. I don't think we'd mind him talking about them, or at least I wouldn't. Oh well.

The Lakers need to get their act together, or else they are in risk of missing for the playoffs for only the sixth time.

[pmoehrin]

I just don't understand why he doesn't talk about his own team.

Well in LightsOut's defence, he had a very bad reputation for trying to shoehorn the Clippers into any NBA discussion for a long time. It's kind of a jerk move to say "why doesn't he just talk about his team?" after all the crap the board gave him for only talking about his team.

That being said, his hate-boner for Kobe is pretty ridiculous. I'm no Lakers fan. Far from it. Still, you can't deny that he's one of the all time greats.

I just let it go, I don't know why anyone else doesn't do the same.

I don't even know what the big deal is about what Kobe said in the media. If it related to basketball I could see making a somewhat big deal over it, but its just media driven storyline BS that has no effect on what happens on the court.

The Lakers problem is that they just have no direction. I still don't get how you fire a head coach six games into a season, then wonder why the team has a hard time adjusting to the new coach's system when its such a drastic departure from what the old coach was doing? This is a team that's played for three different coaches in three years with three very different philosophies on the how the game should be played. You can't have that kind of turnover and have consistent success.

I don't know if the Lakers would have turned it around under Mike Brown because they never even gave him a chance. Anyone can have a bad six game stretch and for making a move like that I think you get what you deserve as a franchise and what they have is a lot of high profile players with no chemistry, a coach with a system that doesn't fit the team's makeup and just a complete lack of focus on the part of the front office for what they want this team to be.

[IceCap]

They have too much talent to simply miss the #8 seed in the West.

People said something similar about the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles, and look how that turned out. Obviously basketball and football are two completely different games but a stacked roster is no guarantee of success.