Now that the Lakers have been ousted and that ousting has been inevitable for several days now, you have already been seeing a lot written about what they should do now. Suddenly lots of people who were saying the Lakers would be crazy to trade away a great prospect center like Bynum for a veteran near the end of their career like Kidd are now changing their tune. When Bynum was one of the early surprises of the season and putting up good numbers everyone (the Lakers included apparently) thought he was the one guy they had to hold onto. Now everyone is killing the Lakers for not giving Kobe help. The real problem? Before you can really help someone, they have to (a) realize they need it and (b) actually want it.
Kobe does niether.
As a result, I believe Kobe’s Lakers are about to look very much like Iverson’s Sixers. Chad Ford on ESPN.com said that the Lakers could end up looking like the T Wolves, but I think the Sixers are a much better comparison. Two things conspired against Philly putting a decent team together while AI was there and in his prime. First was terrible management. Bad draft picks, bad free agent contracts, bad coaching decisions, bad employee relations. The track record of management in the AI era was….well…bad.
The second factor, however, is even more important. Iverson was not someone you could build a contender around. I love Iverson’s heart, competitive drive and awesome skill set. But he is a great scorer, not a great player. He has the skills to be a great player, one of the greatest probably, but his consistent inability to make his teammates better keeps him from the label of “great” in my mind unless you are just talking about his scoring. I argue about this with my buddy Adam who writes great stuff over at www.wisinsider.blogspot.com all the time, and Adam is a smart guy, but he’s just wrong about this one (of course since I think I’m the only one that thinks this, odds are probably in his favor, but I’m going to ignore that).
The real problem with Iverson from a franchise perspective is he can’t be the centerpiece. The same is true for Kobe. Here’s why:
1. During his prime in Philly he was the alpha dog. No way would he have modified his game to suit another dominant player or defer to that player. Who knows what might have been if Shaq had been brought in, but other than that, Iverson never would have deferred. As a consequence, that would have either alienated the other star or would have still left AI as the go to guy and that would have been trouble. Duncan defers to Parker and Manu at times. Shaq defers to Wade. Sometimes, the best player on the team, needs to defer to the other star for that star to be effective. No way AI would have done this unless the other star was a bonafide superstar already established and how many guys like that are there that are on the trading block?
2. Iverson ruins his help – I know the list of guys who were supposed to be the wing man for AI is not particularly distinguished. Still DC, Hughes, Van Horn, Stackhouse and Glen Robinson all played the worst ball of their career with Iverson. Iverson dominates the ball and the thing that makes him great (his belief in himself) is the thing that holds him back because he won’t allow the players around him to develop or excel.
3. Iverson dominates the ball – he over dribbles, refuses to play within an offense and is a classic volume shooter. Sure he scores 30 and that’s impressive especially given his size, but he has to take a ton of shots to get there….shots that his teammates aren’t getting to take.
4. He’s a coach killer. He is such a strong personality and so beloved by fans and makes himself so necessary to the team (in appearance) that he is not required to play in an offense and will, knowingly or not, completely undermine a coach to the rest of the team.
All of those things led to disaster in Philly. As I mentioned, management was terrible and that contributed as well, but even the proven champion builders would have had a nearly impossible time building a contender there. Iverson wouldn’t allow it even though it is truly what he wanted the most.
The comparisons with Kobe in LA are pretty easy to spot for anyone who follows the NBA and isn’t drunk on Kobe Kool-Aid. Kobe suffers from the four problems I listed above every bit as much as Iverson and maybe even more in some ways. I mean, at least Iverson is driven by a will to win. I believe Kobe is driven by a will to be seen as the best. That is a huge difference and is reflected in their play and attitude. And that difference only amplifies the problems listed above.
So, where does that leave LA? Well, where did it leave Philly? It left them years of frustration as they tried combination after combination of players trying to find one that could play and win with Iverson. They never found it, because AI wouldn’t let them (and because they couldn’t find wood in a forest). I think LA is headed in the same direction. There are only 4 things that will keep LA from reaching the depths that Philly did with AI. It will take some combination of all 4 to ever see LA a contender again with Kobe on the team.
1. LA is not Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a great city, but if you were a young famous millionaire who makes their money as a professional entertainer, do you go to the land of the sun and beautiful people, where Hollywood beckons and stars are seen in every trendy café? Or do you go to the historically rich, cold and blustery city in NY’s shadow where you can play for some of the most passionate, but also lamest fans in sports? You may like the snow and the old world American charm, but most freshly minted young rich hoop stars are going to like LA. That gives la la land a significant recruiting advantage when trying to find stars to come play with Kobe.
2. Kobe has even better skills than Iverson. He’s a better shooter, better scorer and even more clutch. This means that even if he remains a one-man show as I predict, that one man show should still win more games than AI did as a Sixer. It’s not enough to make them a contender, but does mean less additional talent is needed.
3. The NBA will protect the Lakers. They need them. The biggest market, the glamour franchise. I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but the NBA will start helping the Lakers in any way possible if it really starts to go into the tank. Not sure what form that takes, but it’s real.
4. The T-Mac factor. T-Mac got it this year. He is a completely different player. I have killed him in this post before for being selfish and he does have a terrible history of selfish play, including his shameful behavior in Orlando. That said, Van Gundy or something finally got through to him this year. He has always been one of the most skilled players and best scorers in the league. But this year he finally seems to get that his team has a better chance of winning if he (a) defers some to that 7’6” giant in the paint and (b) expends considerable effort making plays for his teammates (who aren’t very good by the way except for Battier). This led to astonishing feats like his 16 assist performance in the playoffs. Even if Houston doesn’t win, this is a huge development for TMac and the Rockets and has made me a Rockets fan for now.
Well, if T-Mac can turn himself around and start playing the right way, then so can Kobe. Kobe has 3 rings so he may be even more entrenched in his selfish ways, but I think there is hope. Kobe can be a tremendous passer and playmaker and for 2 games in last year’s playoffs against the Suns, he showed that off to great success. But he lapsed back into his usual style and sunk the team. Maybe Kobe will figure it out. He needs to if the Lakers are to have any hope.
The sad reality of all this is that the Lakers would be better off trading Kobe. I know that sounds crazy, but it gives them the best chance to rebuild. Kobe could keep them in the first round of the playoffs for as long as he’s healthy, but probably will never lead them past that. It is a sad waste of talent, but they should trade him and trade him now when they could get anything they wanted for him. They won’t of course and since I’m a Blazer fan, that is just fine with me.
LA, congratulations, you are the new Philadelphia.
Kobe does niether.
As a result, I believe Kobe’s Lakers are about to look very much like Iverson’s Sixers. Chad Ford on ESPN.com said that the Lakers could end up looking like the T Wolves, but I think the Sixers are a much better comparison. Two things conspired against Philly putting a decent team together while AI was there and in his prime. First was terrible management. Bad draft picks, bad free agent contracts, bad coaching decisions, bad employee relations. The track record of management in the AI era was….well…bad.
The second factor, however, is even more important. Iverson was not someone you could build a contender around. I love Iverson’s heart, competitive drive and awesome skill set. But he is a great scorer, not a great player. He has the skills to be a great player, one of the greatest probably, but his consistent inability to make his teammates better keeps him from the label of “great” in my mind unless you are just talking about his scoring. I argue about this with my buddy Adam who writes great stuff over at www.wisinsider.blogspot.com all the time, and Adam is a smart guy, but he’s just wrong about this one (of course since I think I’m the only one that thinks this, odds are probably in his favor, but I’m going to ignore that).
The real problem with Iverson from a franchise perspective is he can’t be the centerpiece. The same is true for Kobe. Here’s why:
1. During his prime in Philly he was the alpha dog. No way would he have modified his game to suit another dominant player or defer to that player. Who knows what might have been if Shaq had been brought in, but other than that, Iverson never would have deferred. As a consequence, that would have either alienated the other star or would have still left AI as the go to guy and that would have been trouble. Duncan defers to Parker and Manu at times. Shaq defers to Wade. Sometimes, the best player on the team, needs to defer to the other star for that star to be effective. No way AI would have done this unless the other star was a bonafide superstar already established and how many guys like that are there that are on the trading block?
2. Iverson ruins his help – I know the list of guys who were supposed to be the wing man for AI is not particularly distinguished. Still DC, Hughes, Van Horn, Stackhouse and Glen Robinson all played the worst ball of their career with Iverson. Iverson dominates the ball and the thing that makes him great (his belief in himself) is the thing that holds him back because he won’t allow the players around him to develop or excel.
3. Iverson dominates the ball – he over dribbles, refuses to play within an offense and is a classic volume shooter. Sure he scores 30 and that’s impressive especially given his size, but he has to take a ton of shots to get there….shots that his teammates aren’t getting to take.
4. He’s a coach killer. He is such a strong personality and so beloved by fans and makes himself so necessary to the team (in appearance) that he is not required to play in an offense and will, knowingly or not, completely undermine a coach to the rest of the team.
All of those things led to disaster in Philly. As I mentioned, management was terrible and that contributed as well, but even the proven champion builders would have had a nearly impossible time building a contender there. Iverson wouldn’t allow it even though it is truly what he wanted the most.
The comparisons with Kobe in LA are pretty easy to spot for anyone who follows the NBA and isn’t drunk on Kobe Kool-Aid. Kobe suffers from the four problems I listed above every bit as much as Iverson and maybe even more in some ways. I mean, at least Iverson is driven by a will to win. I believe Kobe is driven by a will to be seen as the best. That is a huge difference and is reflected in their play and attitude. And that difference only amplifies the problems listed above.
So, where does that leave LA? Well, where did it leave Philly? It left them years of frustration as they tried combination after combination of players trying to find one that could play and win with Iverson. They never found it, because AI wouldn’t let them (and because they couldn’t find wood in a forest). I think LA is headed in the same direction. There are only 4 things that will keep LA from reaching the depths that Philly did with AI. It will take some combination of all 4 to ever see LA a contender again with Kobe on the team.
1. LA is not Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a great city, but if you were a young famous millionaire who makes their money as a professional entertainer, do you go to the land of the sun and beautiful people, where Hollywood beckons and stars are seen in every trendy café? Or do you go to the historically rich, cold and blustery city in NY’s shadow where you can play for some of the most passionate, but also lamest fans in sports? You may like the snow and the old world American charm, but most freshly minted young rich hoop stars are going to like LA. That gives la la land a significant recruiting advantage when trying to find stars to come play with Kobe.
2. Kobe has even better skills than Iverson. He’s a better shooter, better scorer and even more clutch. This means that even if he remains a one-man show as I predict, that one man show should still win more games than AI did as a Sixer. It’s not enough to make them a contender, but does mean less additional talent is needed.
3. The NBA will protect the Lakers. They need them. The biggest market, the glamour franchise. I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but the NBA will start helping the Lakers in any way possible if it really starts to go into the tank. Not sure what form that takes, but it’s real.
4. The T-Mac factor. T-Mac got it this year. He is a completely different player. I have killed him in this post before for being selfish and he does have a terrible history of selfish play, including his shameful behavior in Orlando. That said, Van Gundy or something finally got through to him this year. He has always been one of the most skilled players and best scorers in the league. But this year he finally seems to get that his team has a better chance of winning if he (a) defers some to that 7’6” giant in the paint and (b) expends considerable effort making plays for his teammates (who aren’t very good by the way except for Battier). This led to astonishing feats like his 16 assist performance in the playoffs. Even if Houston doesn’t win, this is a huge development for TMac and the Rockets and has made me a Rockets fan for now.
Well, if T-Mac can turn himself around and start playing the right way, then so can Kobe. Kobe has 3 rings so he may be even more entrenched in his selfish ways, but I think there is hope. Kobe can be a tremendous passer and playmaker and for 2 games in last year’s playoffs against the Suns, he showed that off to great success. But he lapsed back into his usual style and sunk the team. Maybe Kobe will figure it out. He needs to if the Lakers are to have any hope.
The sad reality of all this is that the Lakers would be better off trading Kobe. I know that sounds crazy, but it gives them the best chance to rebuild. Kobe could keep them in the first round of the playoffs for as long as he’s healthy, but probably will never lead them past that. It is a sad waste of talent, but they should trade him and trade him now when they could get anything they wanted for him. They won’t of course and since I’m a Blazer fan, that is just fine with me.
LA, congratulations, you are the new Philadelphia.
Comments
As for the Lakers, I think you are right in how similar it is. L.A. has done some very dumb stuff recently (not trading Bynum for Kidd, trading Caron Butler for Kwame), but the situation that Kobe is currently complaining about is of his own doing. He ran the best coach and best center in the league out of town, then he took the cash and the glory to stay in L.A. rather than go somewhere with a better chance to win when he was a free agent. Then, on top of that, he went out played for himself for three years.
I guess there is some hope that he could "get it" like T-Mac and Baron have this year, but I doubt it. He's "got it" it before - most notably the first four games of the Suns series last year - but he just can't make it stick. It's like the idea of sharing the glory makes his skin crawl. Everything he does is so calculated that when he ignores teammates and just jacks up shots (see: end of Game One this year in Phoenix) it is totally by choice. It isn't misguided comepetitive fire like Iverson or lack of polish/maturity like fellow high schoolers like McGrady. It isn't even bodily self-preservation or laziness like Vince Carter. It is sheer, unadultrated selfishness. A cold, calculated, rational decision to do what he thinks is going to most elevatae his legend. This is why he played through more fake injuries than I can count during those three Finals (2000-2002), because he was trying so hard to have a Jordan Flu Game. And that contrived effort to manufacture a Willis Reed moment is the same aspect of his personality that makes him a terrible teammate and a guy that will keep L.A. in the middle of the pack. He's just too self-absorbed and focused on his place in NBA history to care enough about the season, series, or game at hand.
And that is just about the worst possible thing I could say about a player.