An Open Letter To Kobe Bryant
I'm not a Lakers fan, and I think Hell will freeze over before the day ever comes when I become one. However, I'm shocked that you had the balls to come out yesterday morning and tell the world you wanted out of Los Angeles, only to pull a John Kerry hours after the fact and say you want to stay in Los Angeles.
Well Kobe, congratulations for signing over your nuts and any potential title runs you may have hoped to garner in your prime for many years of mediocrity and having the Suns run every shape in the book around you for the next few seasons to come. Congratulations for proving that hindsight really is 20/20. When you put the hammer down on the Lakers to get Shaq out of town... no, wait, you weren't behind that, were you?
Officially, no, of course you weren't. I mean, what kind of teammate would you be if you went to management (which hasn't been the same since The Logo was ousted) and told them that you wanted the Big Aristotle and the Zen Master run out of town on a rail?
Phil Jackson came back, but Shaq was gone and with him went any hopes you had of matching Jordan in terms of being a legacy and such. When they got next to nothing for Shaq, then shipped Caron Butler off to be an All-Star in Washington, your fate was sealed. A few years ago, before I wrote on this thing regularly, I said the move for you would be to go to the Clippers. Build a legacy there and turn them into the new team of L.A., but you couldn't do it. Your loyalty to the team you've been a fan of overrode common sense, but hey, if sense were common EVERYONE would have it. Surely you had to have known these Lakers you were so enthralled with weren't going anywhere but down and fast in the West. I mean, you and Shaq were barely able to get by the Spurs TOGETHER, how much tougher you think that would be without the Big Fella to negate Duncan down low? Who would've forseen the Rising Suns in the West so fast with Nash running the show? Then there's Dallas...
But outside of you, there's nobody on these Lakers that will smack Dirk in his teethies to put the fear that G-State put into them this year. Hell, I think even the Denver Duo of Melo and A.I. could take your Lakers out in a seven game series. So tell us again how excited you are about this team. Well, after you get done crying about needing more help.
Here's where you're federally fucked, Kobes. There's no help that's going to bring you any closer to a title. When you won those rings with Shaq, you had a complete TEAM in place. You had certain intangibles in place that you don't have now. There's no Big Shot Bob to knock down that game winner when the defense collapses on you. There's no Devean George or Rick Fox around to come off the bench and lend help, no Tyronn Lue either. Nothing.
You can forget about J. O'Neal coming in to save the day, because nothing short of Andrew Bynum and possibly Lamar Odom is going to make that possible and you haven't displayed the Jordanesque ability to make those around you better for this to even conceivably be a great move. You'd still be several paces behind the Mavs, Suns, and Spurs in the West. Hell, even the Jazz (who were tuned out in brutal fashion by the Spurs last night) are better than your boys right now.
Fact is, there's nothing that the Lakers can or will do to improve to your liking. You looked like you had a set when you told Stephen A. that you wanted out. Then you let Big Chief Con Artist talk you into staying and what's more is, he probably realizes more than you do that this team's not going to do a thing to improve. I mean, your team willingly accepted Kwame Brown, hands down the dumbest draft day move this side of Leon Smith. Kwame's the reason why Adolf Stern put a cap on the age limit for kids to enter the draft, it's because he doesn't want to be shaking the hands of anymore Kwame Browns that go bust in the near or distant future. Unless Bynum makes a quantum leap next season, you're stuck like Chuck through the rest of your prime.
So in conclusion Kobe, you are the best player in the league. I don't even think this is a close debate, in all honesty. However, the fact is and remains that you're stuck on a team that at the very best, will be just good enough to have the Spurs or Suns knocking you around in the first round for years to come. Hope you enjoyed your run with Shaq, cause it's over. Thanks for playing.
Sincerely,
Len Corleone
Posted 05/31/07 by Len | Filed under: An Open Letter To...
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