LINK: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14254236/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-announces-retire-season
The Players Tribune website has crashed due to traffic I'd guess.
The Players Tribune website has crashed due to traffic I'd guess.
"Someone else was donned The Chosen One but I'm the dude who dropped Eighty-One....."He wrote a poem about it.
Fortunately we have some local sports guys here in LA who have called Kobe on his shit from the beginning. That includes this recent retirement which he pimped out to debut a new marketing campaign.It hasn't even been a week yet and I'm already sick of it. Every other sports story is on Kobe's retirement tour, and the narrative has mostly changed from "Wow, Kobe is done" to "Everyone appreciate how good Kobe Bryant is, you are going to miss him when he is gone." It's all so stupid, the Kobe that won five rings and scoring titles has been gone for years, the great player is already gone, we are just rooting from an empty shell. Now every city Kobe visits his giving him presents and giving him tributes, I hope the Garden boo's him (though they won't) not because they don't respect his career, but because they don't respect this self-congratulatory farewell tour. The last Kobe can do is donate all of the bricks he is laying to build homeless shelters in each city.
Fortunately we have some local sports guys here in LA who have called Kobe on his shit from the beginning. That includes this recent retirement which he pimped out to debut a new marketing campaign.It hasn't even been a week yet and I'm already sick of it. Every other sports story is on Kobe's retirement tour, and the narrative has mostly changed from "Wow, Kobe is done" to "Everyone appreciate how good Kobe Bryant is, you are going to miss him when he is gone." It's all so stupid, the Kobe that won five rings and scoring titles has been gone for years, the great player is already gone, we are just rooting from an empty shell. Now every city Kobe visits his giving him presents and giving him tributes, I hope the Garden boo's him (though they won't) not because they don't respect his career, but because they don't respect this self-congratulatory farewell tour. The last Kobe can do is donate all of the bricks he is laying to build homeless shelters in each city.
Seriously? I was really hoping that Boston would be the one city to resist this stupid tide of adoration.Well, I advise you to look away on 12/30 because the Celtics are going to make a puketastic tribute to the guy and there will surely be Kobe chants in the Garden. If it were me, I'd show clips of the 2008 Finals and a Kobe blooper reel.
“People will always want to talk about the championships, the All-Star selections, or the scoring titles, but what I’ll really always cherish are all the times I let my teammates know when they completely fucked up,” said Bryant, adding that since deciding to retire at the end of this season, he has been hit by a sudden wave of nostalgia for all of the instances in which he unloaded on his fellow players for their mental errors or lack of physicality against opponents.
The 17-time NBA All-Star also became visibly choked up when describing how special it was as a fresh-faced 18-year-old to tell then-teammate Byron Scott that he can’t play for shit back in 1997, and then have the opportunity to tell Scott that he can’t coach for shit either almost 20 years later.
“The hardest part about walking away from the game is the day-to-day stuff—knowing I won’t be coming into practice every morning and getting the chance to call Nick Young a soft, overrated waste of a roster spot right to his face while guarding him in a scrimmage,” said Bryant. “It’s sad thinking that I may have stormed off the practice court in a show of pure disgust for the last time. I don’t know if that’s really even sunk in yet.”
“I’m just going to have to really savor ripping them apart during what’s left of the season,” Bryant added.
4-19, an average performance. Average.ATLANTA -- Kobe Bryant wanted to give his Atlanta fans one last epic performance.
The retiring NBA star had to settle for average instead.
"We played well, came out in the second half and competed well and got within striking distance," Bryant said. "Unfortunately, the game slipped away from us in the last three minutes."
Al Horford scored 16 points, Paul Millsap and Kent Bazemore each added 15 and the Hawks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 100-87 Friday night to spoil Bryant's last game in Atlanta.
In the third game since announcing his retirement plans earlier this week, Bryant scored 14 points on 4-for-19 shooting.
Well, I advise you to look away on 12/30 because the Celtics are going to make a puketastic tribute to the guy and there will surely be Kobe chants in the Garden. If it were me, I'd show clips of the 2008 Finals and a Kobe blooper reel.
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles-lakers/post/_/id/42302/kobe-requests-no-more-gifts-on-court-ceremonies-from-teams-during-farewell-tourLos Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has requested that opposing teams do not present him with gifts or hold any on-court ceremonies during his final season in the NBA, a Lakers spokesman confirmed Friday.
From last night:Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant took a moment out of his farewell tour to call out his teammates for poor performance and what he sees as an attitude problem, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles News Group.
After the team’s 121–103 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, Bryant talked to the team for about two minutes in the locker room, specifically going after rookie D’Angelo Russell and second-year big man Julius Randle for smiling following the loss.
Bryant was also visibly upset after Randle missed two rebounds late in the third quarter, leading to a Damian Lillard three.
LINK: http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/04/08/report-agents-have-cited-kobe-telling-on-shaq-as-reason-not-to-sign-with-lakers/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcsYears later, after the case against him was dropped and a civil suit was settled out of court with no admission of guilt from Bryant, agents of prominent NBA players would still cite the O’Neal subplot as the sort of sin that inspired their clients to steer clear of Laker Land.
There a gift from Eddie.Arsenio Hall can still afford floor seats there?