<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> I'm here to see the infamous "Kobe Video," which has taken the world by storm it seems. The 24-second video clip was shot in late May, a few days before Kobe Bryant went public with his trade demands on national radio. It catches Bryant criticizing Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak for not pulling off a mid-season trade that would have sent Andrew Bynum to the New Jersey Nets for Jason Kidd. "It's been crazy," says Ron, who introduces himself as a representative of "The Kobe Video Guys," a couple of college-aged guys who talk to Bryant in the video but wish to remain anonymous in fear of the backlash they might get from Lakers fans. "Everyone wants to see it." I meet Ron, who appears to be just out of college himself, wearing a backpack and nervously looking around, inside of a nearby bookstore. "Let's go upstairs," he says, being followed by two well-built dudes who he jokingly (I think) calls his bodyguards. "I don't want anyone else watching." He then pulls out a laptop from his backpack and places the computer in front of me and hands over a set of headphones. "Are you ready?" he asks after I put the headphones on. "Here it is." The video, which was taken on a digital camera by a friend who was taking pictures of Bryant talking to the two inquisitive fans, begins with Bryant, standing in front of the Newport Coast Shopping Center and wearing a red shirt and sunglasses. He is talking about the trade that the Lakers reportedly turned down last season that would have brought Kidd to the Lakers for Bynum. "Andrew Bynum? What the f---?" Bryant says in disgust. "Are you kidding me? Andrew Bynum? F---ing ship his ass out. Are you kidding me? We're talking about Jason Kidd. But they didn't even want to do that. Now we're here in this f---ed up position." The tandem then asked Bryant what he thought about Bynum's potential. Bryant smiled and started to shake his head as if he was about to go on another tirade. "You know what man? Let me tell you something. Mitch Kupchak had the nerve to ask me..." At this point the 24-second video clip ends abruptly and we are left to wonder what Bryant says next. "The Kobe Video Guys" say that Bryant went on to say, "How good do you think Andrew Bynum is going to be in 10 years? Are you f---ing kidding me? I'm trying to win this s--- now." A week later the duo again ran into Bryant in Newport Beach, after he had made his trade demands public, and pulled out a cell phone and recorded one of them telling Bryant, "Please tell us you're staying." Bryant responded by saying, "Get a Bulls uniform fellas." </div> http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...9/kobe/?cnn=yes Take it for what you will.
I know he wants to win, but is this guy serious? First hes like a little bitch changing his mind everyday, then now he answers some little kids questions on a frikken cell phone!!! Lets say Kobe doesn't get traded, how is the Bynum Kobe relationship gonna work after this. I'm convinced that Kobe is fake as hell, and he might just be the most talented, asshole to ever play in the nba.
<div class="quote_poster">Miami Flash City Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I know he wants to win, but is this guy serious? First hes like a little bitch changing his mind everyday, then now he answers some little kids questions on a frikken cell phone!!! Lets say Kobe doesn't get traded, how is the Bynum Kobe relationship gonna work after this. I'm convinced that Kobe is fake as hell, and he might just be the most talented, asshole to ever play in the nba.</div> Do you realize the guy you criticizing right now is the same guy MJ used to be? No seriously man, Kobe is just competitive. After winning 3 rings, being a contender throughout his career, and all of a sudden he is here busting his butt off for a mediocre teammates who sometime show up and sometime disappear. BTW, they secretly recording Kobe that Kobe had no idea of. Had he knows it, he wouldn't say it. It was suppose to be a private thing.
believe me when i say 99% of the players aren't who they seem when being interviewed. If there's a camera nearby, they all put on an act. nothing big, they're human, just like us.
<div class="quote_poster">Miami Flash City Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I know he wants to win, but is this guy serious? First hes like a little bitch changing his mind everyday, then now he answers some little kids questions on a frikken cell phone!!! Lets say Kobe doesn't get traded, how is the Bynum Kobe relationship gonna work after this. I'm convinced that Kobe is fake as hell, and he might just be the most talented, asshole to ever play in the nba.</div> Fake in what sense? He very candid with those comments. I do agree with you about him changing his mind back and forth. He should have quit after his initial outburst. He made it known he's not happy with the progress of the team, but he should have allowed the front office time to get a deal done. These things take time to negotiate and get finalized, Kobe can't expect them to just hit the "Accept" button like you would in fantasy basketball and voila, the deal is done. A better way to handle it was complain to the media. Take a wait and see approach, and if nothing gets done, then request a trade. Instead he just killed the value of any asset the team might have traded, and also lowered his value across the league, which makes it that much harder for the Lakers to deal him for something worth while. If Kobe doesn't get traded, then he better apologize to Bynum and repair that relationship. I think Kobe needs to face the facts about his team last year. They were completely setback by all the injuries. Bynum wasn't even supposed to play his majority of the minutes in the NBA last year. He was supposed to continue to play in situational times, and spend a lot of time in the DLeague. He was forced to play because of Mihm's ongoing injury, and Kwame getting injured for a duration of the year. He became the center by default. He needs to understand it's not really Bynum's fault, and Bynum represents the safety net for the franchise once Kobe starts to decline. You have to love the irony of it all, because Kobe was in a similar situation with Shaq. Of course, Kobe is a lot more dedicated than Bynum has shown thus far, but big men generally take longer to develop than wing players. It would be a lot more productive for Kobe to take Bynum under his wing and push the kid into becoming a dominant post player. Build that relationship, trust, and help Bynum mature and develop the mental edge, that Kobe plays with. This is the area of leadership Kobe has yet to grasp.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Fake in what sense? He very candid with those comments. I do agree with you about him changing his mind back and forth. He should have quit after his initial outburst. He made it known he's not happy with the progress of the team, but he should have allowed the front office time to get a deal done. These things take time to negotiate and get finalized, Kobe can't expect them to just hit the "Accept" button like you would in fantasy basketball and voila, the deal is done. A better way to handle it was complain to the media. Take a wait and see approach, and if nothing gets done, then request a trade. Instead he just killed the value of any asset the team might have traded, and also lowered his value across the league, which makes it that much harder for the Lakers to deal him for something worth while. If Kobe doesn't get traded, then he better apologize to Bynum and repair that relationship. I think Kobe needs to face the facts about his team last year. They were completely setback by all the injuries. Bynum wasn't even supposed to play his majority of the minutes in the NBA last year. He was supposed to continue to play in situational times, and spend a lot of time in the DLeague. He was forced to play because of Mihm's ongoing injury, and Kwame getting injured for a duration of the year. He became the center by default. He needs to understand it's not really Bynum's fault, and Bynum represents the safety net for the franchise once Kobe starts to decline. You have to love the irony of it all, because Kobe was in a similar situation with Shaq. Of course, Kobe is a lot more dedicated than Bynum has shown thus far, but big men generally take longer to develop than wing players. It would be a lot more productive for Kobe to take Bynum under his wing and push the kid into becoming a dominant post player. Build that relationship, trust, and help Bynum mature and develop the mental edge, that Kobe plays with. This is the area of leadership Kobe has yet to grasp.</div> Uhh I don't think Kobe was blaming Andrew Bynum. He blaming the facts the Lakers FO could have gotten a HoF Jason Kidd to play with him giving the fact that all they have to do is trade Bynum/Kwame Brown/Filler for J-kidd. The thing is Bynum is so young, and like you mentioned last year was truely his rookie season. By the time Bynum has any impact on basketball court consistently, Kobe will be too old to compete at the same level now. There is a reason we hire Kareem to work with Bynum. Kobe can't do much to Bynum, it is entirely up to Bynum to perform. If I would Bynum, I wouldn't take this personal. I take it as a challenge and work hard this summer and prove to Kobe what I can do next season.
<div class="quote_poster">kobe4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Do you realize the guy you criticizing right now is the same guy MJ used to be? No seriously man, Kobe is just competitive. After winning 3 rings, being a contender throughout his career, and all of a sudden he is here busting his butt off for a mediocre teammates who sometime show up and sometime disappear. BTW, they secretly recording Kobe that Kobe had no idea of. Had he knows it, he wouldn't say it. It was suppose to be a private thing </div> What does it matter if they were secretly recording it or not? He said what was on his mind, and a camera just happened to be there to show his true feelings about the situation. I'm not upset Kobe said whatever he did, I would be frustrated if I was in his situation as well. However, Kobe's got to realize that he must now keep his mouth shut because the off-season hasn't even really STARTED and he's already brought down his own value as well as the off-court respect/credibility he had begun to rebuild.
If thats how how Kobe feels then let him speak his mind. It's not like you have never talked about your boss behind his back and saying that he' a bad boss.
of course ...we all do that, but we don't record the videos of it and sell them all over the internet lol. It's one time thing for both of us to blow of steam by .... about your Boss behind their back.
^^ Then why make it a big deal! will you sell a video about talking bad stuff about your boss on the internet?
<div class="quote_poster">Bacon Smeller Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">^^ Then why make it a big deal! will you sell a video about talking bad stuff about your boss on the internet?</div> It all depends on the price ....and last time I checked I wasn't Kobe Bryant ownning over 100mil in salary, but I'd do it for the heck of it. If the boss really got on my nerves, I mean really got on my nerves.
<div class="quote_poster">LBJ2006MVP Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It all depends on the price ....and last time I checked I wasn't Kobe Bryant ownning over 100mil in salary, but I'd do it for the heck of it. If the boss really got on my nerves, I mean really got on my nerves.</div> Well if you want you can give us a little preview of what you would say?
<div class="quote_poster">Bacon Smeller Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well if you want you can give us a little preview of what you would say? </div> haha like I said It's all depends on the price ....
<div class="quote_poster">LBJ2006MVP Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">haha like I said It's all depends on the price ....</div> What would be a comfortable price for you?
Kobe is the Lakers. It's a mistake for a Laker fan to question his actions. The guy wants to win and he wants to win now. If I was a Laker fan, that's the kind of mind set I want our star player to have. Kobe is right. The Laker management hasn't given him the support he needs. Even Michael Jordan needed help. The Kidd situation clearly set Kobe off. I'm not saying this because I'm a Kidd fan. But c'mon man! They wouldn't give up Bynum to get the Hall of Fame bound Kidd?! Kidd was practically in their hands but let him slip away. Like what <font color=""Blue""><u>kobe4life</u></font> said, MJ was the same way and look what it did to him. Kobe wants to win. Period!
Jason Kidd showed during this year's playoffs that he's still one of the best PG's in the game. And we could have had him had we given up Andrew Bynum. Hmm...future hall of famer who's still productive or a 19 year old center with "potential"? If they really wanted to build around Kobe (as opposed to the future), that trade would have been done.
You guys have put yourself in a tough situation. Kidd's value has gone up, so if you decide to pursue him again, expect Thorn to look for more than just Bynum. You had a great opportunity to get him before., unforunately Mitchy was trigger-shy.
