2009 Lakers roster pic

[Swagnificent]

To be fair, Kobe had first round exits/missed playoffs, before Pau and Bynum came. He just doesn't have as big of an effect on the game as Lebron.

men lie. women lie. numbers don't.

for the 3 straight years the Lakers were in finals, Kobe averaged 30/6/6. Pau 18/10. Bynum 7/5. Bynum didn't even play in 2008 when they lost to Boston.

Kobe carried those bums to 2 rings. All he needed was a little help. And one-time all-star Pau Gasol and his 18/9 were just that. a little help. Compare that to Bosh and Wade who were each 6 time all-stars before pairing with Bron.

Kobe won with littel help. Bron won with superteams.

 

[Swagnificent]

lol at people actin like bynum, odom, gasol and ariza weren't good back then

Gasol was a one-time all-star in his first 7 seasons at Memphis before joining Kobe. Compare that to Bosh who was a 6 time all-star in his first 7 seasons at Toronto before joining Bron.

Odom NEVER made an all-star team. Was perpetually known as a guy who never lived up to his potential.

Bynum never played back then. He was almost always injured. Missed the entire 2008 playoffs when the Lakers made it to the finals. And when he did play, he only averaged 7ppg and 5rpg during the 2009 and 2010 title runs.

Ariza was acquired as a throw in during a trade. He had zero value in the league before Kobe made him during the 09 run. not surprisingly the next time Ariza played good basketball was this past season during another contract year.

 

[CantStop]

Pau was so great that he won a total of 0 playoff games before joining Kobe.

 

[GunRanger]

men lie. women lie. numbers don't.

for the 3 straight years the Lakers were in finals, Kobe averaged 30/6/6. Pau 18/10. Bynum 7/5. Bynum didn't even play in 2008 when they lost to Boston.

Kobe carried those bums to 2 rings. All he needed was a little help. And one-time all-star Pau Gasol and his 18/9 were just that. a little help. Compare that to Bosh and Wade who were each 6 time all-stars before pairing with Bron.

Kobe won with littel help. Bron won with superteams.

more people believe Pau deserved FMVP in 2010 than believe Kobe carried them. "A little help"

 

[Swagnificent]

The same idiots were calling it one of the greatest rosters of all time back then.

yea cause we had the gawd. Kobe by his self made them amazing. Just face it.

 

[Swagnificent]

Kobe was no question the leader of that team and was most certainly the most valuable player on that team and in the entire league.....BUT....

People in this thread need to stop acting like Pau Gasol was some sort of marginal role player during those championship runs, when in fact he was giving you close to 20 points and 11 boards a game, a virtual double-double every.... single..... night.... smh. Odom, yea he's an easy target, but he was also giving you 10 and 10 with a few dimes.

Trevor Ariza was defending the opposing team's best wings and giving you close to 10 points off the bench along with 4 boards. Fish was also a glue for the team, he had championship pedigree and a good clutch gene.

Not to mention one of the greatest coaches in all of professional sports...Phil Jackson (along with his exceptional coaching staff).

It was an extremely well put together team with players that complemented each other.

And last, but certainly not least, let's not sit here and pretend the Lakers didn't go from losing 1-4 to the Suns in the first round the year prior to Pau arrival....to losing to the Celtics in 6 at the NBA Finals AFTER Pau's arrival.

Pau's relatively few All-Star appearances has more to do with the stacked Western Conference and the fact that it's mainly a popularity contest. The disrespect Pau gets - which is a cheaply veiled attempt to further prop up Kobe's legacy - is astouding! Kobe did not carry a bunch of bums to two championships. If that was the case, Kwame and Smush would have been had their rings!

in 2008, prior to Feb 5th (Pau's first game with LA) the Lakers were winning at a 65% clip....the 36 games with Pau in a Laker jersey? They won at a 75% clip.


Facts...I'm not making this up.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2008.html

No one is calling Pau a bum. All we're saying is that he was the equivalent of Chris Bosh. A damn good player. Top 20 in the league. But no superstar.

And yes Kobe didn't win before Pau got there. But thats cause he had no one on the team then. Who could win with Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, and Luke Walton as starters. The fact Kobe got them into the playoffs out West was a minor miracle. Kobe w right after they got Pau just shows that all Kobe needed was a decent #2 to win chips. Not a super team with another top 5 player like Bron had in Miami with Wade. But just a Chris Bosh.

 

[Swagnificent]

more people believe Pau deserved FMVP in 2010 than believe Kobe carried them. "A little help"

yea thats what we call idiot haters. Kobe averaged 29/6/6 in 2010 playoffs.

 

[The War Report]

LWO was in full force back then.

 

[Swagnificent]

Lebron is a better player breh.

most nba players don't think so. including bron's best friend wade who called kobe the second greatest player ever just a few weeks ago.

in the nba universe, the consensus is Kobe > LeBron (and just about every player post-Jordan era).

 

[onelastdeath]

most nba players don't think so. including bron's best friend wade who called kobe the second greatest player ever just a few weeks ago.

in the nba universe, the consensus is Kobe > LeBron (and just about every player post-Jordan era).

No one thinks that. Lebron's been the best player in the league since 2007 maybe 2006. No one is dissing Kobe. Like I said, he's the truth. But his ceiling /was/is not higher than Lebron's. Kobe a modified Jordan, Lebron is the first of his kind.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

more people believe Pau deserved FMVP in 2010 than believe Kobe carried them. "A little help"

Be honest, is this just because of his poor(statistically) shooting performance in Game 7 and you don't know you're talkin about or you have an actual number of more people believing Pau deserved FMVP in 2010 and real reasons as to why he deserved it more than the main catalyst of the team's success?

 

[Swagnificent]

I can say the same thing for some of Kobe's rings. His first ring he averaged 15 points on 36% shooting. Shaq averaged 38 and 17 shooting 65%

now what about the next season? when kobe averaged 29/7/6 in the 2001 playoffs. then 27/6/5 in the 2002 playoffs.





2000 was the only season you can say he was a "sidekick." and even then, he came up bigger than Shaq in game 7 of the WCF against the Blazers. the real championship series that year since the Blazers were the best team in the league outside of the Lakers.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

No one thinks that. Lebron's been the best player in the league since 2007() maybe 2006.() No one is dissing Kobe. Like I said, he's the truth. But his ceiling /was/is not higher than Lebron's. Kobe a modified Jordan, Lebron is the first of his kind.

Being the first of your kind doesn't automatically make you superior breh. Prime Kobe is a better player than LeBron at any point in time you can name. LMFAO@best player since 06. I'm fukkin

 

[onelastdeath]

Being the first of your kind doesn't automatically make you superior breh. Prime Kobe is a better player than LeBron at any point in time you can name. LMFAO@best player since 06. I'm fukkin

The stats dont show it breh. And yeah overall, I would say so.

 

[Swagnificent]

No one thinks that. Lebron's been the best player in the league since 2007 maybe 2006. No one is dissing Kobe. Like I said, he's the truth. But his ceiling /was/is not higher than Lebron's. Kobe a modified Jordan, Lebron is the first of his kind.

Wade, Dirk, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Greg Popovich, Pat Riley, etc. Hell even LeBron himself as late as 2009 said Kobe was the best in the NBA. I could keep going but I forgot. Check my post history cause I'm sure others in here remember all the quotes and videos I've posted on this subject. When it comes to NBA players and coaches, there was pretty much universal acknowledgement of Kobe as the best player int he league for most of the last decade. And definitely him being the best player in the NBA of this generation.

You can join the chorus of other Kobe haters who discount the testimony of Kobe's peers as to his greatness, but don't put your head in the sand and act like it didn't happen. Almost every day during the mid-to-late 2000s, there was a player or coach coming out calling Kobe the best player in the world.