The thing is, even Kobe readily admitted that being in Shaq's shadow and hearing the "Kobe can't win without Shaq" stuff bothered him. If he was only about winning, he would have been dreading the day that Shaq left, not looking forward to the new opportunities.
Star players grow accustomed to getting all of the praise when things go well and little of the blame when they don't. Being the second in line in LA basically turn the tables on Dwight since Kobe was the untouchable guy in town.
It bothered him because Shaq had been the one saying it.
And I sure would like to see this parallel universe where Dwight got all the blame the entire season and Kobe received no criticism whatsoever.
Mike Brown was the first person to get blame last season dude to him being a shytty coach that lost the locker room.
Pau Gasol got blamed sporadically throughout the season.
Kobe started getting blamed as soon as the regular season started. Or did I imagine that ESPN and half of you nikkas around here were constantly tracking Kobe's shot attempts and FG%?
Dwight was occasionally being criticized for his wack post game, but many gave him a pass because he wasn't healthy. It wasn't until Nash put him on blast for not playing hard that shyt really picked up. Then he tore his labrum and Kobe and a few others put him on blast for not playing through an injury they KNEW he could have played though.
Some of the criticisms of Dwight last season were unfair, but some of them he brought upon himself. There were times where he CLEARLY just wasn't engaged. It's not a coincidence that his play became more consistent after that meeting in Memphis.