Andrew wrote:During the Lakers/Thunder game last week, they showed a somewhat amusing clip of Jeff Van Gundy interviewing Kobe before the game. JVG asked Kobe if he could still be the best player on a championship team and Kobe rolled his eyes and said "Of course!", an "Are you serious?" expression on his face. Classic Kobe, one has to appreciate his candour.
Still, with the way he's been playing so far in his return, it's a valid question. Granted, it's early days, but right now he's not performing anywhere close to his usual standard. He's not getting to the free throw line as much, he's shooting 40% from the field (13% from downtown) and while he's dishing out a shade under 7 assists a game, he's also committing six turnovers per contest. Again, early days, but right now he definitely doesn't look like the best player on a championship team.
However, if he still seems himself as one, that could be a problem for the Lakers moving forward. Any pitch they make to a top free agent is basically going to boil down to "Take less money and play second fiddle to Kobe in the twilight of his career". They can talk about the prestige of the organisation, the honour of being a Laker and all that, but I don't think that's going to get the job done. Perhaps the late Dr Buss could've sold that line, but I'm not sure that his son can. The Lakers may just have resigned themselves to mediocrity (or worse) in the near future.
Spot on. Kobe's not going to stay this bad but it's farfetched to think they can build a real contender under current situation unless the Lakers are willing to go Nets' Proky. It's just not going to be that easy. "We're the Lakers, come and play for us for honor." is bullshit talk, only thing they will be playing for is Kobe while they get a real paycut. Prior to Kobe's deal, the Lakers positioned themselves nicely for "2 max players + then some" on top of Kobe. That turned into "1 max player + very little" thanks to Kobe & his lol-paycut. That just is not a championship outlook.
Part of reason why I find the Kings an interesting team to watch despite their sheer awfulness. I don't think he's gonna pan out to be the dominant big man anytime soon that some people dreamed of.
