Kobe Bryant's Final Games

[Andrew]

So, we're in the final stretch of the 2016 NBA regular season. A perfect finish by the Warriors will see them beat the Chicago Bulls' mark of 72-10. Elsewhere, a perfect finish by the San Antonio Spurs would allow them to finish 70-12. And a perfect finish by the Cleveland Cavaliers would give them a sixty win season, the only team in the East to reach that mark this season.

Hardly forgotten but still somewhat overshadowed because his play hasn't been stellar, Kobe Bryant is wrapping up his NBA career after 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. While he's one of the best players of all-time, his farewell tour has been very lacklasture at best to downright ugly at worst, from his numbers to the Lakers' struggles. So far this season, he's scored less than ten points in eleven games, the most since his second year in the league. Three of his last four games have been single digit scoring affairs, including a five point, 1/11 performance against the Jazz, and a two point, eight minute effort against the Heat. He's shooting 35% on the season, his PER is below league average, and pretty much all of his numbers - raw and advanced - are well below his career marks and highs.

Simply put, he's limping to the finish.

And you know what? I'm kind of sorry to see it. I'll go on record and admit that I'm not a fan of Kobe Bryant. Only a fool or blind hater would deny that he's an all-time great, and I can't say that I haven't enjoyed some of his highlights over the years, but I've never been a fan. Chalk it up to him being hyped hard as the next Jordan, and fanboys really running hard with that. He is - or was, and has been - a great player, but I've generally cheered against him, rather than for him. Hey, most of us have a player and/or team like that.

However, I think back to Michael Jordan's last season with the Wizards, how people smirked because he looked mortal, and how he did indeed struggle at times, falling short of his past performances and statistics. Of course, I do feel compelled to point out that MJ's farewell tour was a better showing than Kobe's, but cheap shots like that aside, I can't help but make comparisons, and sympathise with Kobe fans. I've been that fan, watching my all-time favourite player not be able to live up to their past greatness, sticking around a little too long, and padding career totals in ultimately meaningless games. Becoming a punchline for those who never cared for them, or were indeed flat out haters. Listening to the inane arguments that because of the struggles in their final years, it somehow erases or outweighs all of their accomplishments.

It's tough to watch, and it's tough to admit that you'd actually rather not see the player you've wanted to watch for so long. It seems safe to suggest that it's not that easy on the player, themselves. I'm sure this isn't the farewell tour that Kobe imagined. I'm sure that he'd have liked to have taken a shot at passing Kareem and then MJ for the all-time lead in career Playoff points. I'm sure he'd like to be able to regularly do the things that he once did, as much as his fans wish that he could. I'm sure he wishes he could call it a day on his own terms, even if he is kind of doing that.

Again, I'm not a Kobe fan, and I've spent a lot of his career cheering for his opponents against him. But you know what? I hope he has a good finish to the season, and his career. I'm going to have to tune in to his last game, because I do enjoy traditions, celebrations, and "moments" in basketball, and it will be an historic moment. Let him score 50 points in his last game, and surpass Jordan's finale against the 76ers in 2003. Let him have that, if he can muster one last big performance.

It's not as though he hasn't received attention and acclaim throughout this season, and of course, his career. But since we do know that his last game is approaching, we're already aware of its significance. To that end, I hope that he can still put on a bit of a show, one last time.

[air gordon]

I hope this is the last of these "farewell" type tours. This one has been a painful one.. To the point where you feel pity for him.

Bryant had a great career. It's not like we won't see him again- his Jersey retirement and when he makes the HOF

[Andrew]

Three or four years ago, it wouldn't have been so bad. He was still playing at a pretty high level, and the Lakers were at least in Playoff contention. This has definitely been one of the uglier ones, though.

[Andrew]

On the lighter side:

phpBB [video]

[Patr1ck]

He's... He's refusing to pass!
....just get the rebound!

[Bruce]

In the end, I have to be appreciative of the fact that he is being celebrated by each and every team when he goes to their arena to play. Kobe is doing it his way instead of fizzling out and holding a small press conference in the off-season and simply fade into obscurity. I assume somebody out there is already compiling all the footages of Kobe's last games and later a documentary would be produced. In all honesty, this year has been a better year for the Lakers than the past few years.

[[Q]]

Man, I was there from the beginning. As a kid I was about 12 years old when Fro Kobe broke onto the scene with Chick Hearn calling the action and I was rooting for Shaq, Kobe, Eddie, and Van Exel. What an awesome team. They started winning with Phil, got a bit cocky for my taste, but I've come full circle and it's just crazy to think that his career (mercifully) is coming to an end. As most have mentioned, it should have ended a few years ago, but he obviously didn't want to retire to injuries and he didn't want our last memory of him limping off the court, so he worked his ass off to make it back.

In the end, I have to be appreciative of the fact that he is being celebrated by each and every team when he goes to their arena to play. Kobe is doing it his way instead of fizzling out and holding a small press conference in the off-season and simply fade into obscurity. I assume somebody out there is already compiling all the footages of Kobe's last games and later a documentary would be produced. In all honesty, this year has been a better year for the Lakers than the past few years.

Nah, fuck that. Boston doesn't deserve to cheer for him!

[NovU]

I hope this is the last of these "farewell" type tours. This one has been a painful one.. To the point where you feel pity for him.

Bryant had a great career. It's not like we won't see him again- his Jersey retirement and when he makes the HOF

Well said. Thank goodness it's coming to an end now.

As if last couple seasons weren't painful enough, this one was bit too much to bear. I don't think I'd like to see this type of farewell ever done again.

[air gordon]

just want to reiterate i do not fault a player for wanting to keep on playing. if they still want to play and some GM out there is willing to play that player, by all means. i said the same thing about jordan in the black and blue forums...

my point of contention is announcing a retirement before the season start/at the beginning of the season. that combined with the media coverage and the lakers record is what has made this terrible.

i believe David Robinson was the last player to publicly announce his retirement and have a farewell tour. maybe no social media and the market the spurs are in big parts in it going smooth and not overdone.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I believe Robinson, Jordan, and Stockton all announced it would be their last season that year. Either way, it did turn out to be the last outing for all three.

I'd say social media and whatnot definitely contributes to the hoopla getting more out of hand than it did back in the day.

[koberulz]

I hope this is the last of these "farewell" type tours. This one has been a painful one.. To the point where you feel pity for him.

Would it be any less painful if he hadn't announced anything, though?

[air gordon]

Absolutely. Less lakers games on national tv is a good thing for non laker fans. It doesn't diminish Bryant's career if the last games he plays was not on ESPN Tnt etc

And what about the development of the Lakers young players?

[koberulz]

I can't imagine either of those things has been significantly impacted.

[air gordon]

and this non biased opinion is based on...?

[NovU]

I guess there's a point. He was playing to be the worst high usage player ever but with retirement announcement it came selective games, managed minutes, which allowed Kobe to to play better and focus on greeting fans. Perhaps pressure was off, he didn't need to pretend Lakers had a shot neither did he have to pretend to be a great mentor as Lakers games carried different meanings, for fans.




Either way, I though this retirement party was a big turn off kinda like 76ers perpetual tanking. I don't think nothing good really came out it, it's just a distraction and poorly written B movie. The league and media spent good amount of time and resource on a failed blockbuster movie. Even Michael Jordan's last season wasn't this bad.

[air gordon]

speaking of mentoring- has there been any news of bryant mentoring the young guys? not even a fluff piece?

[Andrew]

Perhaps relevant here: Laker Teammates Feel Pressured to ‘Give Kobe the Ball’

The Los Angeles Lakers are putting the finishing touches on the worst season in the iconic franchise’s 68-year history, but given the nightly standing ovations for Kobe Bryant, you wouldn’t know it.

Kobe’s farewell tour is all anyone in Laker Nation cares about, and his younger teammates say that the crowd puts pressure on them to force-feed The Black Mamba.

Bryant, despite shooting a career-worst 35 percent from the field, continues to (loudly) demand the rock.

“I feel bad for the other guys because every time they shoot the ball, they get booed,” Bryant said. “I can feel that and I understand that. I just try to get my body ready as much as possible to try to give the fans what they want for these last few games. God willing, I’m healthy and I can move and I can play well enough and I can give them what they came to see one more time.” […] Yet, Bryant insisted he has told his teammates “to just play the game.” Lakers coach Byron Scott reported he has threatened his players “if they don’t shoot, they’ll get pulled out of the game.”

As much as Bryant insisted he “will defer,” Russell said Bryant has often instructed him to pass him the ball. Both Bryant’s commanding presence and his teammates’ respect for him make it difficult to say “no.” Of course, it does not help the crowd endlessly cheers for Bryant to add to his career 33, 521 points. […] “I couldn’t imagine if I was in that situation and I was playing with (Michael Jordan),” Bryant said. “You’d almost have to beat me up not to pass him the ball.”

[koberulz]

and this non biased opinion is based on...?

It's the Lakers, they're a big-market team with a superstar player, so they're going to be on national TV regardless of how well they're playing. It's Kobe, so he's going to demand minutes/shots whether it's his last season or not.

[air gordon]

im surprised the nba doesn't step in and make wednesday's nationally televised games a triple header spectacular. bump the heat-celts game to a 6pm EST starting time, lala-utah at 8pm. how disrespectful for the nba to put bryants final game on espn ocho at the same time slot as GSW going for the record

[Andrew]

Lakers won't say how many minutes Kobe Bryant will play in finale

Kobe Bryant's career has almost ended. There are few details left to ponder about Wednesday's finale.

His playing time against the Utah Jazz is still a mystery.

"I know the fans, they would love to see [him] out there for 48 minutes," Lakers Coach Byron Scott said Monday. "That's not going to happen, I can tell you that."

Scott was reluctant to reveal how many minutes he and Bryant agreed upon for Bryant's career-capper, but indicated it would be more than any other game this season.

[Andrew]

Kobe still on that revisionist history kick...



http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/ ... day/265370
http://blogs.charlotte.com/inside_the_n ... worst.html
http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/columns ... id=6255802
http://articles.philly.com/1996-07-02/s ... arn-tellem

[[Q]]

Was it legitimately a "They didn't want me" story or was the pick already traded and Charlotte was simply picking on the Lakers' behalf? Hard to blame Charlotte if they had already agreed to move the pick

[NovU]

Kobe made it clear he was playing for the Lakers and no one else.
http://thebiglead.com/2015/12/30/kobe-b ... d-hornets/

What is he saying like no team wanted him and like the Lakers got him by accident? lol, sick joke.

[Patr1ck]

He almost seems bitter.

[Andrew]

Was it legitimately a "They didn't want me" story or was the pick already traded and Charlotte was simply picking on the Lakers' behalf? Hard to blame Charlotte if they had already agreed to move the pick

I've also heard that, that the Hornets more or less selected him on the Lakers' behalf.

In any case, it's pretty hypocritical of him to thumb his nose at teams that passed him over, when most accounts have him (or his agent) pulling strings and warning them away from selecting him.