There is an argument between NBA fans hammed up by ESPN that is a big moneymaker for the league, most likely. Of all the great players in the league two of them, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have formed what can only be referred to as cults. Both of them, always seeming to be in direct competition, ironically, almost never are. The LeBron camp points to statistics, unselfishness and hope for the future while the Kobe disciples preach rings and so-called "clutch" play. It's a debate that cannot end because debating individual players in a team sport is a doomed discussion from the beginning, especially when the individual statistics vs. team success results do not point to the same player.
Anyone reading this blog knows which camp I sympathize with. I've been writing mostly about LeBron and his team for years now. But the most common NBA discussion I'm constantly forced into having puts me in a position of trying to diminish Kobe Bryant. Though an all-time great player, Bryant and his fans have always done their respective jobs in a supremely distasteful way. Kobe Bryant, with his four (possibly soon-to-be five) titles, has gunned for a 40-point game against Orlando (his first in the finals), hogged shots from Odom and Gasol in 2008 in the second half, en-route to blowing a 20-point lead at home, shot in the mid 30% against Detroit in 2004 (while teammate Shaquille O'neal shot close to 70%) and took a lot more shots than his Center, and even this year he took 27 shots in Game 5 when the whole world knows the Lakers' greatest advantage against Boston is in the paint. He scored 38 points and hurt his team doing it, and I think he knows this.
The problem with him is that he knows his team is better. He scores 38 points and loses. He knows the media will say "Kobe needs help," without afterthought of how ridiculous that statement is, given the fact that this team, without Kobe, is the biggest and most skilled team in the league with the best coach in the league. When a shooting guard takes 27 shots in an NBA game, he is refusing to be helped. Kobe however, will be deified once again if the Lakers win this series and made into a martyr if they lose. He plays as if the game is a reality show where he is the star. If he didn't do that, this series would be over by now and he'd be on his way to his eighth title. He trades winning for credit, the definition of selfish.
The conflict comes when he has a game like Game 6 where he takes 19 shots and, begrudgingly, allows his teammates to dominate. That is what a leader should do and much more often than he does it. The response to a game like Game 6 is usually an extrapolation that he is the best player in the world. This reaction comes from the media and most of America who relate to his insecurities that cause him to play the way he does. In truth, I relate to these insecurities but I do not endorse the way he deals with them.
And for the first time in years I haven't been able to point to LeBron James as the ideal way to operate and the contradiction to everything that is Kobe Bryant.
In the last two years, LeBron's lack of commitment to Cleveland and the Cavaliers have cost him and his team the opportunity to add Trevor Ariza and possibly to be coached by Tom Izzo, all the while preaching leadership, loyalty and winning. These losses are especially hurtful considering his end to the season without giving an explanation for his uninspired play. At some point, "toughing it out" and pretending you aren't hurt when you really are is no longer the prudent move.
I had never given the claims that LeBron's perceived lack of commitment was hurting the Cavs because it had never showed on the court or seemed to be weighing on the team and, given his track record, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But it's all happening now. LeBron is missing out on his great coaches and good young talent to play with because of...well, because of him. Though I would never operate like LeBron, nor could I, I've always been able to understand where he was coming from. But now, LeBron's decisions seem purely selfish to me and I can't defend that.
There is the argument that LeBron has earned this opportunity to act for himself given everything he's done for the Cavaliers, and that argument has some legitimacy, but I don't work in the business side of professional sports. What LeBron is doing does not meet the ethical standards to which I would like to hold him.
Kobe Bryant is a selfish player. He lies to himself, to his teammates, to the media and fans. Given his talent, skill and the situations in which he has been put, his mentality has actually cost himself titles rather than earned them. But with the onslaught of praise for Kobe from the blind masses, LeBron's actions, at least for the time being, have left the rest of us with no place to turn.
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