Jump to content

NBA GDT | '20-'21 | KD returns to GS tonight!


11sanchez11

Recommended Posts

8 minutes ago, Pastor Dillon said:

The lakers seemed to throw in the towel pretty early in that one. Surprising. 

Is it? I mean, there is very very little chance they miss the playoffs. They can afford to be conservative, especially against good teams like the Clippers. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

forreal..... who does Shaq think he is? lol

Charles was making a point that we all know the star players get some level of preferential treatment, but that the star player needs to also make his teammates feel good and lead by example at the same time. Then, Shaq went on this spiel that as long as they put in the work  they are entitled to that treatment and saying being late a few times isn't bad, but then when Ernie asked Chuck "were you late?" and  Chuck told him "never.... being late is direspectful. If I was late it was bc of something serious" and how when he was on the Sixers their coach left Julius Erving and Moses Malone when they were late and Shaq thinking he was being funny snuck in a "I was always late" while they were talking. We know Shaq.... we know.

Bro. Star players ain't the only ones putting in the work and he's acting like Kobe ain't call him out and have beef with him cause he didn't work hard enough and showed up out of shape.

He's constantly being a whole hypocrite. We all know you got a ton of preferential treatment. If Phil Jackson didn't come in and set his butt straight that he wasn't gonna be a Laker if he didn't buy in and listen and do what he asked of him, then he never would've won those titles. Kobe had a right to be mad at him.

Like Shaq said this about LeBron in his autobiography:

Quote

I remember one day in a film session LeBron didn’t get back on defense after a missed shot. Mike Brown didn’t say anything about it. He went to the next clip and it was Mo Williams not getting back and Mike was saying, ‘Yo, Mo, we can’t have that. You’ve got to hustle a little more.’ So Delonte West is sitting there and he’s seen enough and he stands up and says, ‘Hold up, now. You can’t be pussyfooting around like that. Everyone has to be accountable for what they do, not just some us.’ Mike Brown said, ‘I know, Delonte. I know.’ Mike knew Delonte was right.

Like Shaq is consistently inconsistent with this topic. This dude was talking about LeBron like his work ethic wasn't way superior to his.

Not to mention I swear all he does is hate on this generation of basketball players. 

Kobe looking down from heaven shaking his head at Shaq right now. Like anybody with some sense can see why they had beef lol.

Edited by TheRealMcCoy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, redsoxsuck05 said:

I mean you’re right about Shaq being lazy, but there’s a reason most of the guys preferred Shaq and looked to him as the leader as opposed to Kobe.

In large part, cause Kobe came into the league at 18 with the intense work ethic and focus on solely basketball during the early half of his career. Shaq on the other hand was laid back, funny and went out at night with teammates a lot? Kobe was more to himself. He had fun with teammates, even Shaq, when they were together. But, he wasn’t going to dinners and clubs with the guys. That wasn’t really his thing. Kobe also held himself to such a high standard and wanted others to do the same. He realized after the Shaq fiasco and a bumpy road with those bad Lakers teams that he needed to bond with his teammates on and off the court beyond basketball and grow the trust there. I mean as far as being the alpha and leader of the pack Shaq at the time probably was the better “leader”. He already had established himself in the league and knew how to make people like him. Kobe definitely didn’t have those same people skills early on. Took him some time, but he became a great leader in his #24 days on and off the court. He didn’t have that innate ability to bring a team together almost immediately in his career like say LeBron who might be one of the best examples of that.

But, overall the whole beef is a bit more nuanced than just Shaq was lazy and Kobe wasn’t good at connecting with his teammates outside of basketball though. Phil was a master manipulator and often pinned them against each other. There was talk about the wrong people being in Shaq’s ear. They both definitely had a hand in it, but Shaq would attack Kobe with slights here and there in the media and also when they did eventually break up the narrative was that it was on Kobe when that wasn’t really true. He definitely wasn’t blameless in the whole situation, but the perception was skewed in the media. It’s a shame it turned out like that cause if Kobe yielded more and was more of a social guy early on and Shaq wasn’t so insecure and had the same work ethic they would’ve won a couple more times. But, at the end of the day I understand Kobe’s side a lot more than Shaq’s. At least Kobe was trying everything to do to help his team win. He would play through so many injuries even early on, meanwhile Shaq would rehab on “company time”. Neither should be absolved of blame and both could’ve probably learned something from one another whether that was work ethic for Shaq or connecting with teammates better like Kobe. 

I think it says something that Kobe grew immensely post-Shaq as a teammate and just as a person. Kobe post retirement is night and day from the one we are discussing now. Meanwhile Shaq is almost middle aged now and is still very insecure and catty. That says a lot to me. It’s sad that Kobe had to get on Shaq about being a professional. He was the kid on the Lakers and taking his career and the success of the team as seriously as possible. 

Edited by TheRealMcCoy
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...