Kobe "home discount is crap"

[OutlawImmortal]

Good. That might be worth a win or two this season.

I'm sure it will result in a championship for the Mavs, lol.

 

[Inimical]

Oh dear god the posts get worse!

 

[Inimical]

Bingo!

When you are reduced to signing useless uniform fillers like Boozer because you can't afford anyone who actually has a heart, this is the result. Not saying Nick Young doesn't have a heart... but cmon. Dude is at best your eighth guy off the bench.

Can't play defense like they did tonight and expect 25 wins.

The Lakers had the money and attempted to go after everybody. Even in trades before the offseason. What are you guys smoking? How is this all Kobes fault? Haters need to step your games up.

 

[Inimical]

nope kobe doesnt.

"It's the popular thing to do," Bryant said after the Los Angeles Lakers' shootaround in preparation for Friday's game against Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks. "The player takes less, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think it's a big coup for the owners to put players in situations where public perception puts pressure on them to take less money. Because if you don't, then you get criticized for it.
"It's absolutely brilliant, but I'm not going for it. I know the new head of the players association ain't going for it, either."
[…]
"This is where players get themselves in a lot of trouble, which me in my 19th year I really don't care, so I'll kind of say what I need to say," said Bryant, who indicated that he would retire at the end of this contract. "But I think you've got to look at the business of basketball. I think for a lot of writers, for a lot of fans, they have a very tough time distinguishing the two.
"This is a business, and you have to look at individuals and what they generate and the market that they're generating revenue in. And you can't separate those. People have a hard time separating that stuff. From a business perspective, you have to take that stuff into account and you have to try to, as a player, be in situations where it can be a win-win for everybody.
"So did I take a discount? Yeah. Did I take as big a discount as some of you fans would want me to? No. Is it a big enough discount to help us be a contender? Yeah. So what we try to do is be in a situation where they take care of the player and the player takes care of the organization enough to put us in a championship predicament eventually."


Hopefully Kobe explained it for you good enough, but im here if you need me.

 

[Inimical]

*Waits for this to devolve into some other grasping for straws concept*

 

[OutlawImmortal]

I didn't even read that quote from Kobe, I thought it was just common sense.

 

[Inimical]

I didn't even read that quote from Kobe, I thought it was just common sense.

Well you know the thing about common sense, it aint common!

 

[Otis B. Driftwood]

The Lakers had the money and attempted to go after everybody. Even in trades before the offseason. What are you guys smoking? How is this all Kobes fault? Haters need to step your games up.

If you only knew how many times I've heard delusional Lakers fans (as opposed to damn good ones which I am friends with) toss that stupid "Lakers will always get the best players because it's friggin' Los Angeles" argument at me over the years, then you will understand why I chuckled at your comment.

You get it.

 

[Inimical]

If you only knew how many times I've heard delusional Lakers fans (as opposed to damn good ones which I am friends with) toss that stupid "Lakers will always get the best players because it's friggin' Los Angeles" argument at me over the years, then you will understand why I chuckled at your comment.

You get it.

Well they can't all be home runs, but lord knows they tried. In the end kobe and the lakers will both make money. And that's all that matters from the business standpoint. Meanwhile the ones who invest into the product ( lakers fans), bitch away. Everyone else? Enjoy our relevant irrelevancy in the meantime.

 

[Otis B. Driftwood]

Well they can't all be home runs, but lord knows they tried. In the end kobe and the lakers will both make money. And that's all that matters from the business standpoint. Meanwhile the ones who invest into the product ( lakers fans), bitch away. Everyone else? Enjoy our relevant irrelevancy in the meantime.

Believe me - as long as Jimmy Buss is running things out there... I will enjoy it very much.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

Kobe is only in it for the money.

All of them are in it for the money - the only ones that chooses a profession based on compassion and all of that crap are monks who take a vow of poverty

 

[Inimical]

All of them are in it for the money - the only ones that chooses a profession based on compassion and all of that crap are monks who take a vow of poverty

 

[wildturkey]

Like I said when he signed the contract, I don't blame Kobe for taking the money. True stars don't get close to their actual value so I've always felt they should get all they can. But what I fault is LA even offering him that contract to begin with. No team in the league was going to pay him that kind of cash. They bid against no one but themselves. If Kobe hit the open market, he'd draw 10 to 12 mil tops. He's a player in his mid-30s. No one was going to sink serious cash into him at that point. LA could have still shown him some love with a 15 mil per year deal and still had cap room to spread around. But they never even negotiated. They just were like "Hey Kobe, want the max?". They should have offered 15 mil and not a dime more. What was he gonna do? Go to another team? He may have bitched and whined but I seriously doubt he would have left to go play for like the Hawks for 10 mil a year just out of spite. LA had all the power in this situation and not only did they not use it, they never even tried.

 

[Inimical]

Like I said when he signed the contract, I don't blame Kobe for taking the money. True stars don't get close to their actual value so I've always felt they should get all they can. But what I fault is LA even offering him that contract to begin with. No team in the league was going to pay him that kind of cash. They bid against no one but themselves. If Kobe hit the open market, he'd draw 10 to 12 mil tops. He's a player in his mid-30s. No one was going to sink serious cash into him at that point. LA could have still shown him some love with a 15 mil per year deal and still had cap room to spread around. But they never even negotiated. They just were like "Hey Kobe, want the max?". They should have offered 15 mil and not a dime more. What was he gonna do? Go to another team? He may have bitched and whined but I seriously doubt he would have left to go play for like the Hawks for 10 mil a year just out of spite. LA had all the power in this situation and not only did they not use it, they never even tried.

They couldnt get anybody anyways.

 

[Inimical]

*Waits for this to devolve into some other grasping for straws concept*

Lakers fans are so stupid and delusional.

"Is it a big enough discount to help us be a contender? Yeah." - Stupid ass egotistical asshole trying to justify his choice to continue to be highly over paid.

Put Kobe on the Mavs roster, would they win? No, because Kobe wants to ****** the ball and hold it and make his teammates play the waiting game.

He averages 4 assist a game this year playing 35.4 minutes. 39% from the field. Kobe is a joke. The Lakers are a joke. Thank the basketball gods the 2 most annoying organizations are doing poorly(Boston and LA)

 

[trojanfight]

I'm not so sure they didn't odfer less and he refused. Nothing published but who knows. But him not taking less hurts team whether he or any fans want to admit that. He's getting paid half of the salary cap this and next year. Looking around the league they could have gotten higher quality players who DID have interest in lakers. Isiah Thomas, Kyle Lowry, Greg Monroe, parsons, Trevor Ariza etc. and maybe gasol stays if they improve roster

Sad thing is I expect the same thing to happen next year. Some cap room will open up with Nash and Jeremy Lin coming off books but players will say to lakers management what other moves are you going to make and point out that Kobe salary eats up half the cap. At this point he's over paid. And aren't competitive because of his salary

 

[wildturkey]

They couldnt get anybody anyways.

How do you know? His salary limited their ability. 15 mil per year would be 8 mil less than what he makes now. It's not enough to get a max guy but that's good chunk of cash to sign quality role players and low end starters. With better players like that you may have even been able to convince Pau to stay since the team would be a legit playoff contender. Think of the FA pool as a grocery store. Kobe's salary as it is only lets LA shop in only half the store. If they held firm and offered him less, now LA has many options to look at in the store.

 

[Inimical]

I'm not so sure they didn't odfer less and he refused. Nothing published but who knows. But him not taking less hurts team whether he or any fans want to admit that. He's getting paid half of the salary cap this and next year. Looking around the league they could have gotten higher quality players who DID have interest in lakers. Isiah Thomas, Kyle Lowry, Greg Monroe, parsons, Trevor Ariza etc. and maybe gasol stays if they improve roster

Sad thing is I expect the same thing to happen next year. Some cap room will open up with Nash and Jeremy Lin coming off books but players will say to lakers management what other moves are you going to make and point out that Kobe salary eats up half the cap. At this point he's over paid. And aren't competitive because of his salary

The lakers attempted for the "big splash" this offseason. They has a strategy and it simply didn't work. Meanwhile as melo was making his decision guys signed contracts. I don't think the lakers strategy was any of those mid level guys. Most mid level guys are overpaid in today's nba. We are literally talking about one year of futility assuming we land a big free agent this offseason. After that? Kobe is off the books. They had several plans. None worked. No ones to blame. We are crying over spilled milk with a cow in the yard.

 

[trojanfight]

The lakers attempted for the "big splash" this offseason. They has a strategy and it simply didn't work. Meanwhile as melo was making his decision guys signed contracts. I don't think the lakers strategy was any of those mid level guys. Most mid level guys are overpaid in today's nba. We are literally talking about one year of futility assuming we land a big free agent this offseason. After that? Kobe is off the books. They had several plans. None worked. No ones to blame. We are crying over spilled milk with a cow in the yard.

Maybe so I just don't think you can fill roster with bad players and expect that to reel in free agents. What would even be the next big splash attempt, rondo, mark gasol? Most of these players want to be a finishing piece not a question mark of they can even get 8th seed. Again yeah they missed but kobes contract gets some of the blame for players opting to stay with teams or go another route

 

[OutlawImmortal]

How do you know? His salary limited their ability. 15 mil per year would be 8 mil less than what he makes now. It's not enough to get a max guy but that's good chunk of cash to sign quality role players and low end starters. With better players like that you may have even been able to convince Pau to stay since the team would be a legit playoff contender. Think of the FA pool as a grocery store. Kobe's salary as it is only lets LA shop in only half the store. If they held firm and offered him less, now LA has many options to look at in the store.

They never tried because Kobe has probably made more money for the Lakers during all his years with them than most players ever do for a franchise. Lakers didn't sign any of those mid-level free agents because they wanted to keep their roster flexible and try to stay under the salary cap. Lakers aren't trying to build a team that can make it to the Semis, they're trying to build a team that can win a championship. The Lakers struck out in free agency last year, it happens. We all know what Lakers history is like when it comes to the luxury tax; not a big deal. Obviously the new CBA makes things tougher but I'm sure if they had to make a decision, they would choose to spend the money if needed.

Kobe sells a lot of jerseys and tickets, I think you may be undervaluing Kobe a bit in terms of nobody wanting to sign him.