Why Kobe Bryant Is A GREAT Teammate In The NBA (Ft. LeBron James, Lakers & Trash Talk)

Описание: Kobe Bryant is an NBA legend and Kobe was a good teammate, not this bad teammate everyone makes him out to be. We’ll compare Kobe and LeBron’s leadership and I’ll just prove that Kobe Bryant was a great teammate, even with all the trash talk. #NBA #Lakers #Kobe

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Kobe Bryant gets slandered a lot, especially when it comes to leadership and being a good teammate. Apparently, his teammates hated him, but those are lies. (Show Dwight Howard). Well, mostly lies. See he’s happy. I’m going to breakdown Kobe’s characteristics as a teammate, what his previous teammates have said about the Black Mamba, and results. But first we are so close to 100K and I got special stuff planned for y’all so hit that like button. Let’s get to as many assists as Kobe had in his career, 6306. And let’s get into it.

Kobe Bryant is an a**hole. That might not make any sense for his case but let’s look into that. Kobe is a self-aware, consistent a**hole. He knows that he is mean to other people and he doesn’t treat anyone differently until you earn his respect. See there are 2 stages to being Kobe Bryant’s teammates. There’s the “You haven’t earned my respect” and the “You have earned my respect” stage so I’m gonna call them weak and strong. And how would you earn Kobe’s respect? By showing some serious hard work and by playing well. Playing well didn’t mean being a superstar, it just meant satisfying your role on the team. Some players never got out of the weak stage like Smush Parker and Kwame Brown. Damn, Kobe has had some trash teammates. Remember Swaggy P? The hesitant Jeremy Lin?

Kobe’s work ethic was contagious. Kobe would always be the first one to practice, last one to leave. He would constantly be working on one move over and over again. Even when his other teammates like Ron Artest would come in early, they would already see Kobe working and be in awe. It also led to this. In fact, Ron Artest, now Metta World Peace has said that Kobe was the MAIN reason he’s worked so hard. A little more digging and other teammate testimonials and this isn’t an isolated case going back all the way to his early years. Nick Van Exel said he made everyone around him better and that the second unit had to step up to match Kobe’s intensity. Caron Butler has said that playing with Kobe was a blessing because he realized what he had to do to become better. If only the Timberwolves took that from Jimmy Butler...

While in his younger years, that was all he had to his leadership, but Kobe matured. I get that Kobe and Shaq was a huge feud but it was because of clashing personalities. Shaq also wasn’t the best teammate either. (Tell me how my ass tastes) Other teammates say otherwise. Derek Fisher has said that Kobe wanted his teammates to yell at him if he missed an open man, or made the wrong play. Kobe understood that he saw the game differently, but he knew that he couldn’t do it alone. He would talk to every single one of his teammates to get them to play better. He wasn’t just yelling at them, he was explaining it to them. Kobe at his core is a competitor who wants to win and his teammates recognize that. That’s why Kobe and Derek Fisher had so much success, why Pau Gasol and Kobe had chemistry, why Andrew Bynum had the explosion he did. So his relationships with these people were all about basketball and basketball was his life.

LeBron’s Cavs on the other hand didn’t have anyone performing to expectation besides LeBron who played above expectations. I’m not saying he had help, I’m talking about how his role players severely underperformed. Tristan Thompson couldn’t rebound, Jeff Green couldn’t score, George Hill couldn’t defend as well or consistently hit 3s, JR couldn’t buy a shot and this too. Kevin Love was alright and Larry Nance Jr. satisfied his role, but for LeBron being a “good” teammate, we all got mad at his supporting cast for not playing up to par. It wasn’t that we expected his teammates to be good. On the off hand, we expected this team to fail, but LeBron took the team on the back. In the process, his teammates somehow played worse than what we could have thought. Why don’t we ever think about Kobe’s supporting cast and how his players stepped up, especially when those players praise Kobe for his winning mentality and inspiring hard work? I’m not comparing LeBron and Kobe as teammates. Actually, that’s exactly what I’m doing. These are two different leadership styles and just because Kobe isn’t nice and because Kobe doesn’t buy fancy items doesn’t mean that the way he led and him being a teammate is bad. He made the players around him better and helped run a team in which everyone knows their role. But what do you think? Is Kobe a good teammate? Is Kobe the most savage player since the 2000s?