ex-laker celestand on kobe ... again

 
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Gary_Harper363
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:03 am    Post subject: ex-laker celestand on kobe ... again

former laker john celestand has a new column on probasketballnews.com saying, "Kobe, at the moment, is playing better than anybody in the history of the game" but that "Kobe can get used to being home in May."

full story: http://www.probasketballnews.com/
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:07 am    Post subject:

Yeah yeah, they said thee exact same thing about Jordone too.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:19 am    Post subject:

They said the same thing about Jordan because it was true.

Tex told Jordan to make his teammates better and Jordan mouthed off back and said, "Get me better teammates."

Kobe hasn't backstabbed his "supporting cast" as Jordan liked to call his teammates. He tries to make them better, but there's only so much you can do with that roster.

Jordan finally started to win championships when he got teammates like Horace Grant, Scottie Pippen, Bill Cartwright, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, and John Paxton around him. Give Kobe even one of those guys and the Lakers would be one of the top 5 teams in the league.

Celestand wasn't hating -- just saying the Lakers don't have a #2 punch. So when they win it's usually because Kobe is the 1 punch and the 2 punch.
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Gary_Harper363
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:26 am    Post subject:

Scherm wrote:
Give Kobe even one of those guys and the Lakers would be one of the top 5 teams in the league.


I don't know. All those guys are kinda old.

Actually, amen to everything you said. Could you imagine if Kobe had a modern-day sniper a la Kerr, Paxson, or ... J.J. Redick?
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:33 am    Post subject:

Gary_Harper363 wrote:
Scherm wrote:
Give Kobe even one of those guys and the Lakers would be one of the top 5 teams in the league.


I don't know. All those guys are kinda old.

Actually, amen to everything you said. Could you imagine if Kobe had a modern-day sniper a la Kerr, Paxson, or ... J.J. Redick?


It's like the time they asked Ty Cobb

"What kind of average do you think you'd have if you played today?"

Cobb: Oh I could hit about .300.

Reporter: That's awfully modest of you!

Cobb: Well you have to remember, I'm 67 years old.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:44 am    Post subject:

The Dagger wrote:
Yeah yeah, they said thee exact same thing about Jordone too.

No, he's got a good point. The Lakers aren't going to advance very far in the playoffs untill they have players who consistently compliments Kobe, both offensively and defensively. For my money, that player is going to be Chris Mihm. I've been very, very, VERY pleased with his progression this season. He's our only other consistent scorer, and frankly, I think we should look for him in the offense a lot more. If he can get a little better at stayng out of foul trouble on the defensive end, he has the shotblocking ability to be a good complimentary interior player to Kobe.

There is a lot of time left in the season, and i think Chris has plenty of time to work with The Captain to improve defensively. I also highly doubt the refs are going to call so many ticky-tack fouls on Chris over the course of a playoff series. At least I HOPE they don't, because otherwise we are F'd.
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eniq 0x00
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:48 am    Post subject:

Can you please provide a direct link to the article? The layout out of the page seems terrible in Firefox, and I can't find the link.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:51 am    Post subject:

eniq 0x00 wrote:
Can you please provide a direct link to the article? The layout out of the page seems terrible in Firefox, and I can't find the link.


http://www.probasketballnews.com/celestand_0124.html
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:04 am    Post subject:

Yup we do need some good players fast? Maybe Kobe should be more arrogant to his staff, & demand better players.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:08 am    Post subject: Re: ex-laker celestand on kobe ... again

Gary_Harper363 wrote:
former laker john celestand has a new column on probasketballnews.com saying, "Kobe, at the moment, is playing better than anybody in the history of the game" but that "Kobe can get used to being home in May."

full story: http://www.probasketballnews.com/


I didn't see a the last quote in that article!

Did they change it?
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raffi
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:14 am    Post subject: Re: ex-laker celestand on kobe ... again

Wino wrote:
Gary_Harper363 wrote:
former laker john celestand has a new column on probasketballnews.com saying, "Kobe, at the moment, is playing better than anybody in the history of the game" but that "Kobe can get used to being home in May."

full story: http://www.probasketballnews.com/


I didn't see a the last quote in that article!

Did they change it?


It's there:

Iverson has not smelled the finals since 2001. LeBron will not see the confetti, and Kobe can get used to being home in May. It’s just the facts, love it or hate it.

Here is the direct link to the article: http://www.probasketballnews.com/celestand_0203.html

And I don't see how anyone can disagree with him.


Last edited by raffi on Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:23 am; edited 2 times in total
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:15 am    Post subject:

He had to bash Kobe. How else is he going to get anyone to read his article?
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Wino
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:23 am    Post subject: Re: ex-laker celestand on kobe ... again

raffi wrote:
Wino wrote:
Gary_Harper363 wrote:
former laker john celestand has a new column on probasketballnews.com saying, "Kobe, at the moment, is playing better than anybody in the history of the game" but that "Kobe can get used to being home in May."

full story: http://www.probasketballnews.com/


I didn't see a the last quote in that article!

Did they change it?


It's there:

Iverson has not smelled the finals since 2001. LeBron will not see the confetti, and Kobe can get used to being home in May. It’ just the facts, love it or hate it.


What the heck are you guys looking at? Here is the article I see"
Quote:

_______________________________

OK, this is not really an article. Let’s just think of this as a
couple of fans talking -- just being simply amazed at what
occurred the other night. I woke up groggy-eyed from my
sleep, only to turn on SportsCenter like I do every morning.
I was expecting simply to check out a couple of highlights
about the NFL playoffs, yet I heard the unthinkable.

“Tracy McGrady scored 43 points last night, (but ) big deal,"
said ESPN's Stuart Scott. "It was about half of what Kobe
scored.”

What?! It couldn’t be. I must have heard wrong. That would
mean Kobe Bryant scored about 80 points! So I called my
friend and former high school teammate Delvon McMillan,
awaking him from his sleep.

“Del, I know I didn’t just hear this. I know I ...“

He interjected. “Kobe Bryant had 81 points!” he insisted.
“And he shot better than 50 percent from the field.”

His statement stopped me in my tracks. It had to sink in for
a second. Some things have a delayed reaction. You just
don’t compute them as quickly as others. The same thing happened to me in 2000 when Vince Carter put his elbow in the rim in the dunk contest. I remember watching it with a bunch of my friends. I remember after the dunk, the room being quiet. Nobody understood what happened for about three or four seconds. Then it sunk in. His elbow was in the rim. That’s how high he was. Kobe scored 81.That’s how good he is.

I was somewhat ashamed for thinking what I was thinking. I almost didn’t say it. No real basketball person could ever say this, would dare say this. I thought about how my friend Delvon would view me after the ludicrous statement I was about to make. I mean, he played college basketball, too -- so it wasn’t as if I was talking to some slouch off the street.

But I conjured up the nerve and I did it.

”Do you think he is a better scorer than Jordan?” I asked.

I had done it. I asked the stupidest question of all time. Oh my goodness, he would think I was an idiot. As soon as I asked it, I wanted to take it back. All of my basketball validity was now lost.

“I would have to say yes,” Delvon responded. “Kobe’s got the ultimate skills.”

He had done it. He said it. Now there were two men who would be hauled off to the funny farm if anybody found out about this. We would have to keep this a secret. Nobody could know what we had confided in each other. Maybe Jordan was no longer the greatest scorer ever.

I tried to make it sound better.

“Maybe Jordan is the best clutch scorer ever; Kobe is the best overall scorer,”
I reasoned.

“Kobe is clutch too," Delvon said. "He’s hit big shots in big-time games in the playoffs, regular season, and the Finals.

“He scored 81 -- do you get it?”

I tried to reevaluate what were saying. I hope that Mike never found out about this. We were betraying him. But this was the present. Kobe was the present, and the present is always so much clearer.

Of course, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points. The difference, is that Wilt was so much more physically gifted than his opponents. He was so huge, so strong, so much more athletic than the helpless defenders that tried to guard him. Even Bill Russell, the greatest defensive center of all time, looked like a child compared to Chamberlain.

Kobe is a guard, many of his shots coming from 15 feet and out. The players guarding Kobe are his same size and strength. Some of the players may be even stronger and more athletic. It doesn’t matter. They can’t stop him. He scored 81 points.

“I know it’s hard to fathom that maybe Kobe is going to be better than Mike," Delvon said. “But he had 81 points. I turned on the TV on a day after the NFC and AFC championship games and Kobe’s the lead story. That’s unreal.”

Why I am I so surprised? I witnessed his greatness firsthand. I remember in practice always wanting to take on the challenge of guarding him. I was a competitor. I wanted to get better. Even if he torched me, it was for my own good.

But there were many days when I would leave doubting myself -- because I just couldn’t stop him. No one had ever left me so bewildered. There was nothing I could do. If I beat Kobe to the spot, he shot over me. If I got too close, he drove past me. If I backed off too far, he shot the jumper. If none of that worked for him, he posted me up.

Nobody could stop him and I was no different. I should have saved those days of anguish and just realized that I wasn’t that bad -- that he was just that good.

I think Delvon summed it up best.

“There’s nothing you can do," he said. "There’s nothing anybody can do. He’s the Man. He only stops scoring when he feels like it.”

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Wino
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:25 am    Post subject:

I see what is going on now, there are two different articles.
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lakez34
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:07 pm    Post subject:

The 81 point article is an older one. The Kobe needs a #2 punch is the more recent one.

I don't read it as a bash of Kobe, but more of an honest opinon of the league in general. Time after time, it's been proven that teams need solid role players to surround their superstar. Kobe has 1, and that's even questionable by some fans, in Lamar Odom.
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RG73
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:12 pm    Post subject:

Scherm wrote:
They said the same thing about Jordan because it was true.

Tex told Jordan to make his teammates better and Jordan mouthed off back and said, "Get me better teammates."

Kobe hasn't backstabbed his "supporting cast" as Jordan liked to call his teammates. He tries to make them better, but there's only so much you can do with that roster.

Jordan finally started to win championships when he got teammates like Horace Grant, Scottie Pippen, Bill Cartwright, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, and John Paxton around him. Give Kobe even one of those guys and the Lakers would be one of the top 5 teams in the league.

Celestand wasn't hating -- just saying the Lakers don't have a #2 punch. So when they win it's usually because Kobe is the 1 punch and the 2 punch.


Ummm, Jordan had Grant, Pippen, Paxson and Cartwright on the team when Tex and Phil took over the coaching.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:24 pm    Post subject:

People are pretty defensive about Kobe. Every time someone brings up his name, it's not a sign of disrespect. Celestand just said KB8 migt be better than MJ, how is that bashing Kobe? The mans just saying what everyone else on this site says everyday, "Kobe needs help."
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