Month: June 2008 (Page 38 of 40)

Now that the Lakers have made the Finals, a number of Kobe Believers are stepping forward and saying that he’s the one responsible for the turnaround. Bill Ingram is apparently one of these Believers. A good portion of my latest column was dedicated to debunking this theory.

Let me take Ingram’s points one-by-one.

The truth is that Kupchak attempted to trade Kobe numerous times. Deals were discussed with a number of teams, the most notable being the Chicago Bulls, but each time Kobe shot them down. It could be, in fact, that Kobe never wanted to be traded.

It’s true that could be the case, but Kobe’s frustrations last summer were real and I believe that if there had been a deal in place that wouldn’t have gutted his new team, he probably would have approved it. Every deal that was floated (through the media, anyway) would have left Kobe’s new team decimated, so what’s the point of making the trade?

Kobe forced the Lakers to be all they could be. His remarks about his lackluster supporting cast pushed those players to raise their collective games to a higher level. Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, Ronny Turiaf, and Andrew Bynum (pre-injury) all turned their games up a notch.

So Ingram’s premise is that all of those young players he mentioned – Vujacic, Walton, Turiaf and Bynum – were just going about their own business last summer and then suddenly decided, after Kobe’s media tantrum, that they were going to become good players. (By the way, I wouldn’t include Walton in a list of players that “turned their games up a notch.” And why did Ingram snub Jordan Farmar? Other than Bynum, Farmar probably stepped up his game the most, despite his playoff struggles.) Most young players improve year-to-year. That’s what they do. There was an article about Bynum in ESPN The Magazine which discussed the personal trainer he hired and rigorous training program he adopted well before Kobe’s outburst. Bynum implied that there were times that Kobe’s harsh words…

“Andrew Bynum? Are you f—ing kidding me? Andrew Bynum? F—ing ship his ass out. We’re talking about Jason Kidd …”

…helped him push through a difficult workout, but the truth is that the regimen was already in place.

Back to Ingram…

Kupchak stepped up his game by trading away a bunch of nothing to land All-Star Pau Gasol…

This is the line that really kills me. Does Ingram honestly believe that if Kobe hadn’t thrown a fit the previous summer that Kupchak would have passed on the Gasol deal? Any GM with an owner willing to take on Gasol’s contract would have made that deal, with or without their star player throwing a hissy fit.

At the end of the day, though, it was Kobe Bryant who pushed the Lakers to the NBA Finals. He did it with his play on the court, and he did it with the pressure he exerted on his franchise off the court.

I’ll agree that Kobe had a terrific season. But he has had terrific seasons before and his team didn’t get out of the first round. It’s the improvement of those young players (whom Kupchak drafted) and the addition of Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher (whom Kupchak acquired) that make up the difference between the one-and-done 2007 Lakers and the Finals-favorite 2008 Lakers. Kupchak deserves most of the credit, with big assists from Memphis’ GM Chris Wallace for giving away Gasol and the Jazz for being so generous with Fisher’s situation.

Crediting Kobe for the turnaround is a big stretch. It’s true that superstars can raise the level of their team, but that usually happens during the season in practices and games, not in a parking lot on a YouTube video.