Determined to see the lakers be irrelevant for a decade after he retires. First with a ridiculous two-year contract when he's injured for at least half of it, and now he's twisting management's arm to go all out on a team next year when 2015 is the year to shoot for.

Sweet sweet karma

LA Fakers luck is do have Jabari Parker or Wiggins fall into their lap by a rigged lottery.

lol, neither of those will be NBA-good in 3 years much less their rookie seasons

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lol, neither of those will be NBA-good in 3 years much less their rookie seasons

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Highly debatable. Anthony Davis Is borderline dominant in his 2nd year

But he was obviously dominant in college. Wiggins and Parker both are coming along, but neither of them are nearly as world-shattering as people predicted nor are they the same level Davis was in NCAA

Umm Parker has been pretty freaking amazing

I love Kobe's competitiveness, but the Lakers aren't going for it next year. They will take their lotto pick and if they are fortunate enough to get a top five pick next year it is protected. I think Kevin Love signs with LA next summer and then the following year they land Durant or Westbrook. That's the plan.

Not surprisingly, ESPN does article on Kobe as the reason for Lakers slide.

And from that article, I think it aligns with what most close NBA fans have seen lately from Kobe, unless you are a Laker or Kobe fan boy. I think this quote is pretty solid:

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"He wants to win," says a source close to Lakers decision makers. "But only as long as he's the reason we're winning, as long as the performance is not affecting his numbers. No one works harder than Kobe. And no one sabotages his own efforts more. He's scaring off the free agents we're trying to get. We're trying to surround you with talent and your ego is getting in the way."

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The Kobe slander is in full effect this year. The article is pointing to Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, and late-career Steve Nash to make dumb points.

Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum are far from ideal teammates. Nash has literally admitted that he's only playing for checks now. The Lakers are a mess, but it sue as hell isn't Kobe's fault only.

Kobe's fault only, no. Largely Kobe's fault, yes. This isn't new. Any time you have a 35 year old guard who doesn't play defense pulling 30 million, you're going to be bad. Some of his mid-career antics definitely hurt the team. So does his insistence on being "clutch"; he kills his team in late game situations. Iowaggies's quote is an observation that has been made on this board more than once.

The "kobe slander" is hardly new to this year considering Phil called him uncoachable a decade ago.

Additionally, kobe/Shaq feud was based significantly on the fact that kobe did not want to be a sidekick.

Not sure what is slanderous about the article.

Then why write an article about it now? Why all the think pieces this season? I count at minimum three of them and I don't see what has drastically changed with the Lakers since last season other than Kobe is playing now. Wouldn't it make more sense to write these articles last season?

Saying Kobe Bryant is doing Kobe Bryant things doesn't make for intrigue. He's 36 and has won 5 rings, why would he change now? Don't get it.

It's like saying Robert DeNiro should really reconsider some of the roles he's taking these days.

I'm guessing having no good free agents go to LA and losing Pau is why you are seeing these now.

Why now: start of season and Lakers haven't yet been eliminated from the playoffs, yet. Kobe 's rehab and work ethic are admirable and newsworthy.

However, in the past few years, the blame had been Mike brown, pringles, Dwight Howard, team health, death of Jerry buss, etc. Kobe had taken no blame, and kobe fans have laid plenty of blame elsewhere.

Before this season, people believed the Laker franchise was enough to attract free agents, especially with a winner like kobe. According to this article, no meaningful free agent will go there while Kobe is there.

Kobe is so frustrated. He has gotten into a confrontation last night and got a technical and now whined to the ref and got another one. He has taken 23 shots tonight and the next closest guy has taken 7 shots. They are losing 95-66 with 2 minute to go in the 3rd quarter.

He's 36 and is (by far) the best player on their team. His individual field goal percentage tonight was higher than the team average. The Lakers are terrible and have a new coach (who isn't that good) and just lost their lottery pick for the season.

Of course Kobe is frustrated. I'm surprised he doesn't spontaneously combust during player intros.

Saying Byron Scott isn't that good is an understatement. He is by far the worst coach in the league. Reading articles about him being interviewed is just laughing material. He doesn't want them shooting 3s. He is absolutely clueless.

"By far the worst coach in the league" might be a stretch. There are a lot of really bad coaches in the NBA.