In New Book, Shaq Explains How Kobe

[Vienceslav]

Will Smith of NBA...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwBS6QGsH_4&ob=av2e
Yeah , probably not.
Also the ,,I am going to kill you,, part seems cool.

[PJR]

I wonder if Shaq mentions when Kobe dry snitched on him?

[DuMa]

Kobe's more like 2Pac of the NBA....one of the greatest of all time and loved by many and hated by man....

and soon to be killed by a fat guy

[G-Funk]

The NBA is full of ****

[SCdac]

lol both these guys seemed like douches. I wouldn't trust either of em.

[DirtySanchez]

These guys just didn't like each other.

I had a friend back in the Day got invited on the Lakers team bus to get an autograph from Shaq (Kobe's rookie season). He said when they where on the bus Shaq and all the players where talking crap about Kobe (the rookie). Calling him a lil punk spoon fed kid etc. etc.

So my point is the relationship was just spoiled from the start.
Some guys just do not click well together. Does not mean they can't win titles and do all the great things they have did.

But at this point to pick a side between the two etc. is really pointless and is done to push somebodies agenda on either player.

It was BOTH of their faults you can say. But really...fault for what?
Winning three titles in a row? This duo did great things together and that has not been matched since. Closes one was...Kobe and Gasol.

So all the BS fighting etc. All that happened only proves one thing....you do not have to be the best of friends to work with each other and do great things.

[AlphaWolf24]

[QUOTE=SpecialQue]You should have quoted the entire Kobe part. It's pretty fascinating:

"Here's Shaq, on the Kobe feud:

So I'm on edge because I don't have I don't have a new deal, and Kobe is on edge because he might be going to jail, so we're taking it out on each other. Just before the start of the '03-'04 season the coach staff called us in and said, "No more public sparring or you'll get fined." ... Phil was tired of it. Karl Malone and Gary Payton were sick of it. ... So what happens? Immediately after that Kobe runs right out to Jim Gray and does this interview where he lets me have it. He said I was fat and out of shape. He said I was milking my toe injury for more time off, and the injury wasn't even that serious. (Yeah, right. It only ended my damn career.) He said I was "lobbying for a contract extension when we have two Hall of Famers playing pretty much for free." I'm sitting there watching this interview and I'm gonna explode. Hours earlier we had just promised our coach we'd stop. It was a truce broken. I let the guys know, "I'm going to kill him."

Kobe stands up and goes face-to-face with me and says, "You always said you're my big brother, you'd do anything for me, and then this Colorado thing happens and you never even called me." I did call him. ... So here we are now, and we find out he really was hurt that we didn't stand behind him. That was something new. I didn't think he gave a rat's ass about us either way. "Well, I thought you'd publicly support me, at least," Kobe said. "You're supposed to be my friend."

Brian Shaw chimed in with "Kobe, why would you think that? Shaq had all these parties and you never showed up for any of them. We invited you to dinner on the road and you didn't come. Shaq invited you to his wedding and you weren't there. Then you got married and didn't invite any of us. And now you are in the middle of this problem, this sensitive situation, and now you want all of us to step up for you. We don't even know you." ...
Everyone was starting to calm down when I told Kobe, "If you ever say anything like what you said to Jim Gray ever again, I will kill you."

Kobe shrugged and said, "Whatever."
[...]
From that day on, I was done dealing with Kobe. I was done dealing with Jim Gray, too. What goes around, comes around. When he got fired, he actually had the nerve to call me and ask me to help him out. What, did you lose Kobe's number?

On Young Kobe, braggart and tattletale:

He was so young and so immature in some ways, but I can tell you this: everything Kobe is doing now, he told me all the way back then he was going to do it. We were sitting on the bus once and he told me, "I'm going to be the number one scorer for the Lakers, I'm going to win five or six championships, and I'm going to be the best player in the game." I was like, "Okay, whatever." Then he looked me right in the eye and said, "I'm going to be the Will Smith of the NBA."

My first Lakers season we had a couple of rookies, and we hazed them pretty badly. We were dogging them out constantly. It was "Go get my bags, go get me something to eat." It was kind of a rite of passage in the NBA that a lot of teams do, but we probably went a little too far with it. One of the rookies

[DirtySanchez]

Yeah I heard stories about Jordan and Kareem being a-holes as well.
It took Jordan time to warm up and Kareem is still disliked by many on the DL in the NBA.

Never heard stories like that with Bird and Magic though.

[9erEmpire]

we should rehash that thread with all those MJ quotes he said about his team.

It's an alpha male personality that all great players have. Shaq isn't an alpha at all.

[DFish]

Have you guys read the investigation transcripts between Kobe and the detectives?

That was some funny shit

[WillyJakk]

I don't see how these guys (posters included) never take into account that Kobe was an 18 yr old kid coming straight outta high school in a League full of men (mid 20's to 30's) and also to a storied franchise like the Lakers that was full of tradition/ history.

I'm positive Kobe had a VERY DIFFERENT IMPRESSION of what "the NBA" was all about then he goes to a team where the starting SG (Eddie Jones) doesn't like him simply because he knows Kobe is there to replace him and Shaq (my dude) is trying to let the League and the team (Lakers) know that it's HIS team (and soon to be League) and they should bow down to him.

Not to mention Nick Van Exel was like "while y'all 2 goin' at it, on the low I'm the real big time player here but y'all don't recognize it" while Robert Horry quietly was like "I got 2 rings, I'm just here to play".

Way too many young ego's and that Lakers team and it was destined to fail.

Fast forward to the end of that era and the damage was too far gone, Kobe & Shaq were too far in it to truly reconcile until they matured more, unfortunately that would be too late.

[gasolina]

In B4 Lebron and his BFF's magically enter this thread

In any case, why do people justify Kobe's actions with Jordan's? I'm pretty sure a lot of people won while getting along with their teammates off the court, even while acting like complete d-bags to the other team.

This feels like 2006 all over again.

[L8k3r5]

I can see why people think Kobe is socially awkward.

I don't think Kobe is socially awkward. I've seen him on Jimmy Kimmel and George Lopez. Dude is pretty sociable.

[KevinNYC]

I don't think Kobe is socially awkward. I've seen him on Jimmy Kimmel and George Lopez. Dude is pretty sociable.

Can anyone here imagine being on a basketball team and not inviting other players to your wedding?

[B]

Not many people would stack up to Kobe's version of being dedicated so Shaq shouldn't take it too personal he's in some good company. Both played a role, just surprised Shaq still has the itch that needs to be scratched, just makes him look like a little b***h whose still mad somebody took his cookies. Kobe's moved on Shaq should too