"If I can go out and lead Kobe Bryant..." - Lebron James

[bdreason]

He is a good floor commander / leader.


If Kobe said shyt like this all the time he would get a lot of slack for it though.

[bleedinpurpleTwo]

As I recall, Kobe was asked, "who are the leaders of this team?"
to which he responded,
"Kidd and Lebron are the most vocal, they are always talking".

all I know is, when the gold was on the line, one player was the leader...and it sure as hell wasnt Lebron.

[Rockets(T-mac)]

Kobe said he was the leader. Most everyone who commented on the team in public said either he or Kidd(and a few Kobes I think) lead them. He played better than anyone with the possible exception of Wade. If its true...whats the problem in saying it? I cant see Deron Williams giving a damn that Lebron assumed he was the leader. Or Wade. Or Melo. Or Paul. think they are sitting around thinking "I cant believe he said that...." and discussing how it makes them feel inside?

I cant see anyone really giving a damn about this....other than Kobe of course. He seems the type to take just about everything as motivation. But if he works as hard as is often said its not like he has much room to increase it.

Just an all around non issue.

Yeah it really isn't an issue.

I agree that Lebron talks about himself a bit too much for my liking, but that's just me. I think he is a bit arrogant and cocky, but hey he was the main leader on that team, not saying he was the only one, but he was the main leader.

[MaxFly]

"James spent part of his summer helping the U.S. basketball team redeem its global superiority by winning it all at the Beijing Games. At just 23, he was the undisputed leader of that 12-player squad comprised of superstar talents and supersized egos.

“If you can lead 11 of the best guys in the world, you can lead anybody,” James said Monday. “If I can lead Kobe Bryant and MVPs, I should be able to lead Daniel Gibson.”"

Do you understand better now or still need a little help?

It's a non issue, but I would hope Lebron recognizes that there is a difference in leading someone like Kobe Bryant and leading someone like Daniel Gibson.

[1~Gibson~1]

Why is this even an argument. LBJ may not have been the leader on the court but vocally he was so therefore he lead the team to a gold.

LBJ led the team vocally

Kobe led the team on the court

/THREAD

[Showtime]

As I recall, Kobe was asked, "who are the leaders of this team?"
to which he responded,
"Kidd and Lebron are the most vocal, they are always talking".

all I know is, when the gold was on the line, one player was the leader...and it sure as hell wasnt Lebron.

lol he had a great stint in crunch time, but by no means was Kobe the only reason why they won. Remember, Lebron, Wade, and Bosh were big before that, and after Kobe's late spurt, they hit a 3 to cut the lead close, and Wade's answer 3 point shot was the biggest nail. It was a team effort in that single game, and Kobe wasn't that great throughout the rest of the games like Lebron, so don't get all but hurt about it.

[Scott Pippen]

this guy says the dumbest stuff. I really just dont understand what goes he is thinking when he says stuff like that.

I pray for you to be blessed with a solid and secure conscious in the future This is embarassing thread

[quasimoto]

Why is this even an argument. LBJ may not have been the leader on the court but vocally he was so therefore he lead the team to a gold.

LBJ led the team vocally

Kobe led the team on the court

/THREAD

Uh, no offense...but Kobe didn't lead the team on the court either.

I can't understand why there's so much upset about a stupid sentence that's ripped from its context.

[glidedrxlr22]

all I know is, when the gold was on the line, one player was the leader...and it sure as hell wasnt Lebron.

Are you serious?! That's all it takes to be a leader?! bp2, I didn't think you would join in with the rest of the groupie clowns that get offended over who's the leader and who's not. If it was Lebron, then so be it. Geeesh!

[bleedinpurpleTwo]

lol he had a great stint in crunch time, but by no means was Kobe the only reason why they won. Remember, Lebron, Wade, and Bosh were big before that, and after Kobe's late spurt, they hit a 3 to cut the lead close, and Wade's answer 3 point shot was the biggest nail. It was a team effort in that single game, and Kobe wasn't that great throughout the rest of the games like Lebron, so don't get all but hurt about it.

true, Wade was probably the most consistently outstanding player thruout the Olympics. and Wade was there, in the clutch, for the gold...alongside Kobe. Lebron was solid thruout the Olympics, but disappeared at clutchtime for the gold.

[DuMa]

true, Wade was probably the most consistently outstanding player thruout the Olympics. and Wade was there, in the clutch, for the gold...alongside Kobe. Lebron was solid thruout the Olympics, but disappeared at clutchtime for the gold.

Lebron didnt disappear. without his defense, Kobe wouldnt even had the opportunity to make the shots.

[Lebron23]

There is an article yesterday saying that LeBron James loves Cleveland. You should posts it instead of starting another Kobe vs. LeBron Thread.

He's just motivating his teammates by saying that he can lead Z, Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao, Daniel Gibson, and Delonte West back in the Eastern Conference Finals.

LeBron probably was probably not prepared when the media interview him, and the first thing that came out to his mouth is being confident that he can lead the City of Cleveland back in the Promise Land.

When your leader and best player of the team is very optimistic that they will have a great season next year. It means that he will always play harder, and dedicated in improving the winning record of his team.

LeBron will always be the best player that ever played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he's just giving his honest opinion instead of acting like the puppet of David Stern.

[EricForman]

all I know is, when the gold was on the line, one player was the leader...and it sure as hell wasnt Lebron.

Yeah, it sure as hell wasn't Kobe either.

Wade played the best in the gold medal game, Lebron played the best throughout the whole tourney.

I dont see how Kobe hitting one four point play changes any of the above. Please don't try to spin this into "if it wasn't for Kobe USA wouldn't have won" thing.

If not for Wade and Lebron Team USA woulda been down 10 in the 4th to spain and Kobe's 4 point play wouldn't have mattered.

[EricForman]

true, Wade was probably the most consistently outstanding player thruout the Olympics. and Wade was there, in the clutch, for the gold...alongside Kobe. Lebron was solid thruout the Olympics, but disappeared at clutchtime for the gold.

It's laughable how bad you downplaying everyone else.

Wade was there "ALONGSIDE" Kobe in the clutch? More like heads and shoulders above ANYONE in the clutch. Clutch isn't just a 90 second stretch with 2 minutes to go in the game. Clutch is the entire freaking gold medal game.

And Lebron was "solid" throughout the Olympics?

Try "the best player on both ends of the floor for 85% of the tournament".

Solid? You gotta be sh*tting me.

[Luigi]

I looked at Lebron's leadership as a bad trait.

Consider this possible scenario (just possible, mostly speculation):
Everyone knew that too many leaders were already on the team.
Everyone knew that if they didn't self-sacrifice, too many cooks would spoil to soup.
Lebron seemed to insist on being the "vocal leader" more than anyone else.
It seemed Lebron would hold onto that even at the expense of the team in order to "lead the greatest" (either knowing others weren't willing to call his bluff, or just being ingnorant to the fact that it could explode if he didn't back down).
Other great leaders (who would have done well in that position also) saw that Lebron was nearly willing to run the team off the track for his own leadership position, and they sacrificed their own shot at vocal leader in order to save the team from having a leadership dispute.
Thus, Lebron was the least sacrificing player among the greatest leaders in the American Basketball, and anyone who let Lebron lead them deserves our respect. I credit the leaders who let Lebron lead them most for bring home the gold, and blame Lebron's insistance on leading for any near failures.

Now, before you flame me like I insulted your family honor, let me say I follow the Cavs, like Lebron, and think he is an all around good guy. He probably just didn't realize the danger he was putting the team in.