Almost Like He Planned It This Way

Kobe Bryant sure has learned a lot from Phil Jackson. No other player or former player of Jackson's was able to pull off what he did this year. I mean, not even Michael Jordan utilized the psychological games that Phil plays to the extent that Bryant did this season. MJ used fear to motivate his teammates. If they didn't perform to a higher level, he would berate them during practice. He would scream at them until he reduced them to nothing. Either they fought back and stepped up their game or they didn't last long as his teammate. Shaq didn't need to use any of Phil's motivational games because his teammates respected his size. When you're 7'1 you don't need any psychological ploys to motivate people.

We all know about Kobe. We have all heard about how he isn't a good teammate. How he never really connects with his team. He never gets close to his teammates or lets them in. He is a very driven competitor who holds himself and his team to a very high standard. At times this forces him to keep his distance from his team. It also, at times, makes him publicly call out his teammates.

Before this season started, Kobe said that he was done playing for the Lakers and demanded a trade. Bryant was furious with the Lakers for not bringing in another high caliber player to compliment his game. Each time he complained to the media it was like he was slapping his teammates in the face. They must have been growing increasingly angry each time they read or watched Kobe complain. The Lakers shopped Kobe around seeing if they could get a reasonable return for him but no team offered enough. So, Bryant started the season with the same team surrounding him that he had refused to play along side during the off-season. What people didn't expect was the immense growth of the Laker's other players. They finally seemed to be developing into the players that they were originally thought to be. As the season progressed and the Lakers continued to do well, they finally traded for the high caliber player that Kobe demanded during the off-season.

The point I am trying to get across is that Kobe didn't ever want to be traded from the Lakers. The daily shots that he took at teammates were not meant to belittle them, but they were meant to make them work harder. They became better players because Kobe called them out. He questioned them, in front of everyone who would watch or listen. If that doesn't make a professional athlete want to get better and prove someone wrong, then nothing will. Before we jump all over Kobe for appearing to be a spoiled brat, maybe we should think about why he would do something like that. Maybe all of these years with Jackson have started to rub off. Maybe it was a bit of psychological warfare. We can't prove that Kobe meant his pre-season comments one way or another but we do know one thing...the Lakers are the #1 seed in the Western Conference for these playoffs. And the way the West played out this season, that is no small feat.