Amateur: Kobe: I took a discount... [enough] of a discount to help the Lakers be a contender.

[RsxPiimp]

1. Kobe had every right to get every last penny from the Lakers. (He's probably worth more than 24M to their bottom line.)

2. He also has every right to say that his job is to play basketball and that the FO's job is to build a compe ive roster.

3. He just can't say that winning is the most important thing to him. Clearly his personal finances are more important to him than winning.

We should end the debate here.

[ambchang]

laker fan acting like they are the only one who knows owners write checks.

They had a bargaining session, the players unions got killed in it.

You can live within the framework, take less money and field a better team.
Or you can make the max and undermine your chances at winning.

It's not rocket science. It's pretty simple.

What is the problem is that Kobe chose to undermine the winning element by fattening up his back account, again nothin wrong with it, but had the falls to lie about him caring about nothing but winning.

You can't have it both ways.

[spurraider21]

It was a 20% cut based on 25-6-6. He's now putting up 25-5-5.

Let us proceed...

what's he gna average next season when he's still making 24.5?

23-4-4?

[Mel_13]

Then every player should play for 100k. What's your point?

That certainly wasn't my point. My point was really quite obvious.

[Medvedenko]

laker fan acting like they are the only one who knows owners write checks.

They had a bargaining session, the players unions got killed in it.

You can live within the framework, take less money and field a better team.
Or you can make the max and undermine your chances at winning.

It's not rocket science. It's pretty simple.

What is the problem is that Kobe chose to undermine the winning element by fattening up his back account, again nothin wrong with it, but had the falls to lie about him caring about nothing but winning.

You can't have it both ways.

Kobe didn't chose ....the organization chose to give him this salary. What part of that equation don't you understand. The argument could be that the Lakers don't want to win and just sell tickets. That's what it is. They couldn't lose their meal ticket, did they do the right thing? Nope, however this has nothing to do with Kobe.

[Clipper Nation]

Who's the signature on Kobe's paycheck youngblood?

Who made it explicitly clear months before negotiations began that they were not going to take a significant paycut?

[Clipper Nation]

Kobe didn't chose ....the organization chose to give him this salary.

No, their hands were tied.

One one hand, Kirby wasn't going to take a major pay cut:

"I'm not taking any at all – that's the negotiation that you have to have," Kobe Bryant told Lakers Nation in an exclusive interview at his Kobe Basketball Academy on Wednesday. "For me to sit here and say, 'Oh yeah, I'm just going to take a huge pay cut. Nah, I'm going to try to get as much as I possibly can."

- July 2013

http://www.lakersnation.com/lakers-n...14/2013/07/10/

On the other hand, the illegal immigrant bandwagoners weren't going to accept getting rid of Kirby, even if it resulted in a better team. Plus the TWC contract is contingent on ratings and gots like you would just stop watching if they shipped Kirbs' ass out.

Basically, they had no choice but to let Kirby steal 48.5 from them. Your pitiful damage control doesn't change the reality of the situation.

[KaiRMD1]

Kobe reaching to stay relevant

[Medvedenko]

No, their hands were tied.

One one hand, Kirby wasn't going to take a major pay cut:



On the other hand, the illegal immigrant bandwagoners weren't going to accept getting rid of Kirby, even if it resulted in a better team. Plus the TWC contract is contingent on ratings and gots like you would just stop watching if they shipped Kirbs' ass out.

Basically, they had no choice but to let Kirby steal 48.5 from them. Your pitiful damage control doesn't change the reality of the situation.

What's with the juvenile nature of your post. You must be under 25. Anyways, like I've said ad nauseam it's the OWNERS who paid Kobe, doesn't matter if he didn't want a pay cut or not, it's the return on investment that management was looking at.

[Clipper Nation]

What's with the juvenile nature of your post. You must be under 25. Anyways, like I've said ad nauseam it's the OWNERS who paid Kobe, doesn't matter if he didn't want a pay cut or not, it's the return on investment that management was looking at.

How is my post juvenile? Because you disagree with it?

You're obsessing over who's physically paying the money when that's not really relevant. The issue at hand here is that Kirby had the owners bent over the negotiation table, made damn sure that he would still be the highest-paid player in the league (at the cost of having a good enough supporting cast to at least make the playoffs), and now wants to spin it as a "sacrifice" and blame management for failing to build a contender around the overpaid contract he demanded. Kirby is once again spinning to try to dictate his legacy and you're buying it hook, line and sinker.

[unforeseen]

No, their hands were tied.

One one hand, Kirby wasn't going to take a major pay cut:



On the other hand, the illegal immigrant bandwagoners weren't going to accept getting rid of Kirby, even if it resulted in a better team. Plus the TWC contract is contingent on ratings and gots like you would just stop watching if they shipped Kirbs' ass out.

Basically, they had no choice but to let Kirby steal 48.5 from them. Your pitiful damage control doesn't change the reality of the situation.

Obama just changed that. They are legal now.

[Thread]

what's he gna average next season when he's still making 24.5?

23-4-4?

I have no idea, but Daddy retired when that 3 inches of tendon rolled up like a cheap shade. Kobe? He's huntin' MJ like McVeigh hunted the ATF.

[Thread]

It's chicken & piss-pot.

I'm a trend setter.

I set trends.

[ambchang]

Kobe didn't chose ....the organization chose to give him this salary. What part of that equation don't you understand. The argument could be that the Lakers don't want to win and just sell tickets. That's what it is. They couldn't lose their meal ticket, did they do the right thing? Nope, however this has nothing to do with Kobe.

Kobe didn't choose to send out those tweets? Did him send it out for him?

You didn't choose to slobber over Kobe like a golden retriever on butters corn? Did Jim make you do it?

[Chris]

Medvedenko with the terrible bads. Thread can't even save him

[Cry Havoc]

What are we delusional about? The fact that we support our team? All of those years of the Spurs sucking , why were there fans? What would be the point? Do you even know what SS is and how the metaphor is applied?

Weird. I didn't know that throwing almost every single player AND coach under the buss who's played for you for the past 15 years counts as rooting for your team.

Let's see, here:

Shaq.
Pau.
Brown.
MDA.
Odom.
Gasol.
Dwight.
and now, the Front Office that brought together two teams with 8 starting hall of famers between them, apparently is terrible.

The only player to escape blame was perhaps Fisher, who bailed and went ring chasing, but I even heard plenty of "washed up has been" from Laker fans before he departed.

Golly, that's a lot of excuses. Wonder if there's a common thread connecting them all?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

1. Kobe had every right to get every last penny from the Lakers. (He's probably worth more than 24M to their bottom line.)

2. He also has every right to say that his job is to play basketball and that the FO's job is to build a compe ive roster.

3. He just can't say that winning is the most important thing to him. Clearly his personal finances are more important to him than winning.

Meh. The Lakers have enough income that they could live over the tax threshold into perpetuity. There is no hard cap and acting like the tax threshold is one for that franchise is disingenuous.

[Mel_13]

Meh. The Lakers have enough income that they could live over the tax threshold into perpetuity. There is no hard cap and acting like the tax threshold is one for that franchise is disingenuous.

Meh. You missed the point. You can only sign free agents with cap space. Willingness to pay the tax doesn't help a team in the free agent market.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Meh. You missed the point. You can only sign free agents with cap space. Willingness to pay the tax doesn't help a team in the free agent market.

Similar to how not signing Kawhi until the offseason keeps cap room open for the club due to the hold mechanics there are ways of managing around that. Frankly that just sounds like an excuse considering the massive financial advantage the Lakers are unable to take advantage of at all.

I am not saying that in particular LA had that avenue with Bryant but the Lakers have done a very poor job in retaining talent the last decade.

[Thread]

Meh. The Lakers have enough income that they could live over the tax threshold into perpetuity. There is no hard cap and acting like the tax threshold is one for that franchise is disingenuous.

But, it's a disastrous business model. Even the 1-1 tax is against all business tenets, but, "we" put lipstick on it and made it "appealing." A 3,5,7,9 to 1 penalty would be gross, insincere & untenable. The implications of insisting would be catastrophic mentally & economically. What the Cubes did there was brilliant. Akin to what OBL did on 9/11, just with less loss of life. Cuban hit a direct bulls eye, and he put a death kneel by insisting on the extreme length of the agreement. He knew. It was no accident. It was a sustained stalking of our franchise by this man. An absolute assassination attempt & execution of the Lakers business model.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

But, it's a disastrous business model. Even the 1-1 tax is against all business tenets, but, "we" put lipstick on it and made it "appealing." A 3,5,7,9 to 1 penalty would be gross, insincere & untenable. The implications of insisting would be catastrophic mentally & economically. What the Cubes did there was brilliant. Akin to what OBL did on 9/11, just with less loss of life. Cuban hit a direct bulls eye, and he put a death kneel by insisting on the extreme length of the agreement. He knew. It was no accident. It was a sustained stalking of our franchise by this man. An absolute assassination attempt & execution of the Lakers business model.

It tends up being a finite amount of dollars and the Lakers have more money than anyone. You just gave an example of someone who knew how to take advantage. Blaming Bryant's salary is fun but to ignore the mismanagement of the Buss family is what is untenable.

[Mel_13]

Similar to how not signing Kawhi until the offseason keeps cap room open for the club due to the hold mechanics there are ways of managing around that. Frankly that just sounds like an excuse considering the massive financial advantage the Lakers are unable to take advantage of at all.

I am not saying that in particular LA had that avenue with Bryant but the Lakers have done a very poor job in retaining talent the last decade.

This thread is about the impact of Kobe's extension. That extension greatly reduced the amount of cap space available to the Lakers in the summer of 2014, and will again in the summer of 2015. The wealth of the team doesn't change those simple facts.

[Mel_13]

It tends up being a finite amount of dollars and the Lakers have more money than anyone. You just gave an example of someone who knew how to take advantage. Blaming Bryant's salary is fun but to ignore the mismanagement of the Buss family is what is untenable.

Cuban is among the wealthiest owners in the NBA and he was only able to make a major free agent signing this past summer when his superstar agreed to take much less than his market value.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

This thread is about the impact of Kobe's extension. That extension greatly reduced the amount of cap space available to the Lakers in the summer of 2014, and will again in the summer of 2015. The wealth of the team doesn't change those simple facts.

No this thread is about Kobe's comments. Any contract signed reduces cap space. We are talking about the team that let go Gasol and Howard, signed Mike D'antoni to coach after giving up on Brown before he even started, and traded several drafts to pay a guy $9m and takes a week to respond to the coach while he goes golfing.

wgaf if Bryant and Howard don't get along. None of that has to do with Bryant's cap space.

[anakha]

From another perspective, one can say Kobe took a discount in the sense that he knew he was going to get signed no matter how much money he demanded, because of the revenue he brings to the franchise.

Just because his contract is horrific from a cap standpoint doesn't mean he didn't leave money on the table.

In other words, it could have been worse (for Laker fans).