Kobe will retire at the end of this season

Kliq

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The issue here is that a lot of mainstream media people will stop criticizing Kobe for being the least valuable player in the NBA and start worshiping his great career as he travels around on his farewell tour.
 

BigSoxFan

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4-20 tonight. Kobe's final gift to the Lakers will be to suck so badly that they'll get to keep their 2016 lotto pick.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I know many people here dislike him and there are a lot of legitimate reasons for that sentiment. However, I respect the guy's amazing skill and his competitive fire. His battles versus the C's, especially when the big three was put together (with Pierce in particular) were fun to watch.

On a separate note, he did the Grantland Basketball Hour (RIP - man I loved that show) with Jalen and Bill last year when he was out and he was a pretty compelling speaker. I would not be the least bit surprised if Simmons gets him to do some material for his new gig. I will sure as hell watch.
 

dhellers

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As a lifelong Laker hater, I am sad Kobe is retiring. After all, the longer he plays for the Lakers, the more they suck!

(yes, I understand the tanking advantages, but it is always a good thing when the lakers lose)
 

Tony C

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Kobe is my #1 sportshate guy, so I'm a bit conflicted, too -- this season, though...ah this season is one for the ages, so no reason to complain. .305 shooting % and i'm rooting for it to dip under .300, and a .202 3 point percentage...under .200 is in sight there, too. Do it for me, Kobe...a man can dream!
 

Smokey Joe

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When I first saw the headline I thought that it meant he was retiring immediately. I had already assumed that he was going to retire at the end of the season.
But no... the lakers have to drag his 2 year old corpse around for the rest of the season so he can give the young players tips on how to pick up hotel clerks and such.

so sad.
 

Cellar-Door

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If Kobe keeps up his current pace, he would not only have the worst shooting season of the shot clock era..... he'd have the worst FG% of that era by more than 30 points.
 

Sprowl

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I'm not liking this farewell season tour business. It's like they're all competing for retirement tour tchatchkes. They are pre-diluting the Papi Farewell Tour with the oversameness of likitude.
 

Kliq

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It hasn't even been a week yet and I'm already sick of it. Every other sports story is on Kobe's retirement tour, and the narrative has mostly changed from "Wow, Kobe is done" to "Everyone appreciate how good Kobe Bryant is, you are going to miss him when he is gone." It's all so stupid, the Kobe that won five rings and scoring titles has been gone for years, the great player is already gone, we are just rooting from an empty shell. Now every city Kobe visits his giving him presents and giving him tributes, I hope the Garden boo's him (though they won't) not because they don't respect his career, but because they don't respect this self-congratulatory farewell tour. The last Kobe can do is donate all of the bricks he is laying to build homeless shelters in each city.
 

BigSoxFan

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Well, I advise you to look away on 12/30 because the Celtics are going to make a puketastic tribute to the guy and there will surely be Kobe chants in the Garden. If it were me, I'd show clips of the 2008 Finals and a Kobe blooper reel.
 

ElUno20

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It hasn't even been a week yet and I'm already sick of it. Every other sports story is on Kobe's retirement tour, and the narrative has mostly changed from "Wow, Kobe is done" to "Everyone appreciate how good Kobe Bryant is, you are going to miss him when he is gone." It's all so stupid, the Kobe that won five rings and scoring titles has been gone for years, the great player is already gone, we are just rooting from an empty shell. Now every city Kobe visits his giving him presents and giving him tributes, I hope the Garden boo's him (though they won't) not because they don't respect his career, but because they don't respect this self-congratulatory farewell tour. The last Kobe can do is donate all of the bricks he is laying to build homeless shelters in each city.
Fortunately we have some local sports guys here in LA who have called Kobe on his shit from the beginning. That includes this recent retirement which he pimped out to debut a new marketing campaign.
 

ElUno20

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It hasn't even been a week yet and I'm already sick of it. Every other sports story is on Kobe's retirement tour, and the narrative has mostly changed from "Wow, Kobe is done" to "Everyone appreciate how good Kobe Bryant is, you are going to miss him when he is gone." It's all so stupid, the Kobe that won five rings and scoring titles has been gone for years, the great player is already gone, we are just rooting from an empty shell. Now every city Kobe visits his giving him presents and giving him tributes, I hope the Garden boo's him (though they won't) not because they don't respect his career, but because they don't respect this self-congratulatory farewell tour. The last Kobe can do is donate all of the bricks he is laying to build homeless shelters in each city.
Fortunately we have some local sports guys here in LA who have called Kobe on his shit from the beginning. That includes this recent retirement which he pimped out to debut a new marketing campaign.
 

Tony C

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Well, I advise you to look away on 12/30 because the Celtics are going to make a puketastic tribute to the guy and there will surely be Kobe chants in the Garden. If it were me, I'd show clips of the 2008 Finals and a Kobe blooper reel.
Seriously? I was really hoping that Boston would be the one city to resist this stupid tide of adoration.

It's just amazing how the elephants in the room are ignored: that the guy sexually assaulted a woman (not to excuse other miscreants, but it's worth noting that arguably lesser offenses get wall to wall coverage on ESPN) and that Kobe's final season is an exaggerated view of the flaw in his game that has always been there and only grown over the years -- the egotistical need to play hero-ball (and it's not to say that Kobe hasn't been great despite that flaw -- I know he has been, even if not quite as great as is often said).
 

Eddie Jurak

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The Onion:

Kobe Bryant Tears Up While Reflecting On All The Mistakes Teammates Made During His Career

“People will always want to talk about the championships, the All-Star selections, or the scoring titles, but what I’ll really always cherish are all the times I let my teammates know when they completely fucked up,” said Bryant, adding that since deciding to retire at the end of this season, he has been hit by a sudden wave of nostalgia for all of the instances in which he unloaded on his fellow players for their mental errors or lack of physicality against opponents.
The 17-time NBA All-Star also became visibly choked up when describing how special it was as a fresh-faced 18-year-old to tell then-teammate Byron Scott that he can’t play for shit back in 1997, and then have the opportunity to tell Scott that he can’t coach for shit either almost 20 years later.
“The hardest part about walking away from the game is the day-to-day stuff—knowing I won’t be coming into practice every morning and getting the chance to call Nick Young a soft, overrated waste of a roster spot right to his face while guarding him in a scrimmage,” said Bryant. “It’s sad thinking that I may have stormed off the practice court in a show of pure disgust for the last time. I don’t know if that’s really even sunk in yet.”

“I’m just going to have to really savor ripping them apart during what’s left of the season,” Bryant added.
 

mt8thsw9th

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http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400828173

ATLANTA -- Kobe Bryant wanted to give his Atlanta fans one last epic performance.

The retiring NBA star had to settle for average instead.

"We played well, came out in the second half and competed well and got within striking distance," Bryant said. "Unfortunately, the game slipped away from us in the last three minutes."

Al Horford scored 16 points, Paul Millsap and Kent Bazemore each added 15 and the Hawks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 100-87 Friday night to spoil Bryant's last game in Atlanta.

In the third game since announcing his retirement plans earlier this week, Bryant scored 14 points on 4-for-19 shooting.
4-19, an average performance. Average.
 

Gunfighter 09

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Well, I advise you to look away on 12/30 because the Celtics are going to make a puketastic tribute to the guy and there will surely be Kobe chants in the Garden. If it were me, I'd show clips of the 2008 Finals and a Kobe blooper reel.

No need to worry.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has requested that opposing teams do not present him with gifts or hold any on-court ceremonies during his final season in the NBA, a Lakers spokesman confirmed Friday.
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles-lakers/post/_/id/42302/kobe-requests-no-more-gifts-on-court-ceremonies-from-teams-during-farewell-tour

Of course, a Rivera style Kobe lowlights vs. the Celtics reel would be awesome, just to hear the response that Kobe would give the media afterwords. Quips about how great he used to be are about all Kobe does well these days. He would undoubtedly have some neat line about how you have to beat the Celtics in the Finals to be considered the greatest Laker ever or how he has more rings in his lifetime than the Celtic franchise does.

 

reggiecleveland

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Trivia questions:

How many times has Kobe taken

How many times this year has Kobe made more than half his shots in a game?

2

How many times has he made less than 40% of his shots?

16

How many time under 30%?
7

How many times has he taken less than 15 shots in a game?

6 and this includes a 1-14 game
 

gingerbreadmann

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From two days ago:

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant took a moment out of his farewell tour to call out his teammates for poor performance and what he sees as an attitude problem, reports Mark Medina of the Los Angeles News Group.

After the team’s 121–103 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, Bryant talked to the team for about two minutes in the locker room, specifically going after rookie D’Angelo Russell and second-year big man Julius Randle for smiling following the loss.

Bryant was also visibly upset after Randle missed two rebounds late in the third quarter, leading to a Damian Lillard three.
From last night:

What a fucking surreal experience to be on this guy's team right now (and that is to say nothing about Byron Scott). I hope Brandon Bass writes a memoir someday.
 

ifmanis5

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Kobe snitching on Shaq hurt the Lakers with free agents?
Years later, after the case against him was dropped and a civil suit was settled out of court with no admission of guilt from Bryant, agents of prominent NBA players would still cite the O’Neal subplot as the sort of sin that inspired their clients to steer clear of Laker Land.
LINK: http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/04/08/report-agents-have-cited-kobe-telling-on-shaq-as-reason-not-to-sign-with-lakers/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs
 

Kliq

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Probably have seen this, but this Nike ad was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time:
 

Ale Xander

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Abomination to tradition

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Rapist is 0-4 thus far
 
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Blacken

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So, if Kobe comes out after this game and decides not to retire, I'm OK with it.
 

tbrep

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Kobe with 37 points on 14-34 shooting after 3.

He could end up with 50 (and maybe take 50 shots to get there)
 

tbrep

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Wow this is getting ridiculous: 45 points on 45 shots now with 3 minutes to go
 

Deathofthebambino

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Lakers take the lead as Kobe now has 58 points, and has scored like the last 18 in a row for the Lakers and last 10 in a row in the game. Pretty magical stuff if they can come out with a win.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Kobe knocks down two free throws for 60 points. Lakers now up 5 with 4 seconds left. I can't believe they are gonna win this game. What an incredible ending to a career. He took a ton of shots, but he caught fire in the last 5 minutes.
 

strek1

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Well I never cared for him but that was incredible. Even if he did take a zillion shots. Nice to see Shaq there. That guy is all class.