Bryant’s former teammate comes to his defense.
Back in October, ESPN’s Henry Abbott published a column about how Kobe Bryant was destroying the Los Angeles Lakers franchise from within. It referenced plenty of sources and circumstances with former or potential Laker players that framed Kobe Bryant as the central reason why the Lakers have been unable to sign major free agents as of late.
Carmelo Anthony responded and said that he had no problem playing with Kobe, although, they also said it was agreed that it wouldn’t work. Kevin Durant had his own emphatic response to the idea of players not wanting to play with Kobe.
The latest to come to Kobe’s defense is a former teammate and current Los Angeles Clipper Matt Barnes, via SI.com:
The common misconception is that players cower at the idea of playing with Kobe due to his ultracompetitive nature, says Barnes. But the onus is actually on the front office, Barnes recently told SI.com’s Chris Ballard for an upcoming feature story.
“The reason people don’t want to go to the Lakers is because of management,” Barnes tells SI.com. “Kobe can be the scapegoat all they want but if you play hard, Kobe likes you. And if you bulls— around, he doesn’t. It’s plain and simple. He’s not a vocal leader. He just expects you to play as hard as you can every minute on the court, like he does.”
This is what we’ve come to know about Kobe. For someone like Barnes, a hard-nosed, competitive-minded player, the thought of going to war with someone like Kobe is thrilling because of their similar natures. Realistically, not every player might see it as the same thrill. Kobe is only the scapegoat because of his reputation that it’s not fun to play basketball with him.
At this point, it’s not too important why free agents haven’t been flocking to LA. The reasoning could be specific or general. Kobe doesn’t have much time left to play, so any free agents to sign at this point would have a chance to experience his mentorship and also take up a new Laker foundation.
Whether it’s management or Kobe that needs to adjust, the Lakers have to be able to land some free agent stock to get their turnaround started. Byron Scott says they’re out there. We’ll have to wait and see.
