Kobe Bryant gave his teammates some looks Thursday. (USATSI)
Kobe Bryant has been the good soldier for the Los Angeles Lakers through their pitiful start. That makes sense, since getting upset at the team that strung up $24 million per year in cap space for you would be the very definition of biting the hand that feeds. But this is Kobe, and if he can understand and deal with failure, he won't tolerate a lack of effort. Apparently Thursday's practice didn't go great, since he kind of flipped out.
Kobe yelled to Kupchak while leaving practice court: "These (expletives) aren't doing (expletive) for me." Didn't think team practiced hard.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) December 11, 2014It gets better. Via the LA Times, Bryant called his teammates "Charmin Soft." Apparently his rage was aimed at the bench unit for not hanging with the starters. Now, there's been some talk that Bryant was joking or just talking trash, which seems pretty plausible given the fact that he was also running his mouth at Jeremy Lin. But then, Nick Young also reportedly was telling teammates to go stand up to him, which in my opinion is Nick Young paving the way for them to be traded so he can shoot more. But it still indicates that it wasn't just friendly chatter.
I've been wondering about how Bryant's actually taking all this. He's said nothing but good things in interviews, talking about how he "loves the process," and that this is what fuels him, that he doesn't mind the rebuild.
But, this team is awful, though it has played better over the past five games or so. Bryant wants them to have an edge, it's the only way they can make progress or at least hold ground. But there's only so long you can grind a blade that thin against metal.
And yet, no matter what happens, it's clear the situation is better than that of what's happening in New York.
UPDATE: Charmin would like to clarify its beliefs on this matter.
You know, in terms of toilet paper, saying you're as soft as Charmin is a good thing. In basketball? Not so much. #tweetfromtheseat
— Charmin (@Charmin) December 11, 2014
Basketball Hot News
Bulls coach Thibodeau responds to Taj Gibson saying there are trust issues on defense: ‘That’s garbage’
Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau takes pride on the impact his team usually has on the defensive end of the floor, but Chicago is just ninth in the league there to this point in the season.
That’s not good enough in his eyes, and he certainly isn’t willing to stand by while his players attempt to give what he views to be excuses.
Taj Gibson attempted to attribute the defensive lapses to a lack of trust — a fairly common platitude in NBA circles. But as far as Thibodeau is concerned, that line of thinking is simply unacceptable.
From Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times:
After the morning shootaround, it was Taj Gibson explaining the defensive lapses as, “Just the effort and having trust in one another.’’
It wasn’t the first time “trusting each other’’ was used as an explanation for the defensive problems, with Joakim Noah also insisting that was an issue over the weekend. …
“That’s garbage,’’ Thibodeau said of trust issues. “That’s garbage. Trust is work. That’s how you build trust. You gotta know what you’re doing. You have to be tied together. You have to work at it. It’s a cop-out. …
“That’s [Thibodeau’s] opinion,’’ Gibson said. “That was just me and Jo’s opinion. We’re on the court.
This can happen when players and coaches go back and forth through the media, but the disagreement on the matter could also be due to a simple misinterpretation.
Thibodeau could be viewing “trust” as a deeper team problem than the on-court way that Gibson (and Noah) seem to have been referencing it. On defense, trust means that when a player does what he’s supposed to, it will sometimes lead to his man getting past him by design. The help defense needs to come as schemed, and if it doesn’t, an easy basket will more often than not be the end result.
Either way, Thibodeau is one of the best coaches in the game, and the Bulls have excellent chemistry while being one of the hardest-working squads there is. Expect this very minor issue between coach and player to get cleared up in the very near future.
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