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Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:54 am

Anyone get a chance to see his storybook career finale last night? Pretty unbelievable, fan or not. 20 years in the league and he goes out with another game winning shot, 60 points...Sixty! :shock: Magic didnt end his career like that, either did Kareem, or Jordan, or Barkley, or Shaq or anyone else. Really pretty awesome, that kind of stuff will be missed.

Also related was the record breaking win number 73 for the Warriors. Nice.

Thu Apr 14, 2016 2:01 pm

I missed the first half, and much of the 3rd quarter. But what an amazing final 15 minutes! He had no gas left in the tank, the right way to go out.

I think it was Kimmel last night who said "Kobe retired tonight, though the rest of the Lakers retired about last November..."

Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:11 pm

At best, he's an adulterer, at worst a rapist.

Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:41 pm

pretty sure he is an admitted adulterer. I wasnt there, I dont know what happened. Big time money guys (athletes/millionaires...) can feel like they can have anything they desire, some people see the millionaires as a way to a quick buck. Something happened there. I wouldnt dispute that chapter in his career. I choose to celebrate the way he played basketball. Very few could have accomplished what he did, the way he did. Had a finale that could only happen in Hollywood. Who upstages Golden State when they win their 73rd?

Thu Apr 14, 2016 7:37 pm

^^^This^^^

Fri Apr 15, 2016 11:27 pm

I heard of kobie beef from japan, they feed the steers beer.I reckon it's so they dont get so tense and the meat is tender naturly. who is playing agmes with the meat??or is it with the steers?? and why was it the last game??

Sat Apr 16, 2016 5:00 am

Sixty points, but shot 22 of 50 :oops:

The Lakers screwed themselves for the next few years by paying Kobe 47 Million for the last 2 seasons, they will be in the tank for a while....

Sat Apr 16, 2016 3:18 pm

crukab wrote: Sixty points, but shot 22 of 50 :oops:

The Lakers screwed themselves for the next few years by paying Kobe 47 Million for the last 2 seasons, they will be in the tank for a while....

Agreed. Kobe could have really shown how much of a Laker fan he is by taking a $1 salary for his final year. he's got enough millions, why not give back to the team? (Unless NBA rules prohibited this?)

Sat Apr 16, 2016 4:51 pm

give back to the team???? we are the ones paying for these over paid%$#@&*#@ :wink:

Sun Apr 17, 2016 12:16 pm

I meant that by foregoing his salary, the team could put that money to use getting players for the post-Kobe era. The Lakers will, as a result, be in a "team-building" era for quite a few years, never making the playoffs.

Mon Apr 18, 2016 3:53 pm

KTPhil wrote: crukab wrote: Sixty points, but shot 22 of 50 :oops:

The Lakers screwed themselves for the next few years by paying Kobe 47 Million for the last 2 seasons, they will be in the tank for a while....

Agreed. Kobe could have really shown how much of a Laker fan he is by taking a $1 salary for his final year. he's got enough millions, why not give back to the team? (Unless NBA rules prohibited this?)

Not to mention all of the money he is receiving from endorsements. He's been in countless commercials and who knows how much he's receiving from Nike!

Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:08 pm

Quote: The Lakers screwed themselves for the next few years by paying Kobe 47 Million for the last 2 seasons, they will be in the tank for a while....

Well he retired, hes gone... so Lakers have over $60M available for top free agents.... but yeah 24M per year was a lot for some one who was injured and out.
As far as playing for less... it just isnt really done. Sure some guys like Tim Duncan play for slightly less. No one plays for $1 or anything like that. They are risking life and limb, in Kobe's case quite literally. No one played hurt more than him.
22/50 is 44% thats pretty good. It was his last game, who does ANYTHING like that after 20 years and all broken down. It was the high score for the NBA this season. Utah was playing defense, they didnt want to get embarrassed by the old man (again).

Mon Apr 18, 2016 6:04 pm

Risking life and limb? that's a little dramatic. They don't wear pads and they score over 100 points per game. I think the game should be a little tougher.

Mon Apr 18, 2016 7:44 pm

KTPhil wrote: crukab wrote: Sixty points, but shot 22 of 50 :oops:

The Lakers screwed themselves for the next few years by paying Kobe 47 Million for the last 2 seasons, they will be in the tank for a while....

Agreed. Kobe could have really shown how much of a Laker fan he is by taking a $1 salary for his final year. he's got enough millions, why not give back to the team? (Unless NBA rules prohibited this?)

The players union probably would not allow that, A Rod was willing to take a pretty big pay cut to play for the Red Sox but the players union wouldn't allow it that's why he's a Yankee, it can have a trickle down affect on other players salaries that you never heard of and make a lot less.

Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:50 am

Quote: Risking life and limb? that's a little dramatic.

Well yeah maybe just a little :wink: I am a admitted KB24 apologist, supporter and fan. :oops:

Really my point was that the guy played hurt, often. Many guys in the nba have a hangnail and take the night off. I watched KB play with bad back, torn labrum, twisted ankles, dislocated fingers...he just has Gary Vitti pull the finger back into socket, tape it up and go back. He shot 2 free throws to tie a game with a torn Achilles. :shock: Thats an injury almost no player returns to playing after 9-12 months of rehab. Kobe came back, broke his knee. Last year it was a torn labrum/surgery to end his season. 3 straight years of season ending injuries on the old man. Its why the 60 in the last game was so impressive.

Tue Apr 19, 2016 12:07 pm

60 points is impressive, but not on 50 shots. They were giving him the ball on every trip down the court and letting him take it to his mid range and pull up. That was after he was 5 for 20 from three and figured out he had no range.

That guys body needs years to recover. The miles he has on his body will catch up to him in the next 20 years.

No way he should ever give any money back. He signed the contract and it is guaranteed. He made so much money for those owners over the years. Unfortunately or fortunately the management of that team has no clue how to build a winning team since the old man died and then the execs with experience went elsewhere.

Tue Apr 19, 2016 12:38 pm

Why do some people always blame the little guy, side with management? Kobe should take all he can get, cause owners will if he does not. Men are really stupid when it comes to sports and attractive women.

Thing is, fans think sports are about championships, owners do not much care about that as a whole, they care about money and merchandise sales. Signing Kobe was a business decision, nothing to do with winning. Sports teams are a business. Look at all the ticket sales on his final year tour.

Not sure the exact number, merchandise sales towards the end of the 'Kobe era' are huge, owners are cashing in on fans. ESPN coverage and the cost of those commercials, some has-been Jack Nicholson speaking makes for good TV.

Salary caps make parity for the most part. Fans just keep buying the latest winners' jerseys, on and on...

Tue Apr 19, 2016 2:12 pm

Quote: Not sure the exact number, merchandise sales towards the end of the 'Kobe era' are huge, owners are cashing in on fans.

Sold $1.2 Mil of KB merchandise at Staples Center on the final night alone.

Quote: Unfortunately or fortunately the management of that team has no clue how to build a winning team since the old man died and then the execs with experience went elsewhere.

I have to agree. (except the part about execs with experience, Mitch Kupchek organized the 08,09,10 teams that went to the finals, won 2)
The last 3 years they have been floating about like a ship with no rudder. They have no direction or game plan. They will have a very difficult time trying to lure a top free agent when they dont have much other than cash to offer (almost all the teams will have cap space next year due to the bump in the cap). They can lose their draft pick if it falls out of the top three. This isnt Philly and our fans will become impatient by next year.