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The Lakers’ Crazed Cult of Kobe Comes For LeBron James
DerekJohnson
Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 67,868 
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This isn't MJ playing for the Wizards. He's still in his prime. Expectations are high. Lakers fans and Kobe stans are going to hate on him all four years if he doesn't deliver a title.
And with the shit moves by the Lakers front office, there's little reason to think he will win a title. He's going into his age 34 season. At that age, MJ won his last title, and his game was declining (advanced stats at Basketball Reference show this pretty clearly). A declining LeBron, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Kyle Kuzma? No chance.
He would have been forgiven for not winning another title in Cleveland. No way that will happen in LA.
Speaking as a Lakers and by extension a Kobe fan the early years of Bron in the league were especially obnoxious. He'd accomplished nothing but getting swept in the finals once and there was already a loud part of the media discussing if he was better than MJ. Mind you, this was still in the years where Kobe was peak and we were still wondering if he might surpass MJ's ring count. A lot of the same reasons other fans used to discredit Kobe were ignored in Lebron's case because who hated the cavaliers or the heat at that point? Nobody. ex. Not winning without supporting casts, diva attitude, flopping, etc.
The article itself is a decent example of what I'm talking about. Kobe's five rings don't count because supporting cast but Bron's three rings count because he did it one time with less in Cleveland. Kobe's an asshole that nobody wants to play with but nevermind all the examples Bron being a GM and creating team havoc or leaving teams that are no longer good enough for him.
*shrug The best Seattle thing I can compare it to is the Russell Wilson vs. Andrew Luck debate. The difference being that Bron actually went on to accomplish things and fulfill some of the potential everyone drooled over.
I'm happy the Lakers got him but leery of the late in the career big max deals for obvious reasons. As ever in these things all you can do is LIPO. If Bron comes to LA and wins even one title he'll silence a lot of the criticisms he rightfully or wrongfully receives. He'll be forever loved if he beats Boston for one or takes the title count from them. If he pulls a late in his career Kobe don't expect anyone in LA to have any love for him at all. Kobe at least earned his retirement contract and we all knew what it was when they inked it.
It's also a bit presumptuous and disrespectful to already call him the King of LA when you have so much tradition and history here(16 titles!). This isn't fucking Cleveland. That's a minor quibble though.
Meh, I'm a Lakers fan first and a fan of the players second. I've gotten to see Kareem, Magic, Shaq, and Kobe all in person and I've gotten to attend a Lakers vs. Celtics final. I have no problem giving Bron his due as one of the greatest in the history of the sport. He's probably #2. MJ is still #1 and I HATED MJ but great is great. Kobe is right up there as one of the greats but even now it seems that admitting that threatens people somehow.
TLDR Kobe and Bron are both great players. Some people have an issue being able to admit both of those facts at once. Let's see what Bron can do for #myLakers. Winning solves everything.
I agree with the article about the Shaq/rings part. Lebron was always the top player on his championship teams, significantly so. Kobe was the top player for 2 of his rings. Still a major accomplishment and he's an all time top 10-15 player, but I agree the cult/icon/image he built around himself is pretty weird.
Just as foolish as trying to place LeBron at #1. Because he isn't.