Kobe Bryant had to start this on again off again media-based feud quoting if Shaquille O’Neal hadn’t been lazy, he would have 12 rings. Sorry, he’s wrong. The Los Angeles Lakers wouldn’t have come close.
The good news for Los Angeles Lakers fans is the NBA preseason starts on October 3rd, 2019, which leads us to open night on October 22nd.
The bad news is that the calendar hasn’t passed Labor Day yet. What this means is that the media can find the smallest quote and turn it into a frenzy.
This was plainly illustrated by David Griffin’s quotes combining LeBron James and misery a few weeks back. The NBA media is desperate for a story and finally dug deep into the archives of 15 years ago to do it.
We all have to thank Kobe Bryant for the quote heard all around the NBA world this week. The only difference is that Kobe Bryant won’t be coming on ESPN’s The Jump to clarify his statements. Reports and social media exploded off this phrase via TMZ.
"”He’s be the greatest of all time,” Bryant said … “He’d be the first to tell you that!” ”I wish he was in the gym! I would’ve had 12 f*cking rings!” Kobe says he’s not saying anything publicly he hasn’t already said to Shaq in private — “Me and Shaq sit down all the time and I say, ‘Dude if your lazy ass was in shape …’”"
Well, the fuse was lit. Talk shows started putting out their opinions on two things. One, was Kobe Bryant right in making the quote and two, is the feud back on?
Like the David Griffin story, context is important here. Look at the video above. Kobe Bryant was at a black-tie event to speak in an interview. The interview was based on his motivation to be the best throughout his life.
The list is really short on who can transcend motivation better than Kobe Bryant. He’s already in high demand in other sports preaching the “Mamba Mentality”.
Stephen A. Smith went on record saying that Kobe Bryant was wrong for bringing up Shaq. To be clear here, Kobe was not. Bryant is too honest not to tell people what is on his mind.
Now for the $64.32 question? Is the feud back on between the two? Uh no. One tweet between the two says it all.
It’s all good bro, when I saw the interview, I thought you were talking about Dwite, is that how u spell his name lol
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) August 28, 2019
On a short sidebar for my man Dwight Howard here. Can the dude just live? The Los Angeles Lakers basically are paying the guy peanuts (I think this article could be the reason on page 5!), then gave him the ugliest number in the NBA at 39 and he doesn’t make a dime from the Lakers until October 21st. Let’s root for him, shall we?
You know what they say sometimes, what makes you laugh can make you cry. Meaning at the time, these two needed each other more than they knew. More importantly, their personalities balanced the roster on the court and off.
But there is something Kobe Bryant said in his quote that was dead wrong. Had Shaq focused his “Mamba Mentality” or not, the Lakers would not have gotten the 12 rings that Kobe believes. It transcends way past the personalities of the two titans of the early NBA millennium.
Here’s why the Lakers never would have won 12 titles if Shaquille O’Neal had Kobe’s focus.