Fri Dec 17, 2004 1:46 am
In two interviews with ESPN, Kobe Bryant addressed the topics of his personal
image and his rifts with former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Karl Malone and
Shaquille O'Neal and former coach Phil Jackson.
Bryant, in a taped interview on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" on Wednesday,
did not elaborate much further about Malone, whom Bryant previously accused of
making a pass at Bryant's wife, Vanessa, at a Lakers game on Nov. 23. Bryant
said he wouldn't give Malone the benefit of the doubt in this situation, even as
he conceded Malone was like "a big brother" to him last season.
Malone's agent said last week that his client didn't plan to return to the
Lakers because of comments Bryant made in a radio interview questioning Malone's
intent in rejoining the team.
"To me, it's water under the bridge," Bryant said Wednesday. "I just kind of
want to move on from it. We just go our separate ways."
However, Bryant, who was interviewed on ESPN's "NBA Shootaround" on Wednesday
night, was somewhat more open in talking about O'Neal. Bryant said that if he
got the chance to sit down with O'Neal, he would apologize for involving O'Neal
in Bryant's personal problems, referring to statements given to police in which
Bryant said that O'Neal had paid hush money to women.
"Off the court, I have nothing against him," Bryant said. "I'd definitely love
to sit down and talk with him. I don't know, maybe that'll happen. ... I never
intended to involve him in my troubles. I'd apologize to him for that."
Bryant said he has passed the word to O'Neal through a mutual friend that he
would like to discuss the matter.
"December 25 sounds like a good day to me to kind of talk to him and tell him I
never meant in any kind of way to bring any of his personal business out,"
Bryant said. O'Neal, who was traded to the Miami Heat in the offseason, will
play the Lakers on Christmas Day, the first meeting of the two teams since
O'Neal was traded.
Bryant also says he feels "like I'm under a microscope, but there's nothing I
can do about it." As for people believing he forced out Shaq and coach Phil
Jackson, whose contract was not renewed with the Lakers, Bryant said, "It's just
not true."
In Jackson's book, "The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul," he said he
no longer wanted to coach Bryant.
Jackson wrote that he became so frustrated with Bryant that he told general
manager Mitch Kupchak in January: "I won't coach this team next year if he is
still here. He won't listen to anyone. I've had it with this kid."
At the time, Bryant shrugged off Jackson's criticism. "He's just trying to sell
books. I'll just leave it at that," Bryant said in October.
A month earlier, O'Neal denied Bryant's allegations that O'Neal had paid up to
$1 million in hush money to various women. "I'm not the one buying love," O'Neal
said at the time.
O'Neal made the remark to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith after the Los Angeles Times
quoted a police report as saying Bryant told detectives in Eagle, Colo., that he
"should have done what Shaq does ... Shaq would pay his women not to say
anything" and already had paid up to $1 million "for situations like this."
Bryant was accused of sexual assault in Eagle, Colo., in June 2003. More than a
year later, the charges against him were dismissed, but Bryant still has a civil
suit pending against him.
Fri Dec 17, 2004 2:28 am
Fri Dec 17, 2004 2:34 am
And if Kobe wants to make a huge step in his reputation, on Christmas day, he should go embrace Shaq, show some brotherly love, and then move on from all the drama.
Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:56 am
Fri Dec 17, 2004 7:12 am
Fri Dec 17, 2004 7:16 am
Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:00 am
this just shows how big of a man bryant is by admitting that he made some mistakes and he's willing to patch things up instead of letting it boil over. i saw the interview and i gotta say im proud of the guy; he came off as sincere and honest
Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:04 am
O'Neal said everyone who he was closely associated with on the Lakers is no longer with the team, which he doesn't consider a coincidence.
"Listen, everybody that had something to do with me has been fired or traded or cut," O'Neal said. "My boy Rick Fox was cut, and he's out there doing bad movies."
O'Neal doesn't intend to prove anything to Bryant and the Lakers on Christmas Day.
"I don't have to make a point," O'Neal said. "I'm George Bush. I'm the president. I built that arena, so I don't have to make a point. I think it'll take us out of what we're trying to do for me to go in there and try to make points."
Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:21 am
Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:31 am
Fri Dec 17, 2004 1:17 pm
Fri Dec 17, 2004 2:12 pm
bangyounh wrote:This is so much bullshit. Honest?? You kidding me. You Kobe fans are sickening. SICKENING. I laughed so much in Kobe's interview because he really thinks he's so innocent. He really thinks he had nothing to do? Maybe it's his friggin huge ego? Did he ever stop and think that? Kobe does not ever deserve to be forgiven. He needs to go to jail, like a rapist should and be raped for eternity. Kobe is basically in complete denial of everything. He is the reason for Lakers destruction. He needs to admit that he just didn't want to be a sidekick anymore. All this bullshit of wanting to apologize to Shaq? He had TONS of time. If Shaq hugs Kobe in Christmas, Shaq will stab him with a knife. And as we watch Kobe bleed to death we will laugh in joy as we look at how the pathetic filthy rapist dies.
He needs to go to jail, like a rapist should and be raped for eternity. Kobe is basically in complete denial of everything.
All this bullshit of wanting to apologize to Shaq? He had TONS of time.
If Shaq hugs Kobe in Christmas, Shaq will stab him with a knife. And as we watch Kobe bleed to death we will laugh in joy as we look at how the pathetic filthy rapist dies.
Fri Dec 17, 2004 5:12 pm
Fri Dec 17, 2004 5:46 pm
bangyounh wrote:If Kobe is man enough, he should say "It's my fault the Lakers are destroyed."
Innocent until proven guilty? Oh man, whatever. So you think OJ is innocent right? Probably.
"I don't think it was rape, but she apparently did"
Remember that quote? What does Kobe think rape is? "I think rape has to involve clowns!" Yea, probably.
Yes, everyone in the NBA has huge egos, but Kobe is manipulative and annoying as fuck. Whereas Shaq, he is pretty simple in his thoughts. He doesn't work around shit like annoying Kobe.
Basically Kobe's putting the blame on everyone else, but not himself. I don't know, that's not fucking manly. Maybe he should admit all the things he has done wrong. You really believe all that Kobe says? You're falling to his idiotic "oh, I did nothing wrong and people are leaving..." Coincidence?
Maybe you should see how Kobe is manipulating to believe in his point of view. That is ignorant. He didn't even go to college, and yet you people fall for his lies.
Shaq doesn't need to apoligize, it's totally Kobe's fault that the Lakers got destroyed.
Innocent until proven guilty? Oh man, whatever. So you think OJ is innocent right? Probably.
"I don't think it was rape, but she apparently did"
Remember that quote? What does Kobe think rape is?
"I think rape has to involve clowns!" Yea, probably.
but Kobe is manipulative and annoying as fuck. Whereas Shaq, he is pretty simple in his thoughts. He doesn't work around shit like annoying Kobe.
Basically Kobe's putting the blame on everyone else, but not himself. I don't know, that's not fucking manly. Maybe he should admit all the things he has done wrong. You really believe all that Kobe says? You're falling to his idiotic "oh, I did nothing wrong and people are leaving..." Coincidence?
Maybe you should see how Kobe is manipulating to believe in his point of view. That is ignorant. He didn't even go to college, and yet you people fall for his lies.
Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:10 pm
j.23 wrote:you have shaq dissing kobe in a radio interview/mixtape whatever, and you have phil blasting kobe in his book. wow that's a really manly thing to do.
Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:40 pm
Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:48 pm
Sat Dec 18, 2004 12:18 am
Najira wrote:Umm stupid, Shaq and Kobe - Overrated Players
Shaq can't manipulate anyone. He's pretty stupid. All he does is say obvious stuff. He doesn't twist around his statements. He isn't smart enough to do that.
Sat Dec 18, 2004 12:32 am
Sat Dec 18, 2004 12:37 am
Jackal wrote:Najira wrote:Umm stupid, Shaq and Kobe - Overrated Players
Exxxsqueeze me? Over-rated? Shaq's on the top 5 list of best centers of all time, over rated? Hardly.
Kobe's one of the first players to have reached such a level of success so early in his carreer, sure, Shaq was part of that success but you cannot deny the kid has some kickass skills. If you don't see that, you're ignorant.
Sat Dec 18, 2004 2:43 am
Maybe you should watch Jim Rome is Burning (which I don't like much, but whatever he sometimes makes sense) or some other sports column and maybe you'll finally realize how Kobe is manipulative. If these writers get it, maybe you will. I don't know. I didn't sense any honesty in that interview.
Did you look at what he wants to apologize for? "I'd definitely love to sit down and talk with him. I don't know, maybe that'll happen. ... I never intended to involve him in my troubles. I'd apologize to him for that." Look at how he phrases it. He's basically saying the rift was created because Shaq wanted to be involved in his troubles? Once again: "I never intended to involve him in my troubles. I'd apologize to him for that."
.Shaq was the best thing to happen to the Lakers in a lot of years. He won the 3 championships. Maybe Jordan needed Pippen. It's the same thing
College has a lot to do. He's dumb. There's no way around it. He doesn't have a PHD in something or anything.
Shaq can't manipulate anyone. He's pretty stupid. All he does is say obvious stuff. He doesn't twist around his statements. He isn't smart enough to do that.
Do you think OJ is innocent? Even if there are a lot of INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE against him? Whatever, Kobe is an adulterer, that even makes him "morally inferior" to his cheating ass.
Sat Dec 18, 2004 4:09 am
Sat Dec 18, 2004 5:51 am
Jamesphenomenal wrote:conclusion: kobe is arrogant bitch.
Sat Dec 18, 2004 7:55 am
Andre wrote:Jamesphenomenal wrote:conclusion: kobe is arrogant bitch.
That's really inappropriate. There was a serious discussion, with people making points and supporting them. And you come out just to say that dumb phrase?? You must be 8 years old, aren't you?
Sat Dec 18, 2004 9:34 am