You know, the same guys people keep trashing Kobe for not being able to get?

It’s amusing that an over the hill Kobe with a team on the decline catches all kinds of heat for not attracting all these big names, yet two young stars in the prime of their careers with a team on the rise struck out on all the same guys and nobody says a word.
It’s amusing that Nelly used Dwight as his prime example of people not wanting to play with Kobe while ignoring that fact that nobody was exactly beating down Dwight & Harden’s door.

Sorry champ, but an ounce of objectivity would tell you that it says worlds more about Dwight, Harden, and Morey’s supposed genius, and the fact that nobody wanted to play with them than nobody wanting to play with Kobe, 19 seasons in, coming off an injury with a broken Steve Nash, no coach, and no Jerry Buss. Nobody was clamoring to play with Bosh and Wade in Miami after Bron left. Who was beating down NY’s door to play with Melo? Who was angling to be a Rocket? A Bull? NOBODY, that’s who, yet conveniently it’s only an issue if Kobe strikes out on free agents. Pau was the last major FA chip to fall and went for a discount to a situation with a team that just made the playoffs without Derek Rose while Derek Rose was about to come back.

Except… well, except for the fun fact that when you look at where everyone went, it’s clear that none of the big names left except for Bron, and he went home to Kyrie and a roster of first contract lottery picks and tradable assets. Melo & Bosh stayed home and followed the money, Dirk stayed home for less money in a move that surprised absolutely nobody, Lowry stayed home, Parsons bounced to Dallas for an insane contract he would have been equally insane to turn down, etc.

I mean, you guys keep going hard to push this narrative that nobody wants to play with Kobe, yet the actual, verifiable, out in the open facts pretty much tell a different story. Was Paul George supposed to turn down a massive guaranteed contract on a team that looked poised to be a title player then and there and wait a few years to come to L.A? Is that something people even do? Where’s the history of players of his stature making such moves?

No, most of these guys did exactly what the CBA was designed to encourage them to do: stay with their current team for more money.