http://www.theplayerstribune.com/dear-basketball/

Didn't see it posted so here's the link. It was a good run. Glad I'm going to the Lakers game in Toronto next week.

I was making the post too but as soon as I got to the players tribune the site was down. Probably because all the traffic.

Best combination of talent and hard work of his generation.

Definitely marks an era in my life s I started watching Kobe as a high schooler in LA.

Damn I wanna cry

Mad?

phil's said a lot of things, you know.

how do you reconcile the "most skilled player ever" having the worst PER of any superstar in the modern era? I'll wait

Glad he's realizing his mortality. That being said, I was 10 when he was drafted and now about to turn 30...he's been a part of so many moments in my life and I'm forever grateful to what he's done for the franchise.

I've actually pretty much hated this dude for his entire career but it's the end of an era for LA sports. It was definitely coming but wow I feel old too.

..and respect due to one of the best to ever play the game.

#LakersForLIFE


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

How crazy is it that never happened?

.
.
.

Great career nonetheless

I came in here to type something respectful about Kobe and lost all train of thought for the past 5 minutes

>
>Great career nonetheless

One of the greatest.

one of the greatest to ever play the game, glad he announced that this is the end, hope he is healthy enough to play through the rest of the season

I hated him in his prime. But still respect him to this day

He's earned his place in basketball history for sure

Fans attending tonight's Lakers game are getting this letter from Kobe. pic.twitter.com/

One of the few players I literally had to stop hating because I just couldn't...played too well to hate on.

One of the best heroes (for LA) and villains (for everyone else) the sport has seen. The 2nd best SG ever.

Thank you for working so hard.

Thank you for five rings.

Thank you for destroying Iverstania and leaving them a nation of vagrants.

Thank you for showing the new generation why it's important to train and properly and go hard in practice.

Thank you for being an example to franchise players around the league of why it's important to stay with a franchse for your entire career.

THANK YOU FOR MAKING EVERYONE MAD FROM YOUR ENTIRE CAREER.

Thank you Greatest of All Time.

>Thank you for working so hard.
>
>Thank you for five rings.
>
>Thank you for destroying Iverstania and leaving them a nation
>of vagrants.

Lmao!

>
>Thank you for showing the new generation why it's important to
>train and properly and go hard in practice.
>
>Thank you for being an example to franchise players around the
>league of why it's important to stay with a franchse for your
>entire career.
>
>THANK YOU FOR MAKING EVERYONE MAD FROM YOUR ENTIRE CAREER.
>
>Thank you Greatest of All Time.

>Thank you for working so hard.
>
>Thank you for five rings.
>
>Thank you for destroying Iverstania and leaving them a nation
>of vagrants.
>
>Thank you for showing the new generation why it's important to
>train and properly and go hard in practice.
>
>Thank you for being an example to franchise players around the
>league of why it's important to stay with a franchse for your
>entire career.
>
>THANK YOU FOR MAKING EVERYONE MAD FROM YOUR ENTIRE CAREER.
>
>Thank you Greatest of All Time.

I appreciate.
______________________________
http://i.imgur.com/Gj5Wy56.jpg

Hate until the very end...props

http://oi65.tinypic.com/oqwwgy.jpg

Glad he's going out flabby and sick on a horrible team.
Know that shit gotta be torture.

Future

Shit is cringe worthy to watch
AI got voted into the asg his last year , let's see if Kobe can even get that

B) Iverson got a Bronze medal

c) he didn't get a farewell tour because he got kicked out of the league.

Curry/Russy.

Of course he's getting voted in.

the starting 5 is a popularity contest.

I think that's it's probably Anthony bennett or some one else
but kobe has a chance to legitimately get that title
it would be crazy if one of the worst players in the league got an AS spot
iirc AI didn't play, kobe better do the same if he gets voted in

http://mobilwi.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a6dde087970b014e60794e1c970c-pi

https://twitter.com/SixSecPlays/status/669335709157859328

So I can continue to shit on him in some fashion

Damn that was tough to watch even as a kobe hater.

Glad he's going out without any regrets & I hope he doesn't get hurt this season.

For him to have had the run he's had, from a rookie until the Achilles injury a couple of years ago, is amazing and if nothing else, he's definitely on the Mt. Rushmore of Laker greats.

My favorite moment of his is probably the Game 7 of the '09 Finals. It wasn't his best game statistically, but the way he played within his abilities at the time and shifted his attention from gunning to rebounding and facilitating really was a special moment.

Salut

call it what it is, please.

Doc and Thibs doubled him from the start because they knew he had to shoot. Almost stole them a game 7.

Kobe had a lot of great games. His most hurtful, however, was when he almost willie winguyed his team out of title, rivaled only when he did willie winguy the lakers out of a game 4 win in the second half during the last great Shaq game in 2004.

He wasn't being doubled, he was taking and missing a lot of contested shots....as was the rest of the team (except Ron who saved our ass in the first half...bc I still think he had no idea he was even playing in a playoff game, let alone a game 7 of the Finals, and DFish because he was doing what he does, getting great looks off rotations). With his poor shooting night, he still got to the line 15 times....and o btw, 15 boards (3 less than Pau, 8 more than the 3rd leader in boards in LO) in a series in which the winner of every single game had the edge in rebounds.

I know you wouldn't understand winning context because you're a Sixers fan but you should you just let this nonsense go bc it's making you look more and more foolish (even more so than making Kobe your avi after 81).

I'm definitely the one pushing an implausible narrative of a 6-24 game 7 performance.

Glad he isn't considering another year.

Everyone's gonna miss this dude.

>Everyone's gonna miss this dude.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/018/489/nick-young-confused-face-300x256_nqlyaa.png

This response made me spit food over my screen

weird timing so it fits what he usally does.
hey, might as well get official farewell cheers while hitting new career lows.

Solidifying the investment I made in Kobestani industry and infrastructure whilst the Kangaroo Court was building a fortress of Poo Poo from which they would feast in the coming years, and also for getting rid of the obstacles to the ring that should have rightfully come to The Land.

Also, thank you for getting Ron Artest The God a ring. No one deserved it more than the Palace God

Leaving like most do.
----------------------------
Same as it ever was!

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&y1=2016&p1=bryanko01&y2=2003&p2=jordami01&p3=&p4=&p5=&p6=

Even had a better farewell season...BOOOOOOOM!!!

lmao but it's been a pleasure watching Bean play. He was Jordan-lite for all intents and purposes. Would have loved him like a son if he played for the Bulls.

Squarely and firmly in my top 10 players of all time.

Enjoy retirement Bean.

His farewell tour should be epic. Glad I'm going to be there!

https://vine.co/v/iaEjw5ab7jr

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc03086pRs1rfimo0o2_r2_400.gif

No, I didn't write this, but it's essentially a protracted version of a post I wrote last month, no?

http://deadspin.com/fuck-off-kobe-1745231527?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

but i think a lot of Lakers fans would like the chance to see him play one last time. my notoriously cheap grandfather, a long-time fan who always refused to spend money on a ticket, asked me to take him to his first Lakers game after hearing about the announcement

it'll be obnoxious and lame in its execution, and this article is probably correct for all practical purposes, but i still think there's an important sentimental value of him playing out the season *shrug*

let me know which game and Ill ask if he has it

i copped off stubhub already

wow dude seems mad. Is he from philly or something.

along with the respect and admiration of his employer and colleagues.

Iverson got handed a pink slip friday afternoon with a cardboard box to clean out his desk as security escorted him out of the building.

I thought I was a Kobe hater.

Jesus this dude caused a lot of sadness over the years

Most old folk now will brag that they saw all the greats in the 60's-80's, even if they hated em. "I saw Isiah, Bird, Magic, AND Jordan in the same season!!!"

In 30 years, these old mofos gonna be like "I saw the greats like AI, T-Mac, Lebron, Steve Francis, and....wait grandson, why you asking about that bitch ass mothafucka Kobe??? He was garbage!!!! I did see him, he airballed a three when I saw him! Sorry mothafucka! He couldn't hold a candle to JR Smith."

Cause he's probably the last athlete that'll ever make me that MAD. Look man, I'm 30, I honestly don't care about watching sports with the same passion I once I did, I have other things to do and worry about. I've lived in the epicenter of Kobe-dom all my life and hated him for most of it. He came up when I was a kid, was at his prime when I was at my angriest as a young adult, and faded as I've gotten older. Lebron is a few months older than me and I basically see anything he does good or bad through the same lens as I'd see things, and I see younger athletes as kids.

I've hated the way Kobe plays ball, hated his persona, really hated his nuthugging fans, and he's both won so much and proven himself so much it's made me really MAD, and also flamed out so spectacularly that it's made all the hating worth it. But in the end life turned out mostly OK despite anything that happens in the sports world, and I sort of felt I grew up from hating him? I honestly could not bring myself to hate some random athlete I've never met to that level again, but I'm glad I cared that much at some point, so thanks, Bean.

And I hope you shoot 20% for the rest of this season.

When Kobe is gone, there will be a huge void in the NBA.

When the Heat Death Star went down, so went with it a chance to follow in Kobe's footsteps

when it comes to hate, Kobe is the undisputed GOAT

We NEED a villain in life. Literature or sports. Gotta have somebody to root against


I legit don't see who is going to step up and fill that void.


Curry has a bit of that asshole side to him but he looks too cute and fuzzy for people. Maybe if we win another championship or two people will start to see it


He was basically hushing the Utah crowd after that game winning three last night lol

The Heat were so hated that they turned the Spurs, damn near the Patriots of the NBA, into Gods

there was talk of taking Moses Cleveland out of Public Square and putting Tim Duncan in his place

Like him coming out for Dell's ceremony last night....he's not someone anyone can personally hate.

bc that's when i could no longer hate on dude.

>bc that's when i could no longer hate on dude.

Diehard Laker fans weren't even watching until the end of the 3rd quarter...

This was the post title: "Um, Kobe has 44 with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter"

Nick got mad because I, a Knicks fan, posted it...and I wasn't posting to hate...I just had a feeling Kobe was about to do something special. But the post title says it all....cuz folks were casually following the scoreboard but no one was really paying attention to what he was doing.

He was like, "Why are the mods allowing 2 posts about the same game?"

That's why. It's got nothing to do with you being a Knick fan, dude.

And if one of you Lakers fans had made, he wouldn't have come at me like that, so uh, yeah it had something to do with me being a fan of another team.

http://sneakerhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Michael-Jordan-6-Rings-Poster.jpg

http://gfycat.com/EvergreenBraveAnemone

http://time.com/4133199/kareem-abdul-jabbar-kobe-bryant/


love this part:
Most important, you let me relearn

the glorious joys of basketball as a fan. In the stands

or on the couch, I am a cheering enthusiast,

rooting my team to victory.

You returned me to my childhood awe of just watching and loving the game.



"Retirement, embrace him like you did me"


MORE
Kobe Bryant Opens Up About His Decision to Retire
Expect Big Things Out Of Kobe’s Bryant’s Retirement
Dear Retirement from Basketball,

(for Kobe Bryant)



You don’t suck, retirement. I thought

You would. With no crowds to cheer.

No competitors to pump addicting adrenalin every day.

No satisfying sound of the ball swooshing through the net

Like a melon through silk.

No frown of frustration on your opponents’ faces.

No salty smell of victory as exhausted bodies

rush to the locker room.

No purpose.



I was wrong.



You gave me other gifts I wasn’t expecting. That final year

when each city I visited showered me with glory and gifts

and pure love. The fans cheered, stomped feet, battered hands,

not because I was scoring points in one last game,

but because they wished me well on whatever I did next.



They wanted to say thanks for the memories:

the games where the father waved the foam finger with his giggling young son,

the games where the family talked about thrilling plays on the car ride home,

the games where kids saw players make moves that seemed physically impossible,

that they would try to duplicate the next day on the playground.

The humility I felt that year made me strive to be worthy of their appreciation.

If no longer as a player, then as a man.



You were generous, retirement. You let me discover who I was

without a ball in my hand and a number on my back.

I found a man with many other passions.

As a player, I had dabbled in writing like a would-be singer

who only sings in the shower. But you gave me

precious time to find my more mature voice,

and the courage to share my words with the world.

Even when they didn’t cheer.



Most important, you let me relearn

the glorious joys of basketball as a fan. In the stands

or on the couch, I am a cheering enthusiast,

rooting my team to victory.

You returned me to my childhood awe of just watching and loving the game.



You also let me appreciate the magnificent young athletes who replaced me.

Knowing I wouldn’t have to face them on the court,

I didn’t have to worry about strategies,

I could just marvel.



Like I marveled at Kobe Bryant.

Lord, that man could soar, could score, could leap from shore to shore.

He brought poetry back to the game

and to the hearts of the fans.

The poetry of form and function, motion and mindfulness.

He saw the court the way a sculptor looks at a block of marble

and imagines the great art waiting to be revealed.

And he revealed it game after game.



Retirement, embrace him like you did me. Teach him

all that you taught me about finding who I was off the court.

My place in the community.

My purpose.

Most of all, help him realize that there is no such thing as retirement,

merely passing from one room into another.

A bold adventure in self-discovery

where he may find a new Kobe

who may surprise and delight him all over again.

https://twitter.com/KLChouinard/status/672454826496774144