NBA PM: Kobe Should Embrace the All-Star Game

For the 16th time in his career, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has been named to the All-Star team. He was voted in as a starter by the fans, receiving 988,884 votes, which put him ahead of everyone outside of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and LeBron James.

Bryant has played in six games this season, averaging 13.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists. That doesn’t come close to justifying being an All-Star starter, especially when you compare it to what Chris Paul, James Harden, Damian Lillard and Tony Parker have done for their respective teams this season, all of which are far ahead of the Lakers in the standings.

Bryant is an All-Star solely because of what he’s done in the past. He remains one of the league’s biggest stars, despite the fact that he’s played only six games this season and is missing more time due to injuries than he ever has in his career. As far as this year goes, though, Bryant’s undeserving of playing in New Orleans and he’s fully aware of that.

“With all due respect to the fans who voted me in, and I certainly appreciate that, but you’ve got to do the right thing as well,” Bryant said to Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. “My feeling is you’ve got to reward these young guys for the work that they’ve been putting in.

“It just means somebody will have to lose a spot unfortunately. Our backups will be playing a lot if I go in there and do my two minutes and sit down.”

If it wasn’t for a fear of being suspended, Bryant insinuated that he would politely decline his invitation to the NBA’s midseason showcase. However, what Bryant doesn’t seem to be taking into account enough is that this could be his last All-Star game. At 35 years of age with 1,465 regular season and playoff games under his belt alone, that’s not including any preseason or international games, it’s reasonable to question whether or not Bryant will ever put up All-Star numbers again. He’s never a guy you want to bet against, but in the next two years that he’s under contract, is his production even going to be on par with Paul, Lillard and Harden’s? It’s doubtful.

There have been plenty of instances like this in the past. With the fans in charge of the voting it will continue to happen, but only in the most deserving cases.

Bryant has dedicated his life to the game of basketball. His status as one of the greatest to ever play the games is undeniable. He could retire today and have a legacy that few could ever come close to matching; he’ll be inducted into the Hall of Fame as soon as he’s eligible. The All-Star game is supposed to feature the league’s best players, but there’s nearly a million people out there who would rather see Bryant, even when he’s not at the top of his game, than the other Western Conference guards at their best.

It’s an honor he should embrace, because it may not happen again next year. Just look back at the 2013 All-Star voting. Only Durant and James finished with more votes than Bryant. Now he’s dropped to sixth in the league, and in the process Curry doubled the amount of votes he was getting and surpassed Bryant in votes this year. Who’s to say the same thing won’t happen with Lillard, Westbrook, Harden and especially Paul next season?

We live in a world all about instant gratification and what is happening in the present. Bryant’s inclusion in the All-Star game is one of the rare instances where that’s not the case. He’s being appreciated and rewarded for what he’s accomplished so far. As much as it may go against his DNA to embrace that, when his time as an All-Star officially comes to an end, he’ll miss it and everything that came with it. Because of that, there’s no harm in enjoying an extra trip that his legacy, not his play, earned him. Once he acknowledges that this could be his last, it may not be so hard to do so. And, those young guys whose spot he’s so concerned about taking, they’re going to be taking it from him soon enough. Even if he wanted to, he’s not going to be able to stop them. His time is coming to an end; theirs is just beginning.

Rivers Defends Thibodeau: Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers and Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau had a lot of success working together. They won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and there remains an immense amount of respect between the two even though they’re now the head coaches of different teams competing for the same goal. That’s why with rumors circulating that Thibodeau could be let go at season’s end due to a tumultuous working relationship with the front office Rivers was quick to come to his defense.

“I think it would be nuts not to have him here,” Rivers said to ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “He’s the best coach, one of the best coaches in this league. So if you have that, that’s an asset. And I don’t think any right-minded organization would allow that asset to leave. Because with all this adversity they’ve had with injuries, if you allow that one to leave, things will fall apart. And that would be pretty much a guarantee.

“I worked with the guy, it felt like 30 years, but he’s the best. One of my best friends, number one. But he’s the best mind I’ve been around, too. He has a way, he believes in it and he makes his players believe in it, and that’s where Tom and I are very similar. We don’t believe because a guy gets injured, no matter [who] the guy is, that the team should start feeling like they can’t win.”

Although the Bulls haven’t had the success they’ve hoped for in recent years because of all the injuries they’ve had to deal with,
Rivers feels like Thibodeau keeps outdoing himself every season.

“I think every year’s his best coaching job, honestly,” Rivers said. “Last year he went through it, the year before, every year people keep expecting them to fall and they don’t, and the guy that’s standing there is Tom Thibodeau. He’s the guy. He’s the difference. He holds them together somehow.

“Obviously, they make trades. They trade Deng away and yet they keep winning. So the guy that’s standing there every day is Tom. I just think it’s been impressive what he’s done, not just this year, I thought last year was just as hard, and some ways harder, because you kept thinking Derrick may come back. So you just got to take your hat off to him.”