During one of those “18/58” updates on ESPN Sunday, I saw something that startled me: “Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade will attempt to practice Monday for the first time since his shoulder injury Feb. 21.”
Yes, the dislocation of Wade’s right (shooting) shoulder was serious. Yes, it put a snag in any back-to-back talk in South Beach. But it’s not like this is the first time this injury has hampered an NBA uber-star, even though you’d think it is with all the cov-erage Wade has garnered.
Kobe Bryant suffered a similar injury during the 2002-03 playoffs and re-injured the joint the following year, which caused Bryant to miss 17 games that season. Sure, there was coverage of the damage, but not to the level of attention Wade has received.
This injury has been mainstream news since it occurred in a Heat loss at Houston in February. Wade, who returned to practice Monday, added to the drama by draping a towel over his head and lap after the injury took place. Not to mention needing a wheelchair for an arm injury!
I’ve heard everything from, “he shouldn’t risk fur-ther injury by coming back,” to, “if Wade returns, it’s amazing.”
When Kobe re-injured his shooting shoulder against Cleveland in January 2004, there was no wheelchair, no crocodile tears, nothing — just Bryant vowing to return to aid his team. The love Wade, the 2006 Finals MVP, has been shown the last six weeks is unbelievable. But do you think people in the sports world would be fawning over the Heat guard if he was the polarizing, lone wolf Bryant is portrayed as being?
This has done nothing but reaffirm my belief that Kobe can do nothing to make people “love” him. He can’t become a better teammate, which he has; he can’t do things for children, which he has. Kobe’s stuck.
This is a country of people who give everyone a second chance. Where’s Kobe’s second chance with the media? The people have spoken. Bryant’s number 24 jersey is the No. 1 seller in the League. Fans at Staples Center and abroad chant “M-V-P” when they witness his scoring exploits. This even happened in Boston of all places! Kevin McHale must be spinning in his grave.
Ask anyone in the know and they’ll tell you Bryant is the League’s premier player. No mention of his 40 ppg March is needed, although that scoring barrage catapulted Bryant from fourth in scoring to the top of the heap (31 ppg). Bryant recently followed up a 53-point effort in an overtime loss to Houston with an all-around effort (19 points, 13 dimes) in a 126-103 rout of Sacramento.
Kobe won’t win the MVP award this year. Hell, I’m almost convinced he’ll never receive the honor after last season, where he took a team of career underachievers (Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom) and youngsters (Luke Walton and Andrew Bynum) to the playoffs, while posting the highest scoring average (35.4) in nearly two decades.
Kobe finished fourth in MVP voting last season. How is that possible? Bryant should have won the award hands down. But voters of the award don’t like Bryant.
Isn’t that title supposed to be bestowed upon the best on court performer? And, if the rape charge is a reason behind that dislike, people fail to remember no jury convicted Bryant of anything. Steve Nash is an amazing talent, but he wouldn’t have finished in the top 10 of the voting 15 years ago. Jason Kidd has no MVPs to Nash’s two, but Kidd has two Finals appearances to Nash’s zero. Does that mean Kidd should have beat out Tim Duncan for the award during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons? No, because Duncan was the best player those two years, as Kobe has been the last two.
What does Kobe have to do to get some love from the mainstream? Cure cancer? I don’t think we’ll ever know.
The only thing we’ll know is that Bryant is one of the greatest of all time. We don’t need anyone to tell us that.
Very solid read, however, I'm fed up with the "why can't we love Kobe" posts. Kobe made his bed. Now he must lay in it.
If ever Wade tarnishes his reputation like Bryant, then he'll deserve, and likely receive, every bit of the toxicity that follows Kobe.
As for Wade and the wheelchair, I played a hell of a lot of sports in my day. Suffered some horrific injuries too. If the worst people can do to Wade is mock him for being carted off in a wheelchair, then it's obvious why he's way ahead of Bryant in the PR department. Wade is a warrior. He's got a ring and a Finals' MVP trophy to prove it. The bottom line is, he's whole again, so the shoulder wasn't further damaged. Kudos to Miami for taking the approach they thought best.
I, for one, hope Kobe does win another title someday. However, it won't happen with him taking double-digit shot attempts, forty-plus, while no one else on his squad even has ten. That's just one of several knocks b-ball fans have against Kobe. Screw the personal stuff. I'm long past it.
Kobe is a scoring magician. But he has yet to make his teammates better.
Last edited by MeanDovine on April 3rd at 12:06 PM.
Meandovine and others are in a different world and must know nothing of b-ball. How many rings does Kobe have? Wow! the team must have been saints to put up w/ Kobe's ball hoging ways for three straight years. And Phil must have all of a sudden become a fool for wanting to coach Kobe. Both are riduculous. Rules of nature dicatate that selfish people don't win championships, much less star in three. The reason that he is taking so many shots now is because he wants to WIN, nothing else. Unless the idiots out there want to put out another motive. I think not. He has NO reliable teammates. When he went on that stretch of 50 pointers, he was winning most of the games. As far as the personal stuff, I never even thought about it on bit. He cheated on his wife like many others and one of the ladies wanted some $. If you think that he actually #### anyone is a delusion by people who didn't pay attention to how the thing played out(supposed victim dropped charges went to civil court so fast it would make your head spin) As for the Shaq comments-so what!
It's not really a sympathy post, though. Seriously, raise our hand if you knew Kobe finished foruth in the MVP voting last season. Fourth, and that's with 22 first-place votes.
I'm talking about love in the professional arena. Yea, some people still recognize Kobe's a great player, but they let all the off-the-court things get in the way of his on-the-court prowess. That's what I was talking about.
I have one disagreement w/ you. You asked the question of whether the award should do to the most outstanding player on the court and my answer would be a resounding NO. It is the Most VALUABLE Player. Had Kobe's Lakers beat Nash's Suns I would be more on your side, but that is not the case. Nash made players look like all-stars, and on any other team they are mediocre at best.
Nash dosent make them look like allstars, pheonix makes him look like mvp, how many assist did nash average in dallas bout 8, goes to pheonix - 11 why? Amare, Marion, Joe Johnson, Raja, Barbosa, Richardson, Diaw, Damon Jones.
I could get assist for the suns, just pass the ball anyone you pass to is great. how can Nash be mvp if his team is so great. nash is great, but please there is too much talant to be mvp.
These post are so stupid. What relevance is their between Kobe and Wade? You don't know the extent of either injuries so you can't call out Wade for crying. Mean is right, these Give some love to Kobe post have got to stop. If people don't like him, then so be it. Kobe put himself in this situation because of Colorado. He has accept the consequences.
Again, what does Colorado have to do with BASKETBALL?!? That's the point. I'm not all, "put Kobe in another McDonald''s commercial." I could care less about that stuff. I feel the same way about A-Rod. How do you boo a guy who gives you 35 and 120 every year just because he isn't the friendliest person in the world?
I have just one question . If you were playing in the school yard who would you pick? It surely wouldn,t be Kobe because you realize that you would never see the ball. Eventually someone would pick him like number 3 or4 just like what happens in the MVP voting.
Hey NBAFAN....he got em the same way wade did you nob!!!! As for mean...the guy is a wade fan....with that and is IQ of 50 that may get him a free happy meal!!!!
nbafan, take it easy. Don,t take it so personel.Kobe does,nt care one second about you .One other thing do you realize that every sentence had the BLEEP word in it.It,s like i attacked you. I,m sorry for upseting you. Remember everybody on the team gets a ring even the back up water boy.
Kobe shouldn't apologize or be sorry for enduring the pain instead of showing a display of emotions that are more often than not regarded as being less of a man. If haters want to get bent out of shape and look at this as a way of further hating on Kobe, so be it. God bless their "clean" souls. Oh wait...we've all done something at one point that we regret. Never mind.
Kobe shouldn't apologize or be sorry for enduring the pain instead of showing a display of emotions that are more often than not regarded as being less of a man. If haters want to get bent out of shape and look at this as a way of further hating on Kobe, so be it. God bless their "clean" souls. Oh wait...we've all done something at one point that we regret. Never mind.
Kobe shouldn't apologize or be sorry for enduring the pain instead of showing a display of emotions that are more often than not regarded as being less of a man. If haters want to get bent out of shape and look at this as a way of further hating on Kobe, so be it. God bless their "clean" souls. Oh wait...we've all done something at one point that we regret. Never mind.
My name is Jason Carmel Davis, and I am a graduate of the Michigan State University School of Journalism. Yes, we do go to class in East Lansing, not just to bars and the liquor store.
I'm almost positive I had an SI with me in the womb, checking out Ralph Wiley. He's the main reason I ever decided to pursue a career in sportswriting .
I even remember the first highlight I ever saw on SportsCenter. I don't remember who was reading it, but it was Michael Jordan's 63-point game against the Celtics in the Garden in the 86 Playoffs. I've been hooked ever since.
