VanceIX said:
burninmylight said:
VanceIX said:
burninmylight said:
This just in: good basketball players want to play with other good basketball players to give them the best chance to win. By the way, if he signs for max money, they wouldn't be able to sign Kevin Love, who will no doubt want to get paid as well. The Cavs just signed Irving to a 90$ million contract.
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MJ and Kobe, along with Magic Johnson, Kareem, etc. all played for pretty much one team their entire careers, and when they did leave it wasn't because they saw greener pastures. Kareem was traded, Magic got AIDS, Kobe is still with the Lakers even though they suck, and Michael Jordan left to play baseball. They built their own legacies through persistence, not insta-championships. Lebron is the definition of a mercenary, while the other people who have gone down as the greatest were very loyal and stayed many, many years with their teams.
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Kobe demanded the Lakers trade him at one point, and was almost a Bull. MJ was a Wizard for two years. But you can excuse those.
Kareem started his first few years in Milwaukee, and even won a championship there. He demanded the Bucks trade him to LA (greener pastures?), even though they were one of the greatest teams of the era. LeBron has never demanded a trade and has only left a team as an unrestricted free agent. So by your logic, Kareem should be remembered less fondly than LeBron, and Kobe was almost a quitter. I'd like to see your excuse on that one.
Oh, I almost forgot! Kobe refused to work out for a bunch of teams as a draft prospect. Him and his agent purposefully tried to move him away from certain teams, even if it meant moving down further in the draft. When he was selected by Charlotte, he asked to be traded, so Charlotte worked out the deal to get him in LA. What about that?
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Kobe demanded a trade to get the management off their asses and to make the team better. If he really wanted out, he would have gotten out. MJ was a Wizard when he came back from baseball, at least he didn't originally leave the Bulls for the Wizards. Kareem leaving the Bucks had little to do with winning and more to do with leaving a city he didn't like.
And at least Kobe has stayed with the Lakers this entire time. There has been drama, sure, there almost always is with superstars. The important thing is that he's still there, and has been through the good and the ugly.
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No, Kobe didn't get out because he was still under contract. If he was a UFA, he would have been gone. He didn't soften his stance until the team acquired Pau Gasol in his prime.
Jordan came back from baseball as a Bull, and his second retirement was as a Bull. And given the state of the Bulls at the time, I'm pretty sure they would have welcomed him back a third time.
Show me where Kareem said he didn't like the city of Milwaukee. He's always been classy with his public comments toward the city. Within the past couple of years, he's tried to get back in the organization as a head coach, in the front office and even part of an ownership group:
http://www.brewhoop.com/2014/3/18/5523728/kareem-abdul-jabbar-milwaukee-bucks-ownership-group-herb-kohl
I'm a huge Bucks fan, dude. I visit a Bucks blog daily and chat with people who have been fans much longer than myself. He left Milwaukee because he just flat out wanted to be in a bigger market in a more progressive city, and he knew he'd still be part of a championship squad. History and the media been graciously kind enough to forget the Milwaukee portion of his legacy, just like it usually is with its superstar darlings, and as it will be one day with LeBron.
