The Rocky Mountain News‘ Bernie Lincicome acknowledges Kobe Bryant winning his first NBA MVP Award yesterday, and wonders if the Nuggets’ anti-snitching specialist Carmelo Anthony (above, right) might seek inspiration in the former’s “journey”.
From where Kobe Bryant was to where he is now must be an object lesson to Carmelo Anthony. None of Anthony’s mishaps with the law or with society, nor any of Allen Iverson’s come to that, can compare to Bryant, now the Most Valuable Player in basketball.
From accused rapist and selfish pinhead to model citizen and all-around team inspiration, that is Bryant. And that could be Anthony, needing only to step over hurdles that Bryant needed to leap.
To be in the Age of Kobe, as this is and shall remain for another five years or so, as it once was with Michael Jordan, the rest of basketball will simply have to pay respect to the man and wait its turn.
Until Bryant decided to be the leader instead of the focus (and who does not believe he can score 81 points anytime he wants to?) he would remain feared but never admired, marveled at but never revered.
Anthony produces that same grudging regard, so clearly talented, and yet always lessened by some sort of failure or petulance or whine.
But how obvious is the formula and how similar the ingredients, with Bryant and Anthony both teenage prizes, suffering early letdowns, the talent obvious, too many public missteps, though, by the same time, Bryant had two titles to Anthony’s none.
Though Lincicome is correct in pointing out Kobe had to share the spotlight during said title run with Shaq, the columnist conveniently sidesteps the matter of Bryant not having won a ring without O’Neil. If Kobe is going to be hailed for his “leadership” (keep in mind, this is the same otherworldly talent who famously insisted in a mini-mall parking lot that his moron owner and GM should’ve swapped Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd), where’s the kudos for the much maligned Mitch Kupchak, whose steal of Pau Gasol was arguably the most successful mid-season acquisition in a spring full of crazed player movement? Perhaps an editorial encouraging Denver’s front office to emulate Kupchak would be more in order.
That Anthony oughta aspire to greater things is tough to argue. But there’s no way he oughta catch most or all of the blame for the organization’s numerous moves that haven’t worked out, the hiring of George Karl and the trade for Allen Iverson being at the top of the list.
Gotta agree w/ this analysis of the Nuggets’ woes. George Karl–is there any coach in the history of the league who has done less with similar talent? Who has shown less fire on the sideline? Who has talked more about playing tough D, while failing to deliver? Karl’s got a great gig: long, lucrative contract and an owner who’s also a drinking buddy/business parter. Why should he care if his team is a huge disappointment?
Sure, the Nuggets’ roster is full of head cases. No denying it. But a great coach would have no problem getting 60 wins out of the 07-08 roster. And a decent first-round playoff match-up.
As for Melo: morons like Linciome love to go on and on about what a thug he is. And they love to malign his game. All he does is improve every aspect of it every year. This year’s great leap forward was in the rebounding dept. His numbers are incredible, and he didn’t make a peep about AI shooting more than he does. He’s immature, and he makes lousy off-court decisions, but this guy is a brilliant talent. When the Nuggets finally pull his plug, he’ll help some other team win multiple titles.
Linciome is a hater, straight-up. His column has been nothing but suck from the moment he came to Denver. Anyone who thinks he honestly sees Bryant as a model for Melo is stupid. He hates Kobe, too.