As time wears on Kobe Bryant has become more skilled at telling it like it is.
Years ago he would have been brash and brazen. Now he’s pensive and calculated in a way that makes you place more stock in what he says.
So listen up.
Commenting on the next collective bargaining agreement—the current one can be renegotiated in 2017—is all the rage these days. Ever since the NBA announced it’s $24 billion TV Deal with ESPN and Turner Sports, it’s all the players are asked to talk about–well that, and the projected cap eruption in summer 2016.
Different players have said different things. Most sentiments—like those delivered by Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James—have focused on the owners being unable to cry poverty anymore.
Kobe took a different approach.
From ESPN Los Angeles’ Baxter Holmes:
Kobe: "We are overpaid, but so are the owners. And you have to fight for what your market value is."
— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) October 14, 2014
So. Much. Yes.
Acknowledging that both NBA players and owners are overpaid wasn’t really Kobe’s main point, but it’s still awesome. It seems that NBA players are less and less inclined to admit they’re handsomely rewarded for their services. Many of them—including superstars–are humbled no doubt, but lucrative paychecks are considered formalities these days. They’re assumed. They’re part of the game.
But Kobe makes a nice point about fighting within a given market. When we say LeBron is underpaid, that’s what we mean. Player salaries aren’t proportionate to league profits or the amount of money they’re generating for the Association and their respective teams.
Rarely is this put the way Kobe explained it, though. His response is equal parts insightful, introspective, firm and subtly appreciative.
Good for him.
Good for the Buss family too. If the NBA is, in fact, tracking toward another lockout, Kobe wants y’all Los Angeles Lakers brass to know there aren’t any hard feelings. He knows what you’re all about:
KB: You look around at some of the other owners that try to milk their players or get rid of them or discard them, this org doesn’t do that.
— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) October 14, 2014
Why yes, this does sound like shots are being fired at Daryl Morey, even though Kobe says “owners” and not “superstar-driven general managers.”
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
