LeBron James reminded of Phil Jackson’s brutal bashing of Kobe Bryant amidst drama over ‘criticism’

LeBron James caused an uproar amongst some media members when he claimed they only know how to criticize current players.

LeBron James reminded of Phil Jackson’s brutal bashing of Kobe Bryant amidst drama over ‘criticism’

LeBron James could learn from Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson's turmoil

LeBron James started a discourse a few days ago when he talked about how some members in the media do not appreciate current generation basketball players. It kicked a hornet’s nest when the likes of Stephen A. Smith came out to thrash him for his views.

The analyst believed the Los Angeles Lakers superstar was being hypocritical. On one hand the all-time leading scorer wanted the praise whenever he was excellent. On the other hand, he was not willing to take the criticism whenever it was warranted.

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But then, Gilbert Arenas came out to defend James’ position. He clarified that media members have not criticized superstars of old as they have done to James. Instead of giving him his flowers, they have often used statistics to belittle him.

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Bill Simmons was speaking on his podcast about this matter. He acknowledged that some analysts have been overtly critical of current generation players. But the long-time journalist believes ex-players speaking on their podcasts are not accurate on their take on former greats.

These are people that were playing the entire time. They might have opinions on who they were against. It’s not like they spent a ton of time thinking about different eras of the league and stars and comparing. Just go back, like go read some of the books. Go read Phil Jackson’s book about Kobe in 2005. You can’t just pretend stuff didn’t happen.

Bill Simmons said

He referenced Phil Jackson‘s book ‘The Last Season’, in which he detailed all the criticism Kobe Bryant faced during the 2003-04 season. Those criticisms broke up a championship winning team and many blamed Bryant for it. Therefore, it is not as if former players have not received criticism.

LeBron James could learn from Kobe Bryant’s struggles

Kobe Bryant had just won three championships with Shaquille O’Neal. But his s**ual assault case fractured that relationship. On top of that, O’Neal wanted to continue as the big dog and demanded his next contract reflect that status.

However, Bryant on the other hand was younger and was about to break open. The only problem was that he became ‘impossible to coach’, as Phil Jackson detailed in his book. He would not reciprocate to inputs and challenged authority.

So much so that then owner Dr. Jerry Buss had to take a stand on which direction they would go. Kobe Bryant made it clear he would not return to the team if they kept Shaquille O’Neal. Even Phil Jackson left the team after it became clear to him that Buss preferred Bryant.

The late legend had to live with that scrutiny for nearly four years. Only after winning the 2008 Olympics did basketball fans and the media fully embrace his greatness. What Bill Simmons alluded was that current gen podcasters conveniently forget those controversial moments as they were not part of it.