Kobe needs to take a break from doin' his work

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, May 18, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Kobe Bryant counsels Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum during a game this season against New Orleans.

LAYNE MURDOCH / GETTY IMAGES

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One of the biggest misconceptions about sports in general, and the NBA in particular, is that leadership is provided when a superstar treats his teammates with a rough hand.

After watching “Kobe Doin’ Work,” Spike Lee’s documentary shot during the Los Angeles Lakers’ playoff series with San Antonio last year, I’m convinced a lot of people — Bryant among them — define leadership in misguided terms.

Bryant scolds and cajoles and at times berates his teammates, all under the guise of leadership.

“Making your teammates better is instilling in them the same preparation you have, seeing the same things you see on the court,” Bryant explains in the documentary. “That’s how you make them better permanently.”

I wonder if Bryant ever considered that perhaps some of his teammates prepare equally as thoroughly — maybe more — than he does. They just don’t have the same ability to do what he can on the basketball court.

I used to watch Michael Jordan operate under much the same scenario, verbally punishing such Chicago teammates as Will Perdue and B.J. Armstrong and Toni Kukoc and Luc Longley and Bill Wennington. It didn’t make them permanently better.

Kevin Garnett made Boston teammate Glen “Big Baby” Davis cry with an admonishment during a game against the Trail Blazers this season. Probably made Garnett feel real big, but anything that needed to be said should have come from the mouth of coach Doc Rivers.

I rarely saw Clyde Drexler verbally abuse a teammate. He got annoyed on occasion, but generally left any chastising to the coaching staff in Portland.

I sometimes hear coaches and ex-coaches — Jeff Van Gundy, for one — say they respect the kind of “leadership” Garnett demonstrated that night against Portland. I think there’s a fine line.

The superstar’s support for a coach can be a positive thing for the direction of a team. There are times when it reaps dividends. There are other times when it’s just a venue for a player’s frustrations, and it is more divisive than anything.

I would guess Phil Jackson puts up with Bryant’s power trip more than endorses it. With rare exception, he’d rather Bryant play and let him coach.

It’s like a runaway train now, though. The young stars of today, the LeBron James and Chris Pauls and Brandon Roys, have seen Jordan and Bryant do it and think it’s the way it need be done.

I beg to differ. And I hope Brandon Roy doesn’t get too vocal in his criticisms of his teammates in the coming season, as he inferred he intends to do on a more regular basis late last season. Nate McMillan can handle that part of it just fine.

• When a former pro athlete dies, superlatives often roll about what a fine person he was.

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