MVP or FWT? (Fair Weather Teammate)

How quickly we forget. Just last year Kobe Bryant was a whining malcontent who was estimated by just about everybody to be a cancer to the Lakers organization. He was a ball hog who shot first, and thought about winning second. He was the type of player who would rag on his teammates in front of a camera in a department store parking lot, and the type of employee who would throw his employers under the Buss any chance he got. It seems that winning changes a lot of things for Kobe, but even more so for Laker fans.

In June 2008 the Lakers find themselves in the NBA Finals thanks to tremendous maturity from its bench, the acquisition of Pau Gasol, and vastly improved team play from Kobe Bryant. The over-wrought cliché of “Kobe is a facilitator” is annoying to hear, but rings very true. But what has changed about Kobe the person? Nothing. He’s still very eager to ream out his teammates on the court. He still exudes smugness at his press conferences (e.g. going home and drinking 20 shots to forget about the Game 4 loss). And he is still a sore loser, looking to blame everyone else, and point the finger, when things don’t go his way. Just look at how he blasted Luke Walton earlier this season after Walton failed to in-bound the ball in five seconds, not realizing the Lakers still had a timeout, resulting in a turnover and Laker loss. A true leader hides the anger until he is behind closed doors. A true MVP doesn’t ridicule and torment his teammates on the court when the cameras are running.

But Laker fans couldn’t be happier with Kobe, as long as their team is winning. Where is the accountability for his actions last summer? Shouldn’t Kobe need to make amends for  how he treated the Laker organization and Laker nation last year? After the way the city and team rallied around him during his Colorado trial, and after the way the fans and owners embraced him post-Shaq, you’d think Kobe would feel somewhat indebted to Los Angeles. And if he had any kind of conscience (or if the Laker community had any kind of backbone) Kobe would need to earn back the admiration that he allegedly deserves. Executing on the court and achieving the number one seed in the West doesn’t quite cut it. That’s just holding up his end of the bargain for collecting a paycheck. He hurt his town and his team, but has gotten away with it unscathed.

Some day Kobe is going to make a mistake that can’t be remedied by a lawsuit being dropped, buying a diamond ring, or making a basketball go through a hoop, and he’s going to be ill-equipped to rectify the situation. If he had some practice in owning up to mistakes and apologizing, he’d have some experience to draw upon. But as it is, he’s going to be in for a big surprise when whomever he has harmed doesn’t accept a 360 dunk as a form of reparation.