RESPECT

"Watch out young fella! I got this!"

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” John C. Maxwell was a G when he said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Henry Kissinger gave this to boyz while playing spades in the barber shop, “The task of a leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”

If you look up leadership in the dictionary you’ll see a full centerfold of the Black Mamba!  On Tuesday night he literally carried the Lakers into the 8th spot in the West by scoring 23 of his 30 points in the last 12 minutes to beat the Hornets 104-96. Kobe Bryant has played the best basketball of his entire career this season playboy.

Sure, they’re dull as a team and as an organization because of Jim Buss’ ego and his inability to make good personnel decisions, a' la firing Mike Brown five games into the season and then completely mishandling the Phil situation. Only to make matters worse by hiring ole dull Mike D’Antoni that's running an offense that doesn’t fit his personnel.

Even in the mist of that foolishness Kobe has put these boyz on his back and will probably still make the playoffs. Making them is something that nobody, including me, gave them a Bentley’s chance of not getting stolen parked in the projects of doing.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Even if they make the joint they’ve got to play the San Antonio Spurs on day one. Now if they were playing them in late May they would have a shot at winning the series. However, Pop is smart enough to rest his boys well in advance of the first round of the playoffs. So they’ll at least be ready for the old timers to survive and advance.

Even if the Lakers get bounced in the first round you’ve got to understand that this has been by far Kobe’s best year because we’ve seen the heart of a champion! These cats were at the bottom and he’s done nothing but show them how to play through the foolishness without making excuses.

Remember when he was without Phil and Shaq before Pau was essentially stolen from Memphis and all he did was whine and beg to be traded if he didn't get some help? This year all he's doing is grindin'! Don't trip, just ball!! That’s true leadership right there playboy!

That’s why I always say that players don’t win championships, organizations do as I explained in the Hot Joint entitled "The Firm!" Kobe couldn’t have come close to winining a title this year because the front office fell asleep at the wheel at the beginning of the season. Not to mention the Heat's got the joint on lock for the next few years. The Lakers were just dull coming out of the gate. That’s like Dale Earnhardt crashing his whip into the guard rail as soon as the race started. Then his pit crew replaces his car with a ’87 Ford Tempo with “Maypops” to finish the joint. That’s hood for bald tires that may pop at any time playa. You still have a great driver but the equipment around him is terrible.

 Great players are still great even if they don't have the personnel or coaching around to win! See when Kobe was winning championships he had Shaq or Pau Gasol along with Phil. So it was expected that he would win! Now this dun is out here pretty much playing by himself and he's dragging  Buster Brown around by the freaking nose to get him to play every night. Dwight is watching the greatness of the Mamba and he's still yet to commit. Some cats talk about being great and some cats go about the business of being great!

 Buster Brown likes hearing himself talk about winning a championship because how do you not commit to the Lakers? Why wouldn't you commit to playing with one of the best players to EVER play the game? That's like a boy talking about wanting to date the baddest chick in school with Halle Berry giving him mad rhythm the whole time and all he keeps saying is, "I want a fine woman but I can't find one."

So any clown that keeps trying to tell me that championships are the standard for greatness isn’t watching Kobe play ball this year. Outside of LeBron, he’s playing better basketball than anybody in the league. You gotta give this cat TALL RESPECT for ballin' out of control!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
The quote under the caption isn't real. It's just my interpretation of what he was thinking.