Spoiled Rotten

"Dude, I won 5 championships because I'm good! That settles it!"

The famous director Frank Miller once said, “Mighty cultures never – are almost never conquered. They crumble from within. And frankly, I think that a lot of Americans are acting like spoiled brats because everything isn’t working out perfectly every time.” The German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht blew boyz mind when he said, “The finest plans have always been spoiled by the littleness of them that should carry them out. Even emperors can’t do it all by themselves.”

I wrote a Hot Joint last year entitled "The Firm" where I explained to boyz that players don’t win championships organizations do. What’s so crazy is that some players think that they actually are the sole reason why they’ve won championships not understanding that they’ve been spoiled by the moves that the franchise made on their behalf like Jordan and Kobe. If you think I'm crazy just listen to Mike's Hall of Fame speech!

Both of these duns really believe that they would have been as successful as they were without the organization and the head coach that they were blessed to play for. It’s easy to understand why because both Mike and Kobe are the same dude emotionally.

See boyz forget or just don’t know that Mike had two coaches with the Bulls before Phil showed up to save his career and Kobe had five other than the Zen Master. Mike was first coached by Kevin Loughery and then Doug Collins. Kobe had Del Harris, Bill Bertka, Kurt Rambis before Phil took his talents to Hollywood. Then when Phil left after the ’04 season Rudy Tomjanovich and Frank Hamblin took over with no success and Phil came back midway through the ’05 season. Neither were able to win titles without him. I’m just sayin’.

Phil was the X-factor because he understood how to manage ego’s and get the best out of his players.  Now on some real talk, Phil never won without them either. So they all needed each other.

However, neither Mike nor Kobe is humble enough to say it. Why? Because they both are selfish cats.  In hood terms, you wouldn’t want either one of those duns in the car with you if you were ridin’ dirty and got pulled over because they both would tell the police that it all belongs to you without even blinking. Stop me when I start lyin’! That personality has done them well on the floor but it makes for a delusional cat in real life and 99% of fans can’t separate the two.

Let me put this on your head playboy. Fan is short for fanatic and most cats that sit up and argue sports know absolutely nothing about what they’re talking about. They're completely going off of how they feel instead of looking at the facts. They do research on every subject but sports, politics, religion and women. These are the very four things that men most lose their minds over.

So why don’t they do their research on them before they mess with them? Because by being ignorant about them they can always use that as an excuse for making a fool of themselves over them. I’m talking but you just ain’t listening!

"Yeah bruh, "I" won these 6!"

For boyz to watch Kobe over the last two seasons without Phil’s tutelage and not see that he’s falling apart emotionally because there’s no one there to keep him focused on what HE can control is crazy to me. One of the most important things to understand about people is that in order to share the same space with them you have to meet them where they are.

You can’t force people to be who YOU want them to be. When you try to do that it kills the chemistry between individuals, teams and relationships and none of them can survive without it. Kobe is still performing at a high level but because of his foolish insults to boyz around him the team isn’t. Sure, the system around him doesn't work and that's Jim Buss' fault but Kobe is killing team chemistry calling boyz out in the media etc.

Phil was the X-factor, don’t ever get that twisted. Kobe will never have the T.E.A.M. “Together Everybody Achieves More” success that he had with Phil because he’s the only cat that can temper his emotions just like he did with Jordan. Don’t forget that MJ was fighting cats at practice and losing before Phil taught him how to carry boyz on his back. Do you really think that Kobe would have 5 or Jordan 6 if they didn't have Phil and were playing in Denver or Utah respectively? Would Bill Russell have 11 if he were playing in Milwaukee instead of Boston with ole Red Auerbach coaching him? No way! No more than LeBron would have 1 playing in Miami as opposed to playing in Cleveland! It makes a huge difference for who and where you were blessed to play.

And for the cat that peeps this joint out and the first thing he says after reading it is, "That dun is a hater!" You're the delusional fan I keep talking about! Learn how to become an objective observer of sports and you'll keep from flippin' out every time boyz say something about your team or favorite player. When really they're just puttin' something on your head to think about before you run out in the street and make a fool of yourself! Stop me when I start lyin' bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport