Although Kobe Bryant only has a MVP, people who know basketball know his horror, which is Popovich's dissatisfaction with the Gasol trade. Let's first look at the origins of the Spurs and the Lakers, only by knowing this can we understand Popovich's thunderous jump.
The Spurs began to take off after Popovich became head coach and selected Duncan, who was the NBA's first championship in the post-Jordan era. But the great Jerry West helped the Lakers out of the haze after showtime, got O'Neal and valued the ability of young Kobe Bryant, and eventually created another Lakers dynasty. So, at the turn of the new century, the Lakers and Spurs became jordan's two strongest opponents in the league, and they won 4 championships in a row.
In the Lakers' three-game winning streak, the Spurs met the Lakers twice, once 4-0, once 4-1, as can be seen from the score, the Spurs in dealing with the Lakers' talent, it seems that there is not much way, Popovich bluntly said, if there is a playoff mvp, it must be Kobe Bryant. This fully explains how difficult Bryant was in the eyes of the Spurs in the first echelon of the league at that time.
Popovich is a basketball guru, and he definitely knows Kobe very well, not because O'Neal looks down on Kobe Bryant at the Lakers. Kobe Bryant has no less energy than O'Neal, and once he gets the opportunity, he can soar. The Spurs won 2 championships in the turbulent years of the Lakers, namely the championship in 2005 and the championship in 2007, at this time Kobe Bryant was also suffering in the Lakers, so he forced the palace for the championship.
It was then the great Jerry West who once again took another shot from the Grizzlies for what seemed extremely low at the time. We say that West has a unique vision, not only that the transaction he made can receive a miracle effect immediately, but also that his transaction is put in a long-term perspective, and it is also a miracle effect on both sides.
Marc Gasol's assets traded as his brother were exchanged for the Grizzlies, which actually supported the best times for the Grizzlies. It is necessary to conclude that West also saw the potential of his brother when he traded Gasol, and passed this understanding to the Grizzlies, otherwise everything would not make sense. Judging from West's subsequent deals, such as Leonard and Durant's, he has a global vision of developments that is beyond the transaction. So Gasol's deal isn't the Lakers robbing the Grizzlies, it's a venture that the Grizzlies admit.
After the birth of this deal, Popovich, who knows the ball best, was the first to jump out to express his dissatisfaction. As mentioned above, the Spurs and the Lakers are old enemies, and Popovich's greatest fear is to be pressed by the Lakers for three years again. His vision was correct, and the Spurs were held down by the Lakers for three years.
After 07 years, the Spurs themselves also had age problems, and the Lakers were like tigers, and the number of direct encounters they had in the playoffs was not much, but the essence of the Spurs' collapse in front of the Lakers was exposed. In the past few years, even if the Spurs do not encounter their own problems and reach their own top level, they cannot restrain the Lakers, and in essence, they still cannot restrain Kobe.
The Spurs are strong team skill appraisers.
The Spurs, which runs the most advanced system of basketball before the birth of the Warriors system, practices the rotational ball model, so that everyone does things in their best field, and the troika led by Duncan provides a high level of bottom and attack. Defensively, the Spurs are collective, collective, and assisted by a single defensive tip, and today's Warriors are somewhat similar to them.
Unlike the Warriors system, the Spurs don't have the top projection ability in history, so it's hard for them to play a wave to take away their opponents, they rely on stability and efficiency, so there are always a lot of boring and low-scoring games. Then the upgrade of the Warriors system relative to the Spurs system also lies in the projection ability of the outside line, which is also encounterable and unattainable.
The Spurs' totalitarianism and balanceism, identifying truly talented teams, have a hard time playing against people who are accomplished in their skills, especially in shooting, such as Kobe Bryant and Durant, and who are relatively restrained by that kind of holistic style of play. Because no team has a wholeness and flexibility that is higher than the Spurs system, this is the essential reason why James wins less and loses more against the Spurs.
When the Lakers got Gasol, Zen's triangular offensive system had someone to take on the role of Pippen, and Kobe took off. Kobe's take-off seems so easy, first of all, it is his own super ability, and then the zen master system is advanced and tailor-made.
Genius people must have a way of using genius, and in the minds of people like Jordan and Kobe, the zen master's realm is significantly higher than Popovich's. Zen masters are the ones who set boundaries, while Popovich can only be people who use cleverness outside the boundaries. The use and release of genius, which determines the supreme thinking of a collective, is obviously much more important than leading ordinary people to break through the self to win, although the victory of ordinary people can get more empathy.
With the exception of Popovich, most league owners are very aware of Bryant's abilities, and for most of Kobe's career, they probably didn't like him very much. In 2011, the Lakers' problems were already very serious, and the injuries and burnouts of many years of conquest made the defending champions have too much emotion, and the inability of the young people on the team to support them also made the defending champions pay a painful price, and they had to face the situation of dismantling the championship structure and forming an updated structure.
In the midst of the quest, Paul's trade stood out and then came to an abrupt end. Gasol was not sent away, and his subsequent career was lifeless, Odom was sent away, his life was almost ruined, and the Lakers sought a combination that gave people more regrets in the following year. After a few years, people really realized that the opportunity of a person or a group is often so short and turbulent, and there is no choice but to cherish the present.
The bosses refused Paul's deal, nothing more than jealousy that the combination of Paul and Kobe Bryant attracted too much market, they did not want to see someone after James form a super team, this habit developed, the interests of the small bosses can not be talked about. The bosses may not have imagined that this was the first and last time they intervened in the combination of big-name players, and it was only to take advantage of the institutional convenience. James and Durant have ushered in an era that will flourish, and it will be a matter of time before small and unglamorous interests are left out in the cold.
After Paul's trade failed, Kobe's era ended, the fighter Kobe Bryant dedicated everything to the stadium, the world suffered for a long time, and "BEAT LA" did not have to be lifted. But when we look back on those journeys, we find that only Kobe Bryant explains to us what burning is paranoia, and what is not expected and kills a bloody road.
Bryant's story ends, but his story lives on forever. The dynamism that has stirred in the years and inspired Tim Duncan and others will also flow into the blood in the hearts of everyone who understands Kobe's eternal pursuit of the value of life.