Perception Of Kobe Changing

[Apollo]

Funny. Even though the Miami Heat are now immediate title contenders with a trio that rivals anything the NBA has ever seen, there is some guy out in L.A. who is watching. And waiting. And working out. Kobe used to be hated to no end. Despised. Now, LeBron has unknowingly catapulted this country’s love for the reigning Finals MVP. The Laker star just became The Man by default. Everything that LeBron represents – personified in this slobber on LeBronathon that concluded with him taking the “easy way out” – will do nothing but help Kobe. Love the move or hate it, all of the pressure shifts to Miami. You think New York City would’ve been the grandiose? Take the force of 8 million people in the Big Apple, multiply that by 38 and then stack the history books on top of that. Now, the entire country has expectations for The Chosen One: deliver the goods. The more chips Kobe can stack up from here on out will count double.

Source: Dime Mag

I have to agree. Beyond the change in focus on LeBron, Kobe's increased maturity and winning ways have also help his perception. For all the crap that went on with him and Shaq, since then he's been the stuff of legends in all aspects of the game and not just skill.

[Marz]

It's amazing how the media quickly forgets how much they scorned Kobe for wanting out of LA, or cheating on his wife, etc. The fact of the matter is, the media needs to create villains to sell stories. Today's villain of the month is LeBron James. The dust will settle, time will pass, and we'll have a new villain. It really makes no difference who it is.

Let me put it this way, if you didn't listen to the news or read articles, this is how everything went down:

- LeBron becomes a free agent
- LeBron meets with a number of teams to decide his future
- LeBron announces his decision to go to Miami on ESPN, donating about $500,000 to charity in the process

[heinz57]

My opinion of Kobe remains the same..

He's a womanizing egomaniac and i hate him..... but god damn is he the best player alive

my exact opinion of MJ when he was still playing