Gary Vitti had a front-row seat to Kobe Bryant’s iconic career. Right after Shaquille O’Neal left the Los Angeles Lakers, Vitti revealed that Bryant was eager to prove that he could achieve greatness and lead the team without “Diesel.”
The former Lakers athletic trainer still vividly recalls the moment Bryant voiced his thoughts on never wanting to coexist with a dominant center like Shaq again
Bryant faced a series of challenges without O’Neal by his side. The Lakers encountered difficulties, not making the playoffs in 2005 and getting eliminated in the first round of two straight postseasons in 2006 and 2007.
With Kobe as the team’s sole superstar, some critics believed he was overly selfish, focusing too much on proving himself rather than fostering teamwork.
However, Bryant firmly believed the issue wasn’t his reluctance to share the spotlight but his struggle to find the right player to complement his talents.
The Lakers were looking for someone who could match Kobe’s greatness and competitive demands. In 2008, they found their guy in Pau Gasol.
From the moment Gasol arrived in L.A., he brought a skill set and personality that perfectly complemented Kobe’s.
Gasol understood that this was Bryant’s team, and his role was to serve as the most dependable player right after the main guy.
With his exceptional skills and basketball IQ, Pau became the crucial component that Bryant and the Lakers had searched for since O’Neal’s departure. Their synergy on the court was instant and evident.
Bryant and Gasol spearheaded the Lakers back to prominence. During that stretch, they etched their legacy as one of the best duos in the organization’s history
In retrospect, Kobe was right. What he needed wasn’t a superstar big like Shaq but a team player like Pau
MINNEAPOLIS — These NBA playoffs have produced some defining images on the way to the Finals: Tyrese Haliburton cementing himself as a big-city villain, Jalen Brunson as a certified crunch-time star, and Jayson Tatum writhing in pain.
But perhaps the most refreshing picture is Julius Randle, dipping his shoulder into the chests of LeBron James and Draymond Green, either as a graceful bully or a forceful finesse star.
He’s been the perfect contrast to Anthony Edwards’ shooting star in Minneapolis and, surprisingly, a connector to the rest of the Timberwolves on their run to the Western Conference finals, which the Thunder lead 2-1 entering Monday night’s Game 4.
At his best on the highest stage, Randle looks like he’s relishing these moments. He averaged 27 points, 7.8 assists and 7.5 rebounds in the last four games of the Warriors series, and scored 28 and 24 in Games 1 and 3 of the Western finals on 60%-plus shooting.
The bad games have been almost nonexistent, the forlorn looks and drooped facial expressions have come few and far between. It’s not quite a new and improved Julius Randle, just a smoothed-out version, a freer one that, despite the stakes, isn’t putting the weight of the world on those shoulders.
The amount of s*** Julius takes, it’s hard to even fathom how he deals with it,” Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo told Yahoo Sports. “To see him carry the load, night in and night out, everybody knows how much stuff he deals with, everybody knows how much flak he [catches], and he doesn’t let it faze him, he doesn’t let it bother him.
He’s changing how the NBA world views him, that he couldn’t be a winning player, that he had to be ultra-ball dominant. Game by game, it’s happening
