Leadership - A discussion of traits, characteristics, and current news of leaders.

Great stories on basketball. It's great a high school (Brea) got some recognition for an amazing record. And I agree about Kobe. It seems Kobe is all about Kobe.

I agree with you 100% about Kobe. He may have scored an amazing 81 pts. against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, but the man still scores a big fat 0 when it comes to intergrity and honesty. You are absolutely right, he is not a team player. Kobe performs for Kobe and no other. His performance on the court does not impress me whatsoever.

P.S. Scott and I know Kobe's personal security guard and he says Kobe is the most egomaniac that he has ever met. Doesn't surprise me one little bit.

I do agree with you that Kobe's 81-point performance should not lead to MVP talk and is not a real sign of greatness; however, comparing Lebron to Kobe is unfair. You mentioned that Lebron broke Kobe's record for the youngest player to 5000 points. Granted, but Lebron was a starter as a ROOKIE, something that Kobe wasn't and didn't become until his 3rd season in the league. Had Kobe had the chance that Lebron had, it would've been a different story, and records wouldn't have been broken. Period!!

It's amazing when you hide behind screen and point fingers at people. Talking about Kobe Bryant, go get a life. Quit the envy. I bet you have more than your own share of skeletons in the closet. So quit pointing at people. Hate Kobe or love Kobe, he could care less.

What is amazing is that "Anonymous" calls me out for hiding behind the screen. My name is on this article and you can find an author profile and a photo on this site. I am not hiding. Mr. Anonymous is hiding and can't find his way to even put his name next to comment. And just so it is clear, I have a life and it is to write about things that I think are important. It is my opinion and I put my name next to it. It is funny to me that Mr. Anonymous declares that Kobe doesn't care, which is fine with me. But why does Mr. Anonymous care so much? I gave my opinion and some links to other sites that share this opinion. I also provided a link to an opposing viewpoint supporting Kobe because I understand that there are at least two sides to a story. It was a fair story and far from finger-pointing. Mr. Anonoymous, please don't hide and please don't let your undying love for someone (like Kobe) cause you to hate all people that don't share your opinion.

C'mon,people,give KOBE a break.He deserves one.

You write about "important things"? Kobe Bryant is important to you?

Kobe is a gun and that is probably the crappest collumn i have ever read. No other player has done more for his team than kobe, he just isn't recognised in the same way because his team isn't championship material just yet.

Does this bias fool actually get paid to write this garbage? Where do I sign up? At least Kobe's actually good at his job. Seems like any idiot with an opinion gets to call themselves a journalist. And remind me again, how many titles has LeBron won? Ten years from now Kobe will be in the hall of fame and Mr. Halliday's article will be in the trash.

Man, apparently you have not been watching very much basketball. Kobe Bryant is a much better complete player than Lebron James. It is not even close defensively, ergo, all defensive honors by Kobe. Lebron is a small forward which means he is supposed to rebound. Kobe is a shooting guard which last I thought was supposed to be one of your main shooters, which is spelled out in the title. You talk about the 81 point game and it just being Toronto. How many other players have scored 81 on Toronto and don't give me that lame statement about him shooting a lot of shots because he didn't. He was 28 if 46 which is about 61% from the field (7 of 14 from 3 pt range). He should be taking all the shots when he is scoring that way. You would have a legitimate point about Kobe if all he did was play offense. Kobe is the most relentless defender in the game and he always plays both sides of the floor. And, I really get tired of the statement about making your teammates better is the criteria to be a great player. You have to have good players around him to make better. He has passed the ball to players for wide open shots only to see them miss badly. How long can he do that in a game if he is trying to win? If he takes over, you guys say he is a ball hog or he is selfish. If he lays back you say he is selfish because he is not being assertive or aggressive. That tells me he is in the most peculiar situation as a player. He is damned if he does or damned if he doesn't. I really think you need to sit back and reevaluate what you have been observing when it comes to Kobe Bryant. He is by far the best player in the league today, bar none.

hmmmmm, stop bringing the rings argument to prove your point, the only reason kobe even has rings is because he rode shaq's massive coattails to glory, so those rings belong to shaq.

I hate to say this Mr. Halliday, but I guess all what you wrote against KOBE is a sign that you forgot what's the first objective in playing basketball. IF you forgot, it's SCORING, am I right? So if KOBE or other great like JORDAN, CHAMBERLAIN, IVERSON and SHAQ was doing all the shooting for their team then they understand what the good Dr. James Nasmith wants.
Second, the MVP thing. For me an MVP is somebody that you admire, that you look into as an inspiration, that despite of the criticism, he will always be on top of his performance giving/playing 101%, and that is KOBE, playing offense and defense.
THIRD, Shooting the ball is a skill, so as passing and rebounding. So if KOBE is good this shooting, he should shoot the ball. Magic is good passer, that's why he pass the ball, BIG BEN is a good defender, that's why he plays alot of defense.
And fourth point. The championship rings should only be credited to Shaq? I disagree. Championships are creditied to a team not an individual. Hey MIKE????, please start reading more books about teamwork, your mind is so #@$!?, I'm a big fan of the BIG FELLA and I think the big guy and 12 other players plus their coaching staff and crew of that champion team will not agree with you. LAKERS become champions because they have teamwork/chemistry, they have respect and love with one another.
It's not right to say KOBE bad and SHAQ is good, LEBRON is superior than KOBE, and KOBE is this and somebody is that. We are created differently. So better not make comparisons, its like comparing apple to a banana.
Lastly,people say bad things about another person is because:
1.He wants to to make this person better, because he love or he's concern (It's doing CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISM). And,
2.He wants to destroy this guy because he sees this person superior or better or getting everything (It's DESTROYING HIS CREDIBILITY).
I hope your not like the second type of person.

NEWSFLASH!!!
SPORTS WRITER EXTRAORDINAIRE HAL HALLADAY knows nothing about the game of basketball! i dont have to explain further, just the fact that he thinks lbj plays better defense is reason enough.

This fool has bumped his head. I dont have to go in to all the facts of how his comment about Kobe is ludicrous ex. kobe not being a starter his rookie season even though if it was not for Kobe most people would not have been looking at high school kids to come into the nba. But to say those rings belong to shaq is bu@@$*#! Shaq was lucky this season because his ring belongs to D- Wade and Alonzo Mourning. This is definitely poor journalism.

You people just don't seem to appreciate the basketball skills of Kobe. Put him in the era where Bird or Magic was, when there was really no competition or match to their skills, and he'll probably score 100, don't you think but then again you would say NO.

I am a Laker fan and like Kobe as a player and accept his downsides but hey not even Jordan is perfect. So stop saying sorry things and get your lines straight...

Mike is a wannabe sportsguy... successful though to stir the feelings of the kobe fans.

you are an ignorant fool if u think lebron is a better player than kobe

wow! lebron better than kobe on defense.. man you should stop watching soap operas and watch some basketball, seriously, if you don't know anything about a subject, don't talk about it.

kobe is my favorite player

Granted that basketball is about scoring, but the ULTIMATE objective of basketball is to W-I-N and obviously your beloved Kobe is not good at that. Playoff series against Phoenix, anyone?

Kobe is first team all league, Kobe is first team all defensive team at guard, Kobe leads the league in scoring, Kobe scores 81 points in one game, and Kobe helps a talent poor laker team into the playoffs. I have one work for you!!

MVP

Your ignorance on basketball is only outdone by your ignorance of basketball

c'mon man!!kobe is no magic or micheal or bird..he's kobe and he's one of the greatest player in the world today..i bet he can score 81 even against the pistons if he wanted to but i knw he wont because he wants he's teammates to be productive as well..for me lebron has a long way to go before going to kobe's level