GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - Kobe vs. Shaq Feud Started with Shaq

http://www.yaysports.com/nba/2005/09..._but_good.html

We begin in the early days of the budding dynasty:

?The other players on the team wanted to make sure [Kobe] earned everything he got, that the coach didn?t just give him something just because the fans wanted to see this young phenom play,? recalled Del Harris, Bryant?s first coach with the Lakers.

That was especially true of Shaquille O?Neal, the game?s dominant young center who felt immense pressure to win championships. Each season his dislike of Bryant had grown.

?What surprised me about Shaquille during our early days in Los Angeles was how frustrated he got,? said former Lakers GM Jerry West. ?He was not fun to be around. The shortcomings of our team and his teammates made him angry because he knew he was going to be judged on how much we won.?

How angry?

Just months before Jackson arrived, O?Neal had slapped Bryant during a pickup game at the Laker practice facility.

?It would not be forgotten,? former Laker guard Derek Fisher said of the incident.

When Jackson and his coaching staff began work in Los Angeles, they were caught off guard by O?Neal?s level of animosity toward Bryant.

?There was a lot of hatred in his heart,? Tex Winter said of O?Neal. ?he would speak his mind in our team meetings. He was saying really hateful things. Kobe just took it and kept going.

We don?t think it?s any secret that Shaq can be extremely petty, especially when it comes to Kobe. That said, we?re sure Kobe deserved the slapping.

Having witnessed the unfolding behind-the-scenes drama over five years, Lakers owner Jerry Buss [told Coach Phil Jackson] his services would no longer be needed.

Stunned, Jackson abruptly changed his approach with Bryant. Suddenly, the coach began trying to have a relationship with Bryant, Winter said. And Bryant responded in kind.

?But it was too late,? Winter said.

Buss had made up his mind. Jackson had to go. And the owner had no desire to meet O?Neal?s demands for a lengthy extension on his $30 million plus a year contract. So the Lakers traded him to Miami (where O?Neal would later meekly agree to play for $20 million a season).

As he was cleaning out his office, a jilted Jackson did his best to portray Bryant as the villain in the breakup of the team, and soon that perception became the reality, simply because so many people believed it. Jackson made sure of it, phoning reporters as he drove from Los Angeles to his summer home in Montana. He dialed up columnists and radio talk shows to offer his version of events. Sports columnists everywhere who had no idea why the Lakers had fallen apart simply began reporting as fact that Bryant had schemed to make it happen.

Despite the blame game Jackson was playing so deftly, he would later admit the truth. Despite all his success in Los Angeles, he had failed in his handling of Bryant. And that was one of several factors in the breakup of a very successful team.

?in the final analysis, it?s the coach?s responsibility to manage the team in the proper manner and not have those things happen,? Winter said.

It was simply a huge mistake to not keep Bryant in the loop, Winter said. ?I think Phil realizes that now.?

We don?t think anyone has ever painted Phil Jackson as being totally innocent - the man makes a show of manipulating his players through the media often. This level of deception, though? Simply to cover his own ass?