Kobe Bryant pulled no punches when asked to share how he feels about the latest ESPN NBA player rankings that have him listed at No. 40. But after his disparaging remarks about the writers, ESPN fired back at the Los Angeles Lakers superstar Friday afternoon.
"I've known for a long time [that] they're a bunch of idiots," Bryant said after the Lakers' 119-86 preseason loss Thursday night to the Utah Jazz, according to ESPN Los Angeles.
ESPN writer Royce Webb didn't take to kindly to those comments, saying they might have actually overrated the five-time NBA champion:
In fact, our problem was that we overrated Kobe tremendously, out of "respect."
But "respect" is one of the most useless concepts in the NBA when it comes to player evaluation. If we had treated Kobe like any other player, we would've said he was no longer a top-25 player, or even close to that.
Let's be blunt: Kobe Bean Bryant was one of the very worst players in the NBA last season - a $30 million disaster. He was closer to the 425th-best player than the 25th-best player.
But respect is earned, and the current version of Kobe is not much of an NBA player.
Bryant scored a game-best 27 points against the Jazz. The Lakers have struggled during this preseason, going 1-3 so far. He was ranked No. 25 by ESPN last year, which he called "silly" and "laughable."
Injuries limited Bryant to just six games during the 2013-14 season. But he said ESPN's ranking doesn't add to his motivation.
"I tend to use things as motivation that tend to be in the realm of reality," he said. "Honestly, all jokes aside, it really doesn't bother me too much. I'm going to do what I do regardless. God willing, I can stay healthy, and if I wind up proving a lot of people wrong in the process, that will just wind up being collateral damage."
Under new head coach Byron Scott, the Lakers look to rebound from a 27-55 mark last season, the worst record in franchise history. The team failed to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2005. Los Angeles will open the season at home against the Houston Rockets on Oct. 28.
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