Duncan/Parker/Ginobli had a combined $30.36 cap hit this year. Kobe's was $30.45 mil.

[Carbine]

[IllegalD]

And yet Duncan JUST tied Kobe's 5 rings, and Parker/Gino are still are 4.

Look's like Kobe got to get his cake and eat it too.

He's playing with house money now, and anything else he does from here on out is just the cherry on top of a legendary sundae.

[longtime lurker]

And yet Duncan JUST tied Kobe's 5 rings, and Parker/Gino are still are 4.

Look's like Kobe got to get his cake and eat it too.

He's playing with house money now, and anything else he does from here on out is just the cherry on top of a legendary sundae.

This. Those 3 combined don't bring in anywhere near the money Kobe does. DiscountBe

[PJR]

Their big three taking pay cuts, in addition to Leonard still being on his rookie contract was big time for the Spurs cap situation.

The new CBA was a game changer. It basically acts as a pseudo hard cap. It's going to be incredibly difficult to win a title if two players are taking up 90% of your salary cap.

[kamil]

If the Spurs reach the finals next year, they will more than likely win it all again. The eastern conference is trash. Spurs completely dismantled the Heat in 5 games... the Easts best team.

Duncan could by all means end up with more rings than Kobe and as many as MJ.

Worse yet, Duncan was one rebound away from being a 6 time champion already, leaving LeBron* with just one ring.

[imdaman99]

Bet Kobe sold more jerseys than those 3 combined

But I get it, that has nothing to do with it, Spurs are a GOAT FO team with selfless players

[hawksdogsbraves]

That's why Kobe has and will continue to spend the downside of his career in irrelevance, while Duncan and co. are spending theirs competing for and winning more championships.

Kobe cares more about making that money than winning, which is totally fine, just a different mindset.

[Dresta]

If the Spurs reach the finals next year, they will more than likely win it all again. The eastern conference is trash. Spurs completely dismantled the Heat in 5 games... the Easts best team.

Duncan could by all means end up with more rings than Kobe and as many as MJ.

Worse yet, Duncan was one rebound away from being a 6 time champion already, leaving LeBron* with just one ring.

Spurs dismantled the Heat because their ball-movement is the perfect foil for Miami's defense, and we saw very little adjustment from Miami even once it became obvious that what they were doing wasn't working in the slightest. That does not mean teams like the Clippers, Rockets, Blazers, Mavs etc. would have had a chance of beating them. Even OKC don't match up very well and would've had no chance without Ibaka (would've been a layup line for Miami).

Despite all this mindless vaunting of the Western conference they still had only two teams that had a chance of making it to the finals, and one of those teams had a key guy injured.

[IllegalD]

That's why Kobe has and will continue to spend the downside of his career in irrelevance, while Duncan and co. are spending theirs competing for and winning more championships.

Kobe cares more about making that money than winning, which is totally fine, just a different mindset.

at the notion that Duncan and Co "care more about winning" than Kobe.

Why? Because Kobe got paid, and still believes he can play at an elite level?

I could flip it and say that Kobe has a different mentality, because he didn't take the easy way out like Duncan, who's basically accepted that he is merely a roleplayer at this stage, thus his massive paycut.

[kamil]

Spurs dismantled the Heat because their ball-movement is the perfect foil for Miami's defense, and we saw very little adjustment from Miami even once it became obvious that what they were doing wasn't working in the slightest. That does not mean teams like the Clippers, Rockets, Blazers, Mavs etc. would have had a chance of beating them. Even OKC don't match up very well and would've had no chance without Ibaka (would've been a layup line for Miami).

Despite all this mindless vaunting of the Western conference they still had only two teams that had a chance of making it to the finals, and one of those teams had a key guy injured.

I dont see how this is at all relevant to my comments about the Spurs being in next year's finals.

[NBASTATMAN]

That is one of the reasons why the Spurs have a great team... Money is available to bring talent over..

[Droid101]

Kobe's agent = GOAT

[MavsPoke]

Bet Kobe sold more jerseys than those 3 combined

But I get it, that has nothing to do with it, Spurs are a GOAT FO team with selfless players

GOAT FO indeed!

http://www.spotrac.com/cap-tracker/nba/

The Spurs are 20th in the league total cap at $63,379,810.
The Heat are 3rd at in the league total cap at $80,645,920.

Their big 3 put them over the max cap by themselves.
Chris Bosh $19,067,500 ($61,770,000) $19,067,500
LeBron James $19,067,500 ($61,770,000) $19,067,500
Dwyane Wade $18,673,000 ($60,492,000) $18,673,000

Of course no on compares to the abomination that is the Nets:
Total cap of $102,828,064!!!! They are $44,149,064 over the luxury cap!!!

The Knicks are $30 million over the cap and suck. So that's pretty funny.

But the funniest is the Lakers, almost $20 million over the cap for 4th highest in the league and didn't make the playoffs. You have to go all the way to down to the TWolves at 13th and $9 million over the luxury cap for the next team that didn't make the playoffs.

[Akrazotile]

OP you dont understand how ultra competitive kibe is, he is obsessed with competing and winning, he'll do anything to win, he'll crawl over any corpse, he'll swim cross any river, he'll cash any sized check with a minimum value of 24,000,000 dollars. Anything to win.

[hawksdogsbraves]

at the notion that Duncan and Co "care more about winning" than Kobe.

Why? Because Kobe got paid, and still believes he can play at an elite level?

I could flip it and say that Kobe has a different mentality, because he didn't take the easy way out like Duncan, who's basically accepted that he is merely a roleplayer at this stage, thus his massive paycut.

Key word there.

Yes Kobe BELIEVES he can play at an elite level. But he can't. And now his monster contract will keep him from competing into the playoffs for the rest of his career. Duncan knows he can't play as many minutes as he used to or as effectively, he took a pay-cut and is competing in June and winning championships.

For Duncan there's more to life than just making money, not that he hasn't made plenty in his career.

Kudos to Kobe and his alpha dog mentality, unfortunately it's not based in reality and for that he will play out his career in mediocrity.