The former NBA veteran, Olden Polynice, was not happy with what Rich Paul recently said about how he anticipates Kobe Bryant would have reacted to LeBron James’ free agency move to the 76ers.
Polynice appeared on Fast Break with the Lakers legend Byron Scott and expressed his feelings towards Paul and his statements directly at the camera.
“This goes out to Rich Paul. I have nothing but respect for you as far as what you’ve accomplished and how you got there. You worked your butt off. But you need to shut the f–k up with that statement because that is the most asinine thing.”
“Number one, we don’t know. You shouldn’t bring up Kobe in any way, shape, or form, that he would know what you know, LeBron, you know, the decision LeBron made. That’s some bulls–t, okay.”
“This is clickbait all over again. That’s like me walking up and slapping somebody and going, Malcolm X would have understood it. I don’t know what the hell Malcolm X would understand. And so to me, don’t do that. That’s so disrespectful.”
“If you try to do clickbait, then go do clickbait somewhere else. Because we don’t know. LeBron made his decision; that’s it. It has nothing to do with anybody else. LeBron made his decision; that’s the best for him. I’d wish you well, wish the Lakers well, and move on,” Polynice said.
Rich Paul had recently appeared on his podcast, saying Kobe Bryant would be extremely proud of LeBron James for joining the 76ers because it is a challenge and a competitive move.
Subsequently, Byron Scott also brought up the resurfaced comments from Kobe Bryant after the Warriors formed their superteam.
“Yeah, I think just the recurring video that came up with Kobe saying that LeBron’s a friend, KD’s a friend, but I don’t do that. I stay with my ship. If it’s sinking, I don’t swim to another ship. So, I think Kobe answered it right there.”
“You know, even from up above, you know, that he respects those guys. Obviously, they’re friends of his. He respects them. But it’s a decision that he would never do. And I think Rich probably saw the video later and was probably like, ‘Damn. Damn, I shouldn’t have said that.’ You know, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Because, to his defense, you know, will Kobe understand because those are his boys? Yeah, he’d understand. But it’s not a decision that he would do. That’s all. And again, he said it on the video. He respects them. They’re his boys, but that’s not in his DNA,” Scott clarified.
In my opinion, the former NBA players are right in saying that we should not invoke Kobe Bryant’s assumed responses to events like LeBron James’ free agency move.
That does seem disrespectful. Especially in cases where the facts of his life present a totally different stance he would have taken on something. It will be interesting to see if Rich Paul responds or apologizes for his comments, but as of now, Paul has yet to reply to these comments.
