Kobe Bryant On His Critics: “We’re All Surrounded By Idiots”

How bad has Kobe Bryant been lately? There were actually points this weekend where Laker fans were pleading for their icon to stop shooting. Against New Orleans in one of the most dreadful shooting exhibitions we’ve ever seen from the normally deadly Mamba, at times the Hornets were caught denying No. 24 the ball out of habit, while giving up the inside game. Looking back on it, that actually wasn’t such a good idea.

To shoot 16-for-28 – as he did last night – and have your legion of fans praising it as if you’ve just scored 81 in a game says something: they were all ready to take any improvement. Just please don’t shoot 25 percent again, everyone was thinking. Bryant responded as he always has, scoring 40 in a win over Golden State last night. But it wasn’t so much the numbers that pleased him. Bryant seemed happier to tell everyone to STFU.

The Los Angeles Times writes:

The doubters don’t bother him, he said, not even hearing the criticism they offered in analyzing Saturday’s near-debacle.

“It’s interesting to me to hear people talk after a game like that, that I’m done and all that stuff,” he said. “The amount of idiots that live out here, after 16 years, is baffling to me. I guess people just get dumber over the years.”

Including those who carp about his efforts.

“We’re all surrounded by idiots. All of us,” he said. “We’re all surrounded by idiots.”

To put his month of March into perspective, Bryant shot under 39 percent in 17 games. The last time he shot that poorly over an entire month was in December of 2003, the year his off-court issues took precedence to whatever he did between-the-lines.

Maybe his 40-point game yesterday was merely an April Fools Joke, and he’ll resort back to his 5-for-17 ways shortly. But in the aftermath, in the midst of one of his greatest “I told you so” media sessions, Bryant warned everyone to write him off at their own risk.

Do you agree with the Mamba?

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