Kobe Bryant becomes the first two-time subject of Sports & Theology. You can see the first installment here.
Let’s set the scene: The Lakers have had a rough start to the season. With the additions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in the off-season, Metta World Peace (formerly known as Ron Artest) predicted the Lakers would go 73-9 during the regular season. After a loss to the Magic on Sunday night though, the Lakers record stood at 8-9. As you can imagine, their disappointing play has led to frustration.
Another humiliating loss to another bad team Sunday night had the Lakers co-captain ready to take on the whole team if his teammates don’t start getting their games — and attitudes — together.
“I’ll kick everybody’s ass in this locker room if it doesn’t happen,” Bryant said after a 113-103 loss to the Orlando Magic at Staples Center. Yes, the 6-10 Orlando Magic. “It’s the attitude you have to have. Metta is the same way. Dwight has it in him as well. Even though he smiles a lot, he cares a lot about this. Come hell or high water, this has to get done.”
He then goes on to say regarding teammate Pau Gasol’s adjustment to their new style of play (or lack thereof):
“Put your big-boy pants on,” Kobe said with a trace of disgust in his voice. “C’mon … just adjust. You can’t whine about it or complain about it. Heck, I’m 34 years old, and I’m running screen-and-rolls out there because Steve is out, and my ass is running up and down the court more than I ever have in my entire career. But you have to adjust to it.”
Obviously, Kobe Bryant isn’t going to revert to violence if his team doesn’t make adjustments…I think.
With the scene set, how should we look at this from a Christian worldview?
When in conflict, a good principle to live by is going to the person one-on-one. This comes from Matthew 18:15-20. The context in the passage is dealing with conflict within the church but I think you can safely extract that principle of going to the person and apply it to any conflict. Perhaps this is what Kobe did. Maybe he went to Pau Gasol and others first. Maybe not. Regardless, airing your dirty laundry to the media and thereby millions of people, is not a good idea. This is common practice though for professional athletes. Why do they do it? Pragmatically, with dozens of media now probing into the issue, it can work. It can help to solve a problem. Perhaps they do it because it makes them look good while making others look bad. Even if pragmatism is the motive, I wouldn’t advise it. It brings unnecessary attention to the conflict, makes your teammate feel attacked, and creates problems with trust in the locker room. Following Kobe Bryant’s career though, I doubt he cares very much about these things. He’s not unlike most athletes. Winning trumps all. The end justifies the means.
With all of this said, I do think there’s a place to show “tough love.” As a leader on a team, I think Kobe should address problems. In this situation, if Gasol is sulking and not adjusting well–it should be addressed. If this were any level of basketball college or below, the coaches would be the ones to address but in the NBA, things are different. The dynamics are different. I wouldn’t have any problem with Kobe addressing Gasol (one-on-one) regarding these issues provided that
he came humbly, graciously, and peacefully (Galatians 6:1)
. I believe that is the posture conflict should be addressed in. There are times though when “tough love” is required. Times to be provocative, to be blunt, to display anger. Jesus displayed both humility as well as “righteous anger.” As always, motivations are key. Jesus’ righteous anger came when God’s glory was not be displayed. Our anger often doesn’t come from that place. We need to tread carefully if we choose the provocative approach in handling conflict.
What do you say though? What would you say to Kobe? Anything I missed?
