Kobe Bryant: LA Lakers Star Wise to Avoid Charges and Man Enough to Not Flop

Haters gonna hate.

Somehow, someway, Kobe Bryant managed to ignite an onslaught of verbal assaults targeted at himself after admitting his lack of passion for drawing offensive fouls. His avoidance of taking charges, though, shouldn’t draw damnation, but applause.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported that Kobe said after the Los Angeles Lakers' practice on Tuesday that he doesn’t attempt to draw charges. His motivation: to avoid injury.

"

I learned from my predecessors. [Scottie] Pippen had a [messed] up back taking charges. [Larry] Bird had a [messed] up back taking charges. I said, 'I'm not taking charges.' I figured that out at an early age. I've seen Michael [Jordan] not take one charge and he's healthy his whole career and the same thing with Magic [Johnson].

"

After the unsurprising news broke, Twitter broke out with Kobe criticism. Here are a few tweets from fans that called out the Black Mamba (via @TheRealHolla206, @ClayMelvin and @PStrick50):

"

Sooo Kobe doesnt like taken charges.....soooo he'd rather take a L? #Lakersfan

— HANDSOM (@TheRealHolla206) May 16, 2012"

"

Kobe said he doesn't take charges. What a team player. He makes it seem like he plays D in the first place which we all know he does NOT

— Clayton Melvin (@ClayMelvin) May 16, 2012"

"

Kobe refuses to take charges...that's pathetic. So much for goin all out to win...jus shows his selfishness in one sentence. #fb

— Phil Stricker (@PStrick50) May 16, 2012"

Yeah, I know. How selfish of Bryant to refuse to sacrifice his body? What a selfish piece of…

Errrrr. Wrong.

Kobe isn’t being selfish by declining to allow an offensive player to fly into him at full speed—he’s being smart. And if anything, he’s being a team player.

Bryant is already injury-prone enough. If he were to go down with an injury that he couldn’t play through, Los Angeles would be absolutely screwed.

And get a load of this: When a basketball player turns down an opportunity to draw an offensive foul, that doesn’t mean they just stand there, pick their nose and watch their opponent throw down a 360-alley-oop to themselves. Believe it or not, they actually play defense (gasp).

If you didn’t need a refresher on the concept, forgive me for my dramatics. But there are plenty of NBA players that’d rather flop to the floor than defend their man. Bryant shifted his rant on offensive fouls to floppers and said:

"

There's a difference [between taking a charge and flopping]. We all know what flopping is when we see it. The stuff that you see is where guys aren't really getting hit at all and are just flailing around like a fish out of water. That's kind of like, where are your balls at?

"

Good question, Kobe.

Flopping has infected the NBA like a virus. Thanks to the elimination of many of the league’s biggest wannabe actors, such as Anderson Varejao, Luis Scola and Raja Bell, fans are being somewhat spared from witnessing players’ Oscar attempts. Keyword: somewhat.

Manu Ginobili, Derek Fisher and—new to the club—Blake Griffin and LeBron James continue to exaggerate contact to deceive the referee.

The NBA is home to the greatest athletes in the world. No other professional league boasts giants that are capable of soaring through the air with the greatest of ease. But because of floppers, its reputation suffers.

Instead of being known for possessing athletes comparable to those in the NFL—if not better—many sports fans reduce basketball players to being as soft as European soccer players. And that’s a shame.

Whether players believe it’s necessary to throw their bodies in front of an offensive player barreling down the lane to prevent a basket or not, they should take offense to Kobe’s diss and end their flop-fest.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels