Kobe Bryant Blasts Media for Calling Shaq Lazy, Has Also Called Shaq Lazy

Kobe Bryant is a self-fashioned media ombudsman.

No other player in the league can be counted upon quite like Bryant to call out the fourth estate when it stumbles into hypocrisy and double standards, and he's a tenacious defender of NBA stars old and new.

In the spirit of parity, we'd be remiss if we didn't uphold his standard of fair play and point out a glaring omission in a recent Black Mamba tweet. 

Bryant sent out a message Tuesday morning deadpanning on media critiques of prominent basketball players from the last several decades. He listed the labels that future Hall of Famers were tagged with prior to winning the NBA Finals, implying sports media is brash and usually wrong.

Now, a lot of media is wrong about a lot of things; Bryant is correct in that assertion. But note the O'Neal "wasn't serious" line Bryant attributes to media. If that sounds familiar, it could be because he said the same thing, except more pointedly, in a 2014 interview with The New Yorker's Ben McGrath. 

ESPN NBA editor Adam Reisinger (h/t SB Nation's Jason Patt) pointed out Bryant's earlier remarks, where he described his frustration with O'Neal's "lazy" play when the two were teammates.

"

Kobe's own words on Shaq #mediatho pic.twitter.com/77XQRlRSXt

— Adam Reisinger (@AdamReisinger) April 14, 2015"

It's all about that #MediaBiasTho, right?

Bryant is a smart guy, and much of the caping he does for other players carries weight because he is Kobe and he knows the criticism players face in the national spotlight better than anyone else in the league.

But come on, Kobe. You can't call someone lazy and then blast others for agreeing. That's not how media watchdogging works.

Dan is on Twitter. He is biased against the ocean and the Seahawks not giving Lynch the ball.