Kobe is a Dick

Pau Gasol is one of the ten best players in the league. He is a center who has been playing at power forward for the past 5 seasons, and has made it work because of his great passing and outside shooting skills. Pau Gasol could go to any team and be the star, but he has spent the prime of his career in the shadow of Kobe Bean Bryant. What does Pau Gasol get for this combination of skill and selflessness? He gets ripped on by Kobe all of the time. Just this past day, Kobe told Pau to "put your big boy pants on". Prior to this incident Kobe has also routinely criticized Gasol for "coasting" or "not playing assertively enough". Perhaps, Pau has done a little bit to deserve these comments, but why can't Kobe just talk to Pau in private or even in front of the team about his failings.
I have one answer for that, Kobe Bryant is a huge dick. Many people will respond to that by blurting out, "Well so was Jordan", and this is undeniably true. Here is just a smattering of Jordan's insults to teammates: http://www.narutoforums.com/showthread.php?t=632753(some of them are actually very funny). Despite Jordan and Kobe's successes, history suggests that they are the exceptions rather than the rule.
Players like Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dwyane Wade, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson,  and Larry Bird won multiple championships without snipping at their teammates in the press, yet now, it has become acceptable for Kobe to do it as an example of his "competitive spirit". The players I just listed are pretty competitive, yet were able to handle most of their issues in house. Luckily for us, the new generation of stars have rejected the "motivation through insult" credo of Kobe and Jordan in favor of bland post-game commentary. Perhaps, these stars learned from the ruined Kobe-Shaq dynasty that insults can lead to disintegration rather than motivation. Whatever the reason, they are helping their chances of winning, while setting a better example for the young fans of the game.
       Despite the legions of fans who hate him, LeBron is a great counterexample to those who defend the petty behavior of Kobe and Jordan as necessary to their greatness. Whatever you want to say about LeBron, he rarely, if ever, has attacked teammates in the press and seems to function socially pretty well for someone who has been a legend since the age of 17. Hopefully, his continued success will put to rest the myth that cruelty yields dynasties.