Kobe defends LeBron's supporting cast: 'Those guys have talent'

Kobe Bryant doesn't buy the narrative that LeBron James doesn't have any help on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The five-time champion defended James' supporting cast, one that has largely saddled him over the Cavaliers' improbable run through these playoffs, most notably with J.R. Smith's brain fart in Game 1 of The Finals.

"It seems like he has some good talent to me," Bryant told Benjamin Hoffman of the New York Times. "He's got (Kyle) Korver who's a great shooter, J.R. Smith who has always been a solid player - we focus on his one mistake and that tends to overshadow all the things he's done to help them win a championship before.

"You've got Kevin Love, who was an All-Star and an Olympian; Rodney Hood, who was a 17-point scorer in the Western Conference; you've got Tristan (Thompson) who is back to playing like he played a few years ago. He's got some workable pieces there."

Cleveland's supporting cast might be talented, as Bryant insists, but the production has not been there. Love is averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds in the Finals, but Korver, Smith, Hood, and Thompson have been largely ineffective. Smith shot 26 percent in the first two games, Korver only made one shot in two games, and Hood didn't even play until garbage time.

Having said that, there's also a narrative about everyone around James, and the current story centers on how James is carrying a collection of nobodies. Bryant says that part is unfair.

"I don't understand how, in order to talk about how great LeBron is we need to s--- on everybody else," Bryant said. "That's not O.K. Those guys have talent. I don't buy this whole thing that he's playing with a bunch of garbage."