Some thoughts on Kobe Bryant.
Where does Bryant rank in terms of the all-time greatest players? He actually wouldn’t be in my top five. However, I will say the following:
- I would put him above LeBron James;
- He is not the same player as Michael Jordan, but in terms of scoring ability and competitive intensity, he and Jordan are basically clones. You talk about the killer instinct, and these two might be the first two I think of. In terms of the ability to score one-on-one (not necessarily the best penetrators), in terms of non-centers, these two may be the best of all time.
I don’t think Kobe is better than Lebron and I don’t think Kobe could carry a team like Lebron could (maybe no longer can).
Kobe is definitely a better scorer than Lebron and off the top of my head, I think Kobe is in the top five if not top three scorer of all time with Jordan and maybe Harden.
This is making me have second thoughts about what I said. I do have doubts about Kobe being able to carry a team. I think it would depend on the coaching–and whether Kobe would buy in. For example, if Larry Brown was the coach, and Kobe submitted to his authority, I think Kobe could carry that team to a championship.
As far as Kobe being better than LeBron, for me, the killer instinct and being a great one-on-one player are essential qualities of greatness. Pippen was a great player in many ways, but quite a lot of players would be ahead of him. Ray Allen was a great shooter and the perfect shooting guard, but I think he lacked the killer instinct, too, and that hurts him in my estimation. My sense is that for most of LeBron’s career he never really had that, and he was never really was a great one-on-one player. I think I’d rather have players like Charles Barkley or Kevin McHale on my team over him.
Kobe seemed to be kind of a SOB on the court as a player. He was pretty arrogant as well. This is very much like Jordan. But after retirement, based on all the stories that have come out after his death he seem to be a great person after basketball. Of course these stories now will be 99% positive, but even before his death, Kobe seem to be a pretty public figure. You will see him at basketball games with his daughter or he was at soccer games. He would also come on with Dan Patrick. This seems to be in contrast with Jordan. I also heard someone bring up that Kobe never really had the vices like Jordan (ie: cigars, drinking, and gambling). It’s almost like Kobe could separate himself from the guy that was one of the greatest player of all time.
Yeah, and I wouldn’t mind this–if he wasn’t a ball hog. That’s my biggest knock on him. He was a great scorer, but he wasn’t a great basketball player–in the sense that he knew how to integrate his ability with four other players, creating a team. It’s like playground basketball. It’s like five guys playing as individuals not a team. Basketball is about blending the indivdiual abilities into a functioning unit. Kobe seemed to be lacking in this area in my opinion.