Originally Posted by
Menses
He is in the Top 20....not in the top 5...and the top ten is arguable....now many of his fans may believe people like myself and Ratzz sell him short....but I will tell you something different....It is the media and his fan base who sell him LONG.......and this is because of where he plays and who he has played with...you must understand, he was CHOSEN as the NBA's replacement for Jordan....and once Jordan retired...Jordan's image was superimposed on top of Kobe...but the mold never fit...you could see the outlines of where Jordan's cardboard body (career and skill level) was cut out....and Kobe's was photoshopped in. Phil Jackson is the only person outside of disgruntled fans like myself who has been willing to talk about this at length......Read his books...and listen to what he says...and watch the tapes...not just the fade away three point buzzer beaters against regular season schmucks....watch the playoff games against Utah in 97/98, watch the 04 finals against Detroit...or the entire 05,06,07 and 08 seasons....
Watch the 06 and 07 playoff series against the Suns when he dropped 50 and his team still lost...or the timeout when Phil told him to stop shooting so much and he proceeded to shoot 3 times in the entire second half to prove a point while embarrassing his teammates..in the process..or the 2010 finals game 7 performance that is unquestionably one of the worst finals performances in nba finals history....and the most rigged piece of officiating the game has ever seen sending Kobe and the Lakers to the line 20 more times than Boston...ensuring their victory..
Kobe is now in his senior stage of his career and the media and his fans are now trying to further cement his legacy by nullifying the dominance and necessity of Shaq and completely disregarding the true savior of the franchise Pau Gasol...Kobe would have left the city had Gasol not arrived...Jerry Buss to the detriment of the team, chose Kobe over Shaq, begged him to stay and had Jerry West give him Pau Gasol for a bag of peanuts...all of this after Kobe ask to be center piece of the team, chased Shaq and Phil out of town, then whined and threatened to leave when his poor percentage shooting got them bounced out of the playoffs year after year...
What kind of career would Kobe of had, had he been drafted by the Bulls in 84? or the Cavs in 03? Would he had been a 5 time champion? Could he had won two mvp's and an nba finals appearance coached by Mike Brown with team of scrubs? Lets have Kobe switch places with Vince, Iverson, McGrady...would he still have had the same career? Imagine Kobe spending a career on a team playing small...with no 7 footers, would he be an all time great? Or just another good player who never won a ring?