Kobe Gets His Props

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I have to give Kobe his props. Obviously, he's an all-time great player, an easy Hall of Famer. But I've been kind of down on him lately because he'd been gunning at a historic rate. I even busted a rant, telling him to Chill Out (shoot less), on ESPN Classic Now a few days ago.

Before his last two games, Kobe had been shooting 29 times a game, more than Michael, A.I., Pistol Pete, the Iceman, Tiny Archibald, Dominique or anyone else not named Wilt Chamberlain had ever shot. His 41 percent clip made his gunning that much worse.

Kobe has scaled back the last two games, attempting just 36 shots (hitting 19), and  surprise, surprise  the Lakers won both contests. Hopefully, he'll learn that getting everyone involved will make the Lakers, and him, better.

But the last two games  I want to see Kobe hold the trigger for a longer stretch  are not why I'm giving him dap. A league honcho once told me that the best way to know who the real ballers are is to ask the players.

The players know who's soft, who's tough, who's just a numbers guy, who's a real superstar and who's a media creation. Watch who gets the most shots in the all-star games, watch who the players pass to, who they defer to. That's how you know who's got respect around the league, I was told.

Well, admittedly this is a small sample, but I recently asked three young players who the best player in the league was. These were not just any young players. One is a superstar, one is an emerging superstar and the other has star potential.

I gave them my opinion, we debated, I dropped stats, anecdotes, the whole nine. But all of them insisted that Kobe Bean Bryant is the league's best player, hands down. Some of them had guarded him, and found it exasperating.

They say his moves are ridiculous, impossible to stop. They say he's a "killer'', always going for the jugular. They say he'll embarrass you at any moment with a freakish move.

Granted, these youngsters were all opponents. Many of Kobe's teammates  not just Shaq  hated playing with him. Still even Shaq told me in the heat of their hatred two years ago that Kobe was the best player ever. When I responded, "What about Michael?'' He said, "What about him?''

So I'm giving Kobe his props, but I still don't agree with the young guys. I think LeBron is the best perimeter player on earth. I'll admit Kobe has an advantage in that he has done damage on the ultimate stage  the NBA Finals  several times, and his defense is far superior. Still, LeBron's more efficient and gets his teammates involved (I could go on, but that's another blog), so I'd take him.

In his one-plus seasons without Shaq, Kobe has not been as good as A.I. and D-Wade and he's been no better than T-Mac (when healthy). That's still nice company, but if Kobe's going to remain the second-best shooting guard ever in my book (behind MJ, of course), he's going to have to raise that shooting percentage, stop taking so many bad shots, share the basketball and lead the Lakers to more Ws.

Even so, because the young guns say so, here's to you Kobe: Much Respect.</div>

From ESPN Insider. Damn straight best player in the game.

 

Not scared, I just didn't want to post an entire Insider article in the public forums.

 

It's gotten progressively worse.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> know that'll take titles, though. When I think about the best players in the league, I think of the guys who've won championships, guys like Tim Duncan, Kobe and Shaq. Of all of them, I like Kobe. His knowledge of the game and his killer instinct are what make him so tough. He's great with the ball and without the ball, and the things he can do offensively are kind of unbelievable. I don't think I have an instinct like Kobe, where I just want to kill everybody. But I do want to be the best player on the court every time I step out there. </div>

LeBron James on Kobe's Game