I think Kobe is easily top 10. A tremendous athlete, he was also about as fundamentally sound as you can be. Over the course of his career he was unquestionably elite offensively and defensively. He was fiercely competitive and a winner. Guys like Jerry West, who could possibly be the best talent evaluator in NBA history, puts Kobe among the very best to ever play. He scored inside and out (not a great 3pt shooter) and obviously on the break. All Defensive team 12 times and an all star 18 times. 5 NBA titles, 2x Finals MVP. By any measure, he’s a top 10 player in my opinion.
Reed Sheppard may be overrated too. He was considered the front runner for ROTY. He averages about 3ppg. If that.
Oh another one- Haliburton. Played really well at start of last season and then fell off a cliff and has been so so. More Jamal Murray than DeAron Fox.
Some decent points you make but you just have to many people ranked above Kobe. Career box score plus minus is a good list, Kobe is #30 since 1973.
PER is another decent stats to rank these all time greats. Can be misleading during a part of a season but it's more accurate when viewed over an entire career. Kobe is #29
Ok I disagree there because Kobe’s mediocre early years and late years should have no bearing on ranking Kobe’s or any player’s greatness.
I think you guys are forgetting the fact that AI gave us what might be the greatest press conference of all time; so good that DJ Jazzy Jeff mixed it into a song. *NSFW Lyrics*
LeBron recently surpassed Kobe in the one category he was the NBA all time leader in... missed shots STOMP
It cracks me up when the Kobe lovers get their panties twisted up when you say he was in the 20ish range of all time players. To be 20th best at something that probably a BILLION people have done at some point in their lives is a big freaking deal, but they act like you slapped him personally across the face.
The Kobe lovers are very odd, they have a personal delusional attachment to him that we don't see with the other great hall of fame players. Maybe they enjoy that he was rapist.
It cracks me up when people downplay Kobe Bryant because they either hate the Lakers or hate Los Angeles altogether. Almost every list/publication/NBA historian, former player, etc., has Kobe on their all time top 10 list. For fun i just checked. ESPN, Hoopshype, CBM, Complex, The NYT, have him in there, which clearly doesn't mean everything but it obviously shows that thinking Kobe is top 10 is pretty common.
People also voted Westbrook for MVP for a team that finished 6th in the west. Sometimes the mainstream media makes dumb choices.
Looking at ESPN, they have him #9. They also have Shaq, the Big-O, and Hakeem behind him. I personally would put all 3 ahead of Kobe. I think 12 is a reasonable place for him.
