Legendary John Wooden says Kobe is the GOAT

[Brandon Roy]

Wow. I never thought I'd be saying these 2 sentences:

Kobe is one of the greatest players to ever play basketball.

It is not absurd anymore to argue that Kobe might be the GOAT.

I know that one of the purposes of this board is so that people can argue (passionately) about stuff like this, but I think we've come to a point where arguing passionately against the notion that Kobe might be the GOAT is absurd and homer-like. I feel like there are maybe 6 or 7 players that someone can argue to be the GOAT, and Kobe is one of them.

I don't know what surprises me more: John Wooden calling Kobe the GOAT or Bill Simmons actually respecting and liking Kobe. This is monumental in the basketball world. I cannot emphasize enough how crazy this is.

[Showtime]

And again, I will restate this:

We have no quote of Wooden. We have a paraphrase from somebody relating the conversation. We have no idea what Wooden actually said about Kobe.

And let's assume he said exactly what that guy said he said. That means Wooden's reasoning is based upon work ethic in all areas of the game, and that's a very subjective and limited criteria for GOAT.

[NBASTATMAN]

Wooden is 99 years old........ Guy doesn't even remember magic, bird or mj playing....

[globarticles]

ay ya gotta understand dude said it over breakfast. after being asked likely a millions times by evrybody he dont care no more. he just say whoeva come to mind. next day he gonna say magic or hakeem da best.

[NBASTATMAN]

ay ya gotta understand dude said it over breakfast. after being asked likely a millions times by evrybody he dont care no more. he just say whoeva come to mind. next day he gonna say magic or hakeem da best.

Has anyone even heard him say this... Either way I think Kobe will wind up 5-7 all time.. But if he gets punked again in the Finals than I don't know...

[Mark Madsen]

John Wooden? Who's that?

[Roundball_Rock]

What makes you say that? Right now, only a small percentage consider him better than Jordan, chances are Kobe's individual statistics, MVP's, finals MVP's and scoring titles will pale in comparison to Jordan's, he won't be remembered nearly as influential as Jordan and he was not considered the best player in the league by the majority for more than 2-3 years, if that. Jordan on the other hand was considered in the league for about a decade and he was considered the greatest to ever play the game by most by the time of his first retirement.

Kobe's chances of being remembered by most as the greatest player ever are slim.

I agree with him. Two words: mass media. Why do you think in every sport--whether it is basketball, football, hockey, NASCAR, F1, golf, or tennis (the only exception is baseball and that is because of the steroids era anomaly)--the majority GOAT just happened to be around in the past 20-25 years? It isn't a string of amazing coincidences or that generation in a given sport was not better than every previous one. The decisive factor was mass media. The most recent top-tier great gets the most hype and this converts most people into believing he is the GOAT. The other factor, albeit a lesser one, is recency. People simply remember what they saw most recently better. In some cases they may never have seen a previous great. It is easier to say MJ or Tiger is the GOAT when you remember his greatness compared to other greats who you did not see contemporaneously. Therefore:

Basketball: Kobe? Lebron?>Jordan>Kareem>Russell>Mikan
Football QB's: Manning? or Brady?>Montanta>Unitas
Hockey: Gretzky>Howe
NASCAR: Johnson?>Earnhardt>Petty>Jarrett
F1: Hamilton?>Schumacher>Senna>Stewart>Fangio
Golf: Tiger>Nicklaus>whoever was before that (Jones?)
Tennis: Federer>Sampras>whoever was before that (McEnroe?)

My reasoning is that because those players were so great and accomplished so much, if a player comes along that is DEFINITIVELY superior, then he will play at a level so far ahead of his peers and accomplish more to the point where it doesn't need to be a debate.

There will always be a debate, though, especially when a player approaches the top group. I think what he meant was that he may become the majority GOAT the same way Jordan surpassed, in the eyes of the public, the other GOAT candidates.

Kobe is one of the greatest players to ever play basketball.

It is not absurd anymore to argue that Kobe might be the GOAT.

I know that one of the purposes of this board is so that people can argue (passionately) about stuff like this, but I think we've come to a point where arguing passionately against the notion that Kobe might be the GOAT is absurd and homer-like. I feel like there are maybe 6 or 7 players that someone can argue to be the GOAT, and Kobe is one of them.

I don't know what surprises me more: John Wooden calling Kobe the GOAT or Bill Simmons actually respecting and liking Kobe. This is monumental in the basketball world. I cannot emphasize enough how crazy this i

This is happening. No one was talking about Kobe cracking the top 5 of all-time a year ago but now it is viewed as a very likely possibility. Opinions change. Kobe is going to get an increasing amount of hype as long as he keeps winning championships. When he gets to 6 you can bet ESPN will have a 24/7 "Kobe vs. Jordan" marathon on its talk shows.

The same thing is happening right now in NASCAR. Jimmie Johnson is now being called the GOAT by some. Two years ago, even a year ago, that would be laughable.

[phoenix18]

Things to consider:

- He has watched every great player in history.
- He is aware about the strengths and weaknesses of every era.
- He watches a TON of Laker games (so it's not like he is being hyped into believing it) and has seen more games than anyone else on this board.
- As far as I know, he has no agenda. Completely unbiased opinion here.
- Whether it's true or not, 10 years down the road, Kobe will be remembered as the GOAT amongst the general public (and looks like a significant portion of the basketball community too). This barring LBJ doing some other worldly sh*t in that time span.
- This is John freaking Wooden. He knows more about basketball than you could ever hope. He would laugh at your face if you ever presented him with a bunch of trash stats to make your case, he understands that there is more to the game.
- Jerry "the GOAT talent evaluator" West named Kobe as the top 5-6 players ever right? If you are going to agree with him on everything, then why ignore this?

I have to quote this.

Anyways, just like always, here WE are in ANOTHER thread about a QUOTE about Kobe.

I would just like to say this to all in this thread. I......





dont care.

Now you might ask why? Phoenix you loooove basketball, why dont you care?

I am tired of these lists and all of he said she said garbage.

BTW, John Wooden is a great coach and all, but stop hyping the dude up just because he said something positive about Kobe.

Find a hobby or something. Everytime someone says something positive about Kobe, you start slurping them as if they were the Mamba.


Yes, I am talking to you Fatal. You're not slick. We all know your agenda.

[Allstar24]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ElUmrpZEU

Let the riot begin.

I'm surprised that Bill Simmons didn't take that opportunity to bash Kobe.

[OldSchoolBBall]

This thread is more evidence as to why Kobe fans are the lowest form of life on Earth. They'll cling to anything that will elevate Kobe to a height he hasn't ever come CLOSE to reaching. Sad.

[Jacks3]

lol the irony.

[Roundball_Rock]

lol the irony.

Beat me to it.

[Killbot]

Who the sh!t is John Wooden?

It sounds like he's an attention whore.

[lbj23clutch]

Most people consider MJ to be the GOAT, so it doesn't really matter. MJ has said LeBron has the potential to be GOAT, but even coming from the GOAT himself, most people know LeBron will never be as good as MJ.

[Roundball_Rock]

Most people consider MJ to be the GOAT, so it doesn't really matter.

It does matter. Most people consider MJ the GOAT due to the mass media campaign. Jordan being the GOAT is passed off as fact in the media. The media made him the GOAT and they will displace him with another player. Things like Wooden's comment gets the ball rolling for the media hype machine. Do you remember the "Kobe chasing MJ's 6 rings" hype last summer? What is implicit in that is that if he gets to 6 he=MJ and if he surpasses that...The media has set this up. I am pretty sure in 10-20 years MJ will no longer be the majority GOAT. The same forces the made him the majority GOAT will displace him with Lebron or Kobe. I for one will love watching MJ fans squirm as it happens, whether it is Lebron or Kobe.