Will Kobe Bryant surpass Larry Bird's Legacy?

[kgisbigticket]

How many more titles and how many league and finals mvp's does he need in order to reach Bird's level and perhaps surpass him?

[20 Dimes A Game]

Kobe will have to do alot because White Amercia will always over rate Bird.
He was a great player, top 5 ever IMO but is always slightly over rated because he's white.

Not to the extent of Isiah Thomas' comments such as ' If Bird was black, he'd be an average player' or whatever trash he said.

[mhg88]

Will Kobe Bryant surpass Larry Bird's Legacy?

No.

How many more titles and how many league and finals mvp's does he need in order to reach Bird's level and perhaps surpass him?

A good starting point would be one championship as the first option. Or even one MVP for that matter. Why is Kobe being compared to Bird again?

[Kblaze8855]

Unless he starts leading teams to titles right now(and he wont) he doesnt have the time. Its pretty unlikely he even catches the likes of Duncan, Havlicek, and Moses Malone if accomplishments are the issue.

[Loki]

Bird won 3 straight MVP's and had many wondering aloud if he was the GOAT in the mid-80's. This is while Magic, Moses, KAJ, Barkley, Jordan, Dream, Isiah etc. were all playing. That's dominance. And his '87 and '88 seasons (the 2 years after his last MVP award) might have been even better than his 3 MVP seasons individually.

Kobe would have to win at least 3 MVP's, 2 Finals MVP's, and finish top 3 in MVP voting at least 6-8 times. He'd also have to win at least 2 rings as the best player on his team.

[vert48]

Unless he wins a couple Regular Season MVP's and a couple finals MVP's, it won't happen.

[Psileas]

Among the things that matter most, Bird has: 3 titles and 2 more Finals' appearances, all as the team's #1, 2 Finals' MVP's (should be 3, really. Bird didn't score as usual in 1981, but he did everything all-around. When C-Max couldn't score, he did little else), 3 league MVP's, averages of 24.3/10.0/6.3/1.7 and pretty simular playoff averages. Plus, in his prime, there were people (I mean, mature people, not 16-year olds) arguing whether he was the GOAT or not.

Kobe, up to now, climbs the All Time stairs pretty fast thanks to his historical scoring games and records, but he won't get to Bird's league by these things alone. Oscar Robertson was the king of all-around stats and most have him a little below Bird, as well, and this is the absolute best case for Kobe, unless he wins at least 2+ titles and 2+ MVP's in both R.S and Finals himself.

[Jerk Nowitzki]

...White Amercia will always over rate Bird.
He ... is always slightly over rated because he's white.

Come on man, do you really believe this??
What if a non-white person claims he's one of the greatest ever? Is he a race traitor? Are all non-white people expected to think the same thing...??

[White Chocolate]

1. Bird is not overrated. Forget about his individual stats. He made his teammates better. He knew where everyone was. It was like he had a sixth sense. Even when he had chronic back problems starting in 1988, he still went out there and played his heart out, regardless of how much pain he was in.

2. Kobe will never catch up to Larry Bird. He doesn't have the time to do it. He doesn't have the MVPs or even winning a title as the first option. The fact that Kobe is not liked by the media certainly won't help his cause.

[evinecz]

y is dis even a question?? the answer is no!!!

[VCMVP1551]

He will NOT catch Bird. I rank 2 players hands down above Bird(Magic and Jordan) and possibly 2 others(Shaq and Kareem). That is it nobody else is ahead of Bird IMO.

[20 Dimes A Game]

Come on man, do you really believe this??
What if a non-white person claims he's one of the greatest ever? Is he a race traitor? Are all non-white people expected to think the same thing...??

No, did i imply that?

I'm simply saying that genrally, that's the reality. The majority of fans are white american, so it's inevitable that some will over-hype or over-rate the only real white american superstar in the NBA.

[YAWN]

Kobe will have to do alot because White Amercia will always over rate Bird.
He was a great player, top 5 ever IMO but is always slightly over rated because he's white.

Not to the extent of Isiah Thomas' comments such as ' If Bird was black, he'd be an average player' or whatever trash he said.

did he actually say that??

[White Chocolate]

did he actually say that??

Yes he did.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...55C0A961948260

[20 Dimes A Game]

did he actually say that??

Yeah, there was all this noise about it from the media. Research it.

I think it was after Bird and the Celtics had just beat us Pistons in the playoffs.