Kobe Bryant: "Nobody has won more championships than me in my entire generation."

[NUPE_1911]

Think he will finally have two all star teammates this year?

He had Bynum and Gasol last year. According to Laker's fans last year, Bynum was the best center in the NBA.

Do I really need to list the litany of HOF'ers that Kobe has played with?!?! Kobe is the most propped up superstar in the history of the NBA. You'd think he'd realize this and show some humility but nope....

[Yao Ming's Foot]

He had Bynum and Gasol last year. According to Laker's fans last year, Bynum was the best center in the NBA.

Do I really need to list the litany of HOF'ers that Kobe has played with?!?! Kobe is the most propped up superstar in the history of the NBA. You'd think he'd realize this and show some humility but nope....

Gasol wasn't an all star last year.

You can list HOFers if you want but that won't tell you much. I can tell you the HOFers he had as teammates on his amazingly stacked teams that won titles. Shaq and Gasol. That's it. 1 HOF teammate per title team. Unprecedented in history.

[longtime lurker]

Shots fired at all of insidehoops. Kobe stays sonning the haters.

[G.O.A.T]

Kobe fans are really creepy.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Kobe fans are really creepy.

That's because they live vicariously through him.

[rmt]

Nobody questions Tim Duncan's ability to lead/win/blend in. Kobe has clearly had more team success than Tim with different groups of players and haters still cling to fantasies instead of acknowledging reality. How can people seriously question Kobe on these things when he is the standard? Why is the leadership style of somebody who has won less obviously superior?

Kobe's 5 championship teams have had 31 different players. Duncan's 4 championship teams have had 32 different players. No player on his 99 team was on the 05 or 07 teams. Kobe has had Fisher on all 5 of his teams.

Kobe fans go on so about the 5 rings when Shaq was the main reason for 3 of them. They conveniently forget about the better team mates, better owner, better city to attract free agents, better coach, more salary (yikes, Holt would die with $91+ million in salary), etc that it took to win those 5 rings.

Duncan has won 4 rings as the man - done more with less. He didn't get gifted with the Shaqs, Gasols, Dwight Howards (all in their primes) and Nashes. He won with a 34/38 year old DRob, 20 year old Parker and rookie Manu.

To be fair, Kobe was probably the best player in the NBA by 2000/01. But Shaq had earned his place and had established himself as the team #1 with one of the great seasons of all-time. They won the title. Shaq is a big man, older, and clearly the league was lacking in big men at that time.

That 2000/01 season showed that Kobe was probably already the better player (and I mean that absolutely) but he wasn't the first option. The team ran thru him more, but Shaq was the clear-cut go-to guy, as a scorer and more. Kobe only averaged .2 PPG less than Shaq, and his shooting % was obviously lower so he clearly used the ball more. But it was still Shaq's team and that was fair.

Kobe was an even better player by the next year, and Shaq had already started going down. However, both had lesser regular seasons the next year. But Kobe's was an even bigger drop, even with his overall ascension as a player.

This whole alpha dog thing has gotten really stupid. But Kobe, himself, is a big reason why. Shutup already.

So in a year that they won the championship, in the middle of the 3-peat, but the MVP votes in 00-01 went like this:

1. Iverson
2. Duncan
3. Shaq
4. Webber
5. Garnett
6. McGrady
7. Malone
8. Kidd
9. Kobe

Only in delusional Kobe stans' minds was he the best player in 00-01.

[zizozain]

Kobe fans are really creepy.

generalizing

true colors showing lol


well ... Kareem is the GOAT and kobe is a top 5 all-time

deal with it creepy hater





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[dunksby]

generalizing

true colors showing lol


well ... Kareem is the GOAT and kobe is a top 5 all-time

deal with it creepy hater





-

I always wondered why he hated Kareem so much but a pattern is now emerging, poor dude has been hating all his life and now at 60+ years old he can't help his nature. Like a 60 year old pauk/NumberSix/etc

[red1]

generalizing

true colors showing lol


well ... Kareem is the GOAT and kobe is a top 5 all-time

deal with it creepy hater





-

terrible post

[KG215]

Once again you are confusing a legacy debate with what the question being asked. Can Kobe adjust successfully? Can Kobe allow Nash to thrive? The question isn't who was the best leader as the best player on team, the question is who has had greater team success playing various roles based on the makeup of the team. Who has done it better than Kobe?

No, I'm not. You're saying Kobe showed he was a better leader by changing his style of play for the betterment of the team in the first 3-peat. How so? At that point in his career he didn't know any better. Through the 3-peat, although Kobe significantly closed the gap by 2002, he had always been the second best player on his team. Up until that point in his career he had never "led" a team. Nothing about how he played through the 3-peat showed how versatile and willing to change as a leader.

Yes, Kobe's roles from 2000-2002 and 2008-2010 were different, but that doesn't mean he "changed his colors" so to speak as a leader. He wasn't the leader or best player from 2000-2002.

That's the point. Kobe has led at worst just as well as Duncan yet nobody will question Duncan on his ability to adjust his playing style for the betterment of the team going forward. Its a ridiculous concept. The man was a major part of 4 championship teams. Kobe is just reminding you all that he was also except he did it one better.

No, he did it one less to be honest. Duncan was the "lead dog", "alpha male", best player, etc. on four championship teams. I know Parker was the 2007 Finals MVP but Duncan played better in the entire playoffs and was still the team's best player. Kobe was only the clear-cut best player/lead-dog on two championship teams.

And, like rmt pointed out, Duncan played with more different players on his four championship teams than Kobe did on his five championship teams. So this notion that Kobe was more willing to change and was better at adjusting to different supporting casts than Duncan is a wash, at best.


Oh, and as for legacies, I have no problem with someone ranking Kobe ahead of Duncan. I personally would put Duncan at #8 and Kobe at #9, but if someone wants to put Kobe higher, I can live with that and see where they're coming from. However, if I was forced to pick one of those players to build around, I'd pick Duncan.

[tmacattack33]

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...ks-youre-dumb/

Such a cocky statement to make. Tim Duncan wouldn't say this if he was in his shoes. Where is the humility?

Didn't read the rest of this thread, but I'm guessing it went like this:

Kobe fans: Man, his competitiveness is amazing. He has swag.

Normal people: He's cocky.

[KG215]

I always wondered why he hated Kareem so much but a pattern is now emerging, poor dude has been hating all his life and now at 60+ years old he can't help his nature. Like a 60 year old pauk/NumberSix/etc

G.O.A.T. isn't even close to being the same kind of poster as pauk, number six, etc. He's one of the most knowledgeable and most objective posters on this site. After reading his posts for three years now, I have no idea who his favorite player(s) and team is.

[ashlar]

Kobe slobbers living through Kobe. Kobe haters living through Kobe slobbers. Its like a gay congo line.

[dunksby]

G.O.A.T. isn't even close to being the same kind of poster as pauk, number six, etc. He's one of the most knowledgeable and most objective posters on this site. After reading his posts for three years now, I have no idea who his favorite player(s) and team is.

Being a hater does not mean you can't be knowledgeable but please he is as objective as a conspiracy nutjob on a White House public tour.

[MiamiThrice]