So I got this comment on my vicious and correct post about Kobe a few days ago.
"Dude. You know absolutely nothing about real basketball. You're just finding excuses to hate on Kobe because you hate Kobe.
If Kobe takes a shot while being double-teamed and he misses, everyone brands him as a selfish player. "Why didn't he pass to an open Trevor Ariza?!" And if he makes it, people like you would still be crying, "What a horrible shot! Trevor was open; why didn't he pass? He's so selfish!"
It's your frame of mind to hate on the dude no matter what. Kobe is the best. Look at the level of shooting guards Michael Jordan played against. Name five guys of similar caliber as MJ that played a similar position as him while he played in his prime. Looking up names on Google? Still can't find those names, I bet. Now look at the caliber of players Kobe goes up against night in and night out. Almost every team in the NBA has a high scoring shooting guard now who are better and more physical. Kobe's better than MJ. Get over it."
Well allow me to retort.
Off the top of my head I've got Joe Dumars, Clyde Drexler, Sydney Moncrief(The 2nd Best perimeter defender of all time after MJ) Dennis Johnson(probably 3rd best) Reggie Miller, The Boston Strangler Andrew Toney, Byron Scott, An injury free Ron Harper, Derek Harper in Dallas, Kiki Vandwheghe in Denver(who once scored 56 points in a game). And that's just shooting guards. You add in that Jordan played and dominated the unquestionable golden era of NBA hoops, by winning the MVP, All Star game MVP, scoring title, and defensive player of the year in 87-88 while Bird, Magic, Isiah, Wilkins, Olajuwon, Ewing, were all in or near their primes, and I think the case for Kobe playing in a more difficult era evaporates.
I will now be writing and posting a definitive article on why MJ is a gazillion times better with Kobe. Hint it will start with the fact that MJ was never blown out in a deciding FINALS game by 39 pts. Especially not by a team led by such front runners as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Also included in there will be the idea that MJ was 6-0 in finals appearences while Kobe is 3-2.
Don't worry the storm is coming moron.
S
I'm a Kobe fan, and while saying any basketball player is as good as MJ is heretic, you do slam on the guy way too much. Can we stop talking about Kobe. It serves no purpose, and your obvious bias makes it hard to take the criticism seriously.
ReplyDeleteI don't know Kobe, but I see what he does on the court, and I appreciate it. I would bet he's more passionate about basketball than anyone else in the league, and I admire him for that. While he's no Warrick Dunn (good solid guy who gives back to others), he's also not Pacman Jones (no need to explain that one). Chances are he's somewhere in the middle.
I think earlier in his career he went out of his way to control his image (much like ARod does, but almost everyone knows that he used to be a swinger and cheated on his wife constantly). The Colorado incident kind of ruined that. But he's done a good job rehabilitating himself. I wish him the best both personally and on the court. He's a good player who cares about the game he plays, and that's all that matters in my mind; I'm not looking for him to be a role Model
Don't forget the rules have become much stricter in the last 15 years.
ReplyDeleteIf people guarded Kobe the way they guarded Jordan, they'd get called for a flagrant every other possession.
Sure, Kobe's insanely talented. But what's so upsetting about him is he's utilized his talent in all of the wrong ways. In a way, he's the anti-Jordan in that regard.
Biggest problem with the Kobe posts is that you judge Michael Jordan solely as a basketball player, but you judge Kobe primarily as a person. Kobe is not the anti-Jordan. Jordan had serious issues with gambling (the conspiracy theorists even claim he initially retired because Stern forced him to due to the gambling issues) and I won't even get into his pussy hounding with the Chucks ( Barkley and Oakley). It's likely that if Jordan had played in the era of citizen journalism we wouldn't look at him as favorably as we do.
ReplyDeleteKobe Bryant IS NOT better than Michael Jordan, PERIODDD! This is such an extreme statement that doesn't even deserve commentary. The Lakers have a better team now than the old bulls, and Kobe still couldn't get it done in the finals against the Celtics (thats also forgetting about a team that once had Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Shaq, and Kobe that couldn't beat a Detroit team that have'nt gotten to back to the finals in 6 seasons or so).
ReplyDelete--Ron N.