I am simply astounded at some of the people in this thread. We are talking about Kobe Bryant here. A player who got to his level of excellence (whether now or in years past) through hours and hours of practice, training, and preparation. He will do everything he possibly can do. That is his entire mindset and system. He doesn't care what anyone says or thinks about him, he just does everything he can. Does him shooting jumpshots for an hour after the game really seem that out of character for him? Not at all. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he has had some practice after losses in the past. Not to mention you use realgm as a source instead of more legitimate source. They then use some nonspecific OCR's Kevin Ding quote (who while I now know is a well respected writer for the OCR which I now know is actually not a rinky-dink paper), but neither of whom I've ever heard of before and whom most of the people on this board have probably never heard of. For example, in the article by The Miami Herald, when they interview Kobe he said he wanted to work on his stroke because "a couple of my pet shots didn't feel comfortable", and that Bryant said he occasionally does postgame workouts. Hmm, gives this whole thing a different spin doesn't it? As in he is doing what Kobe does when things feel off or he feels disappointed--he practices and works on his game. Who here is to say whether this shootaround or something else would or would not help him out. You people just have to find whatever you can to negatively attack him (even if is on a blog site) because of whatever previous beliefs or impressions you have of him. And no. I don't like or love Kobe. I despise the guy, but begrudgingly respect him for what he has achieved and how he did it. Also, I never want the Lakers to win, unless of course they are playing Dallas, Utah, or Miami.
T-Mac in his prime was as good as Kobe. He was as good as Kobe at scoring, a way better passer, slightly better dunker and his style of play was just wonderful. Just look at how he played, the guy WAS more talented than Kobe but Kobe is a fierce competitor and obviously studied the game and I believe, read specific books that helped his mental and with that he probably developed his own phylosophy in life that helped him to be one of the best all time. T-Mac was better at his prime, but Kobe has been almost as good but for way longer that's why in the end he will go down as the best player between the two.
Has TMac ever had talent comparable to what Kobe has had during both title runs? Because in-between, he did, and the results were identical. Why can't people understand that basketball is a team sport and "legacy" is only half defined by the player, half by the team he is on.
Tinman, he's not talking about championships. T-Mac did have the best individual season between them in 2002-2003. It's unfortunate though because they just changed the format in the first round to 7 games and he had 3 games won but lost 4-3 at the end in the first round. Having PER over 30.0 is very difficult to do as you can see here: http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/per_yearly.html Only LeBron, Wilt, Shaq, and MJ have done that to lead the entire league in PER with over 30. That's a pretty good company. But oh well, Kobe obviously has more rings, will always be remembered as the better player, but it was actually a legit debate in the early 2000s involving T-Mac vs Kobe.
Kobe also requested a trade from the team (I consider that quitting), he also called out his teamates as well (Best example: Andrew Bynum), and he was getting booed in the Staple Center. Kobe's lucky enough to be on the Lakers and to get 2 more championships with the rigged trades in Pau Gasol.
I remember Tracy taking jumpers after games in 2005, & 2007. Don't just say something and have nothing to back it up. Basketball is about practice. The only way to be good at it is through effort and hard work. Listen to Bullard, a former player in the NBA. Shooting can not be mastered, but you can improve it with repetition. Why do you think T-Mac fell off after losing in seven to the Mavericks? He quit. It was only a matter of time before his body quit on him. Like a ticking time bomb. After the injuries he simply couldn't return to his former self.
kinda like Shaq vs Hakeem I think Hakeem had a better overall career. But during a 3 year span, Shaq was more dominant than any player to play in the NBA
LOL what the hell is this I thought it was goodbug posting, turns out to be tinman.... This is the first time I've seen a person hate a player so much that they dick ride another player to prove a point. The pre Gasol post Shaq Kobe is everything I despise in a basketball player. He was the biggest ball hog ever and didn't respect none of his teammates. It's funny Tinman always calls Mcgrady selfish and goes on to defend Kobe... The scoring title Kobe was really comparable to scoring title Tmac, both had really bad teams and jacked up every shot they got because that was the only chance they had at winning.
He probably would have moved to New York this past offseason so we would probably be in the same situation only with Gallinari and Randolph.
1) Stop saying about TRACY. AQll you guys comparing Kobe to Tmac all over again and again are simply IDIOTS. I am ok with improving your jumper. but look at this 1)he has just been owned by wade which made him look bad 2)he had a poor shooting night 3)it was a national televised game that most of the country were looking for I am sure you can't find better: a) place - than your opponents home floor. Basket is still a basket. b) TIME - it was only 2 hours after the game. He knew media didn't leave yet! Would going to bad, waking up and than finally go to a practice change anything?
No the T-mac vs Kobe argument is more like this... <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BXCUBVS4kfQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
EXACTLY. It's about WATCHING IT. When you WATCH Kobe and WATCH T-mac, it's so damn obvious who's better. David Robinson had a statistically better year in 95 than Hakeem. then you know what happened. Uploaded with ImageShack.us (* I don't mean to say Tmac is similar to David Robinson and was a class act, we all know that David is a champion and MVP, but we know how much better Hakeem is because we saw it)
Whatever dude, I can't read a simple article about Kobe without people mentioning that inferior player T-mac in it.
I was referring to the ardent supporters on both sides; it's an endless fight which will never reach an end.....
Kobe: 5× NBA Champion (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010) 2× NBA Finals MVP (2009–2010) NBA Most Valuable Player (2008) 13× NBA All-Star (1998, 2000–2011) 2× NBA scoring champion (2006–2007) 8× All-NBA First Team (2002–2004, 2006–2010) 2× All-NBA Second Team (2000–2001) 2× All-NBA Third Team (1999, 2005) 8× All-Defensive First Team (2000, 2003–2004, 2006–2010) 2× All-Defensive Second Team (2001–2002) NBA All-Rookie Second Team (1997) 4× NBA All-Star Game MVP (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011) NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion (1997) Olympic Gold Medalist (2008) Naismith Prep Player of the Year (1996) T-mac: NBA Most Improved Player (2001) 7× NBA All-Star (2001–2007) 2× NBA Scoring Champion (2003–2004) 2× All-NBA First Team (2002–2003) 3× All-NBA Second Team (2001, 2004, 2007) 2× All-NBA Third Team (2005, 2008) Where's the argument, it's a landslide.
