The problem with that logic is that you're putting Rondo on par with prime Shaq. You make no distinction between an all-star reserve and one of the most dominant players of all time. Shockingly, your misinformation favors Kobe....
Exactly... Its only young Kobe that gets compared to prime Shaq. Thanks for making my point. Name the NBA legend who wouldn't be lesser than prime Shaq? Based on that logic.. LeBron James (the best player in the league) could win the NBA title with his Olympic teammates and it would be considered more impressive than Kobe winning a title with Shaq and 10 bums.
Which definition would you prefer? All Star Starters? All NBA Players? All Defensive team players? HOFers?
Since you're wrong, I obviously haven't made your point. The problem is that you're treating Shaq as the "Robin" when he's actually "Batman". In all your other examples, you're correctly identifying the Batman & Robins. But when it comes to Sha
Since you're wrong, I obviously haven't made your point. The problem is that you're treating Shaq as the "Robin" when he's actually "Batman". In all your other examples, you're correctly identifying the Batman & Robins. But when it comes to Shaq and Kobe, you keep mixing them up. Go figure.
You can only use those generalities when the players in question are comparable. Who, in your opinion, is comparable to the "most dominant ever"?
So if Andrew Bynum continues to develop and becomes a dominating force in this league and a HOFer some day, that makes Kobe a choke artist because he failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs in 2006 and 2007 despite having a HOF teammate? That changes how much talent the previous two Lakers championship teams had because some guy from the team eventually became a HOF-caliber player? Do you see how ridiculous this logic is? If you're saying a guy has a HOF teammate in a given season, that player needs to be playing somewhere near his prime or it's just not worth mentioning at all. And, by the way, Tony Parker is most likely not going to be in the HOF. He's only once made an All-NBA team (3rd in 2009), he's never been in the MVP discussion, he hasn't even been an all-star for most of his career, and his numbers are very modest. Manu Ginobili will be in the HOF, but not for his NBA career. So saying Tim Duncan had two HOF teammates in 2003, 2005, and 2007 is disingenuous at best.
I already recognized prime Shaq as the better player. He is also better than young Lebron, Jordan, Bird, Magic etc... And? Whats more impressive to you? Kobe winning titles with Shaq or Kobe winning a hypothetical title with the all league 2009 2nd and 3rd teams as his "help". Tim Duncan Yao Ming Chris Paul Kobe Bryant Paul Pierce Bench Brandon Roy Carmelo Anthony Chauncey Billups Pau Gasol Shaquille O'Neal Tony Parker He's the best player on this team therefore its worth more dur dur dur
You're confusing Batman & Robin again.... My point is, the more talent a team has relative to its contemporaries, the less impressive its victory is.
Funny. You should do some research before posting. No Clyde for the first championship and no Barkley for either championship.
The Lakers weren't playing top-5 defense when they met the Mavs. In fact, they had been playing bad basketball for over a month at that point. The Heat, conversely, are playing their best basketball right now.
Worthy AND Kareem Parrish, Mchale, Johnson AND Walton Pippen AND Rodman Bosh AND Wade Ginobli AND Parker
Agreed, but despite all of that, very few people here were picking the Heat to win it all, esp. after they started 9-8. It's fine to have a problem with their team before the season and stick with that opinion, but you can't change your stance now and call something "tainted" if you didn't feel that way all along.
He's in the Finals MVP discussion as the only international player with one. If you don't think hes getting with that on his resume you are nuts. Speaking of which can you imagine if Gasol won the Finals MVP last year we would never hear the end of how the title was his and how Kobe has only one real ring. Just goes to show you how ridiculous Kobe is treated compared to every other player even fellow legends in the league.
It seems to me that a lot of former haters are coming around by LeBron's ridiculously good clutch play this postseason. It's like they finally realize how good this guy is, and has been for years.
Kobe is only treated that way because his fanatic following and the media insists on overrating him and putting him in conversations with MJ, Magic, Bird, etc. when he is really in the next tier of players.
To be fair, Kobe's productivity has generally dropped in the finals. And you won't ever have to worry about Gasol winning the finals MVP. Kobe will shoot enough (albeit at a lower percentage than Gasol) so that his sheer numbers will overshadow Gasol's....kind of like in the finals against Orlando.
Jordan won with only Pippen. So in that respect, Jordan and Shaq are similar in that they both won titles with only 1 HOF sidekick.
I'm not going to derail this thread with another Kobe v. the world discussion. Kobe has had a good career and he probably has a few more years left as a solid player; you'll find that from here on out, though, the MJ/Magic/Bird discussions will finally die down as he's come as close as he's going to get to these legends of the game.
