Kobe: Hypothetical Question - Had he stayed in Charlotte

Basically would be vince carter, tracy Mcgrady.

Skilled guy who never got the right cards.

 

to say that ur ill-informed would be a gross under-statement.

for ur education

Jerry West, GM of Lakers made a draft-day trade w the Hornetts.

he was willing to trade away his 25 -yr old starting center, Vlade Divac,
if Charlotte would pick an 18-yr old hi schooler from the
Philly suburb and then trade him to the Lakers in exchange.

Kobe never signed a contract w the Charlotte team.
his first professional contract was w the Lakers​

 

Actually during the draft process, Kobe and his reps were already threatening to not play for a year if he was drafted by a team he did not want to play on. He would've gotten drafted much earlier but most teams listened to the threat except the Hornets. Knowing Kobe wanted to play for the Lakers, Jerry West had the fortunate leverage to get Kobe for Vlade

 

If Kobe hadn't been in LA, or paired with arguably the greatest (or at LEAST top 3) center of all time, and later had one of the deepest teams of the the 2010s around him, he would definitely not have the resume that he has, and would definitely not even be mentioned in the GOAT convo.

Thankfully more fans (even some casuals) are beginning to see he is not a true GOAT candidate. He's like top 25-50 all time (which is still REALLY DAMN GOOD), but absolutely not in the same tier as guys like LeBron or Jordan. Hell, there's 4-6 guys in the NBA today that are (or are on a rapid trajectory to be) better than Kobe ever was.

 

revisionist history on your part.

 

that's just ignorant.

had Kobe not been w the LaL, Shaq would have never won a ring in LA

Shaq is not one of the top 3 centers of all time. these centers are better than Shaq

• abdul jabbar
• hakeem
• chamberlain
• russell

 

Career for career? Maybe (but don't get me started on Wilt, that's just a bizarre discussion), because Shaq did a terrible job staying in shape. But Shaq's best 4-5 years were arguably the very best 4-5 seasons any center has ever played. He was absolutely dominant, and during an era that was replete with great big men... Even when Hakeem dusted him in the finals, it wasn't Shaq's fault. Shaq played a fantastic series, but that team was garbage outside of Penny, Grant, and Shaq. It was a miracle how well they played with him.

Could Shaq have won without Kobe? Of course not. No one can do it alone. But Kobe was a helluva lot easier to replace than Shaq...

Regardless, Kobe is measurably not NEARLY as good of a player as people say, and had a lot more help than people give credit for. Every advanced stat in the book backs this thought up. The best examples are how criminally overrated his defense and his "clutch shooting" are. He was a historically amazing player. But he can't even sniff the throne.

 

You're quite the communicator.

 

shaq's best 4 or 5 yrs don't compare to the best 4-5 yrs of Russell / Jabbar / Chamberlain nor Hakeem.

Hakeem carried a mediocre team across the finish line against a much deeper/talented Orlando team.
Orlando also had sharp shooters Nick Anderson & Dennis Scott, awa former nba champ horace grant.

this Orlando team was deeper than Shaq's first championship team in LA

care to specify the stat

 

I forgot about Grant (edited him in), but the rest of that team no-showed in the finals, even if they had played decently before.

As for Russell and co being better than those 4-5 years... nah tho.

Again, neither player wins without the other, but Kobe was way easier to replace than Shaq, and every number in the book backs this up.

 

Maybe Duncan would win more and become the Goat replacement?

His main flaw was being a self aware weirdo who wasn't camera friendly. Reminds me how Kareem's Homie Don't Play That relationship with the media cost him from being discussed as GOAT more often.

Lakers had a decent guard in Eddie Jones, who later got edged out when Kobe beat his ass in practice. I don't think he'd sub for kobe, but he would've been highlighted better as a trade asset.

Man that team before with Jones, Campbell, Divac and Van Exel was like the Rockets "grit squads" during our 1st rounder years.

 

kirby would've been paul george in charlotte. no numbers, no reasoning, just straight from my ass.

 

After 10 seasons in the NBA, he'd probably end up with:

1 MVP
3 Scoring titles
7 All NBA team selections
8 All Star team selections

Basically a beardless James Harden

 

Sigh.

#1 Yes, Kobe's representatives said that their client would not play in Charlotte.

#2 Kobe Bryant was not as good a player as Shaquille O'Neal and it really wasn't that close.

 

Jerry West drafted Jones from Temple U, the athletic 6'6" jones showed good potentials.
4 yrs later, the logo drafted another athletic Philly guard, Kobe, w the same physical attributes and skill sets, but w a more maniacal mindset

 

based on what ?

people who knows BB knows that they're pretty close,
just ask the logo

as it relates to the NBA, i'll take the considered opinion of the logo over urs every time.​

 

his reps did so, in an attempt to lower Kobe's draft position,as per instructions from the Jerry West camp, behind the scene,​

6-7 yrs before that, Jerry West had convinced Vlade Divac to chain smoke in the nba draft room in an attempt to lower his draft position​

2 vivid eg of the logo playing his poker hand to the max

 

Does anybody ever succeed in Charlotte?

 

Lerbron: Hypothetical Question -- Had he stayed in Cleveland

keep in mind, Cleveland never would have gotten those *three* #1 picks from tanking if Lebron stayed. No Kyrie. No trade for Love, etc.