When t-mac and his magics fail to make playoffs last year, most people said Bryant is much better than t-mac, but look how fast they changed their mind within one year!!!!! http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/basketball/11357238.htm Posted on Sun, Apr. 10, 2005 When you don't lift team, you're not elite DAN LE BATARD dlebatard@herald.com Kobe Bryant is no longer one of the 10 best basketball players in the world. He remains exceptional, just not elite. He falls somewhere in the 11-to-20 range -- in the same group with Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson and Vince Carter but behind Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Jermaine O'Neal, Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, Tracy McGrady and, as Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles said last week, Dwyane Wade. Basketball isn't like baseball or football. One player can very much alter the look of an entire team, and make it a winner by himself if he's good enough. That's why Garnett and Shaq and Duncan always have winning records, no matter the supporting cast. You'll find very few top 10 talents in the history of basketball with a record as bad as the one Bryant's Lakers have this season. L.A. is closer to the bottom of the standings than the top. It is going to finish the year out of the playoffs and about 10 games below .500. Bryant has no help? Wade took many of his teammates deep into the playoffs last season, didn't he? The Lakers have a worse record than the Clippers. Safe to say that wouldn't happen with any other player considered one of the 10 best in the world. Bryant has been exposed. Again, he still is very good. But also overrated. The next Michael? Please. Jordan shot more than 50 percent with Bill Wennington as his center. Bryant's shooting percentage has tumbled from 48 with Shaq to 43 percent now that Shaq has left his side. There are a lot of guys in the NBA, Ricky Pierce included, who could be second in the league in scoring if they ran the entire team, got carte blanche on shots and turned the ball over as much as Bryant does. That's why Bryant is not unlike Iverson now, a gunner who can fill it up whenever he pleases without involving those around him. Bottom line: The teams of top 10 players don't have a record of 34-42.
ouch... I can't stand Kobe but dang...he is really pilling it on. Using this criteria, TMac shouldn't be top 10 either because he is only one season removed from Orlando. So has TMac improved as a player or is he the beneficiary of a better team? With his scoring average down, many could argue he has benefitted from the stronger team. So you are kinda bandwaggoning if you drop Kobe off your list and add TMac. But since it is in the Rox favor, I'm okay with it.
It's not bandwaggoning. Every player on that list has had a bad year. However, all of them have also had years where they have picked up their teams and carried them. Kobe is judged on one year-this year-the first year without Shaq. If he happens to do well in the future, his status will go back up. He's judging Kobe on he did-or didn't do having his own team.
Dan Le b*stard is the biggest joke ever. The guy flips his opinions everyday, and he's always trying to play up to atheletes by kissing their ass, makes him perfect for BSPN. I put zero stock in what he says about TMac, because next year, he'll turn around and say how much better Kobe is. This guy's opinion is completely worthless
First of all its Ricky Davis, second of all I can't believe he really said that. you think Shaq coulda won 3 titles with Ricky Davis? Thats just a total discredit to one of the top 5 players in the NBA
First of all, the criteria that guy uses is rediculous and faulty to say the least. When you talk about "elite" players in the league, you are talking about "elite talent": that is players that are exceptional talents in this league. The win-loss record has nothing to do with a player's abilities and his talent-level, it only speaks to whether or not he is a "winner". Secondly, that guy contradicts himself: if he is saying Kobe is not elite, then no way in hell is Garnett "elite". If anything, with exception fo last season, KG has been a career loser as far as choking in the playoffs, not living up to expectations, etc. IMO, Shaq and Duncan are in a class by themselves as the absolute elite of the league. Then, everyone else pretty much falls on par with one another: T-Mac, Kobe, Iverson, Lebron, Garnett, Wade, Kidd, etc. When you speak of elite, you usually speak of talent, not win-loss record. For example: is Garnett or Lebron any worse as elite talents if they don't make the playoffs? Is Kobe any worse because his team is a loser? I would agree with the writer ONLY if Kobe proves that he can't carry his team to the playoffs the next 2 seasons. Same thing for Lebron. T-Mac, on one hand, had a crappy team and still made the playoffs 3 out of 4 tries in Orlando. Lebron, with a MUCH, MUCH better team at his disposal, seems to be struggling badly in the weak-ass Eastern Conf to make the playoffs, his team has been in quiet a dive recently. I know he is young, but he really hurts his status as a great player if his team misses the playoffs this year yet again. He has more than enough talent on his team to be a top 5 seed in the East, he just hasn't done it yet. If you are touted as the next "MJ", you better at LEAST carry your team to the playoffs. Same thing goes for Kobe, but this is only his first year to miss it, ask me this question again same time next season and I might have a different answer. But again, to me personally, it is Shaq and Duncan waaaaaaaay at the top of the pyramid, then every other "superstar" falls below them on pretty much the same level.
This is a pretty pointless article considering that, all of the author's faulty logic aside, there is no universal criteria with which to compare to players. When you have two high-calibur players like McGrady and Bryant, it's really impossible to say one is better than the other. On any given night, McGrady can be better than Bryant and vice versa. Honestly, though, why even worry about who's better? Last time I checked, basketball was a team sport. The Rockets are a better team than the Lakers, and regarding Kobe vs. T-Mac, that's all we should really care about.
It definately is bandwaggoning. If every player has had a bad year, then why is Kobe dropped off the list after less than one season? As others have pointed out, why is KG still on the list? Another crappy sportswriter trying to stir the pot. Unfortunately, he's really only taking an obvious premise that Kobe isn't as good w/out Shaq and then use that to pile on him. Hasn't everybody done that enough already? Did he say anything new?
This is a really dumb article by LeBatard. The fact of the matter is, with the possible exceptions of Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, no perimeter player could have taken this Lakers team to the playoffs. Kobe did a pretty good job with what he had at his disposal. Now, you can blame him all you want for running Shaq out of town, and you'd probably be right, but this Lakers team was just not very good. Now, replace Kobe with Tim Duncan, or Kevin Garnett, or Hell, Shaquille O'Neal, and they could probably make it to the second round of the playoffs, maybe even have an outside shot at the WCFs. But I don't think T-Mac, or Wade, or LeBron, or Iverson, or Paul Pierce, or even Ricky Pierce (who must be nearing 50 years old by now) could make the Lakers a legitimate playoff team.
That's ridiculous. With the exception of maybe Houston, Cleveland and Miami, there isn't a team that wouldn't want a talent like Kobe. The problem is the baggage he carries with him.
Why do the same standards he applies to Kobe not apply to Garnett? Because he won the MVP last year? That was rhetorical, by the way.
hahahah Bryant has 1 bad season and they start doing this, this is whats comical about sports writers they have nothing else to write so they come up with garbage like this.... Although T-mac is better in my opinion
Bryant is going to recover from this. And there have been great players on horrible teams. This columnist is borderline r****ded. His example of a player who is elite happens to be one of them....McGrady. Heck, even with Hakeem, who nobody douts is elite, the Rockets didn't make the playoffs now and then. The Wolves have a lot of talent, but they might fall short this year. The problem with the Lakers isn't the amount of talent, but how ill-suited it all is. That team has 3 players who are primarily scorers - Bryant, Butler, and Odom. Then there's one half-decent but undersized PF...and that's it. Give them a good, solid ball-handling PG and a PF who rebounds like a beast, and a spot-up shooter to replace either Butler or Odom...and that team will win 45-52 games next year. Bryant is down right now, but piling on is kind of stupid - at least this year.
I hate Kobe, but this writer is just stupid... if you cant see that Kobe is a once in lifetime player you're just plain CRAZY!!!
