Why do people feel the need to tell others they need to respect somebody, just because they managed to do a lot on the basketball court, especially considering the way he did it and his persona on and off the court?
They also played college ball. If MJ came into the league at 18 and played every season through his final retirement, he'd have had another 7.75 seasons. Imagine those numbers. Of course, MJ is MJ, and no sane person would put Kobe in that discussion. LeBron figures to surpass 30K-6K. He'll get to 6K assists this season, but won't reach 30K for maybe 3 more seasons. By then, he might be approaching 8K assists.
True, but this thread still feels like you are saying people are disrespecting him too much lately and therefore you state you on the contrary do respect him for his game. While not telling people they need to feel the same, you do feel people should right? :grin:
The league respects him too much They have enough versions of his: White Mamba, Red Mamba, Yellow Mamba(Lin?) and Mini Mamba
i don't think someone should be impressed how many assists kobe have in his career, because he played so many years with Shaq. I mean Shaq, the player that at his peak (exactly at that time when he was laker), that you can pass the ball and he will score no matter what. no one could stop him. Even i could have made few thousand assists if i would play with shaq. Later he got pau, who also was very good at offense.
His fans overrate him. In his era, Shaq, Duncan and LeBron were better. But yes he was good. Probably top 15 all time.
City: LA They have hardly ever been bad and they haven't had the same GM and owner the whole time they have been a franchise. No team starts with a bigger advantage before owners and GMs are even considered.
Kobe was one of the best scorer of all time, and the media did the other hyping about "clutchness" "toughness" "great defender" blah blah blah too bad his prime was wasted doing nothing he got really lucky with whom he had to play with The only things that were world class about Kobe was his scoring and longevity.
Those two things will keep you in the League for a very long time, so to say "the only things" as if they are insignificant is kind of ironic, dont you think? It's like raaaa eee aaaayne......
Saying those three were better than him isn't really an insult either though. He may have never been the best player in the league but name me five players that have had the success as well as the longevity of Kobe. He has played through 3-4 generations of superstars. Harden was 6 years old when Kobe was a rookie. The guy has been a star in the NBA as long as Wiggins or Jabari Parker have been alive. I appreciate the impact he has had on the basketball world these last 20 years. Consider that Vince was drafted after him and is a role player at this point and at one point was a top 2-3 SG. The list of players he has out lasted is redonculous. Iverson, T-mac, Vince, Richardson, Allen, Lewis, Kidd, Nash, Pierce, Arenas, franchise, mobley, roy, davis. I'm sure there's more all stars in the past 19 years I've missed but to me it's just crazy how long he's lasted.
I don't think he meant to say that it's insignificant. The same thing could be said about Kareem and nobody would think that it was meant to belittle his achievements. It's just that Kobe is overrated in all the other aspects of the game. Even the much heralded clutchness is just a perception. He is not among the highest percentage shooters in clutch situations.
With Cook and Kwame Brown as mentors, he would have to be a really big idiot if he had managed to f*** his career up.
He is still playing his game. Scoring in bunches and taking guys off the dribble. Ask Trevor Ariza. He is not as dominant as he once was but still a presence for sure.
