Kobe Bryant, much clutch, such shot, much amaze.

[manly]

LOL Lakers beat the Dubs without Kobe Bryant. Just a coincidence?

The guy has literally nobody on his team. One night of them shooting 48% and him 20% is not a clear indicator of the entire season. Sure, he probably is shooting too much, but its not like the team has 15 wins if he shot 10 fewer times per game.

Even at 36, Kobe is the best player on that team. That should tell you something about how little talent they have.

Huh? Nobody is saying that Kobe isn't the best player on the Lakers. What we're saying is that he now plays stupidly with his ISO ballhogging style. And Kobe is actually considered an intelligent person and athlete. It's hubris to the Nth degree, if you've ever heard his typical interview it's obvious.

I didn't mean to discredit Russell's athleticism. Just to highlight his genius. Kobe is a pure athletic player, as far as I can tell. Russell was a player coach before he was a player coach, and he built that dynasty through that, not his own athletic ability.

Even stats wise, Russell doesn't stack up to some of the great centers. Unfortunately, they didn't record blocks or steals then, but his rebounding was his only great stat. And, this was in a time when being 6'10 215 at center wasn't a disadvantage. Russell was the greatest player of all time, but not the greatest center, if that makes sense. But, I think it is also that it isn't that Russell couldn't do everything and average 30 ppg, just that he understood how to build a team so he didn't have to. The only other player to even have anywhere close to that level of genius is Jordan.

Guess you never heard of some guy named Red Auerbach. IMHO Russell is the greatest champion ever, but not the greatest center or The GOAT. Sorry, he just isn't.

Kobe is not a purely athletic hoopster. He did win a dunk contest, but he never dominated his era the way young MJ did in the 80s (against inferior athletes, mind you). In the 80s, MJ was just significantly more athletic than the mean NBAer. I forget who said it, but some sports personality once said MJ was the only player who played basketball from the air instead of from the ground. I wasn't a huge MJ fan in my youth but there's such a big gap from MJ to Kobe it's not even worth debating.

 

[positivedoppler]

The guy has literally nobody on his team. One night of them shooting 48% and him 20% is not a clear indicator of the entire season. Sure, he probably is shooting too much, but its not like the team has 15 wins if he shot 10 fewer times per game.

Even at 36, Kobe is the best player on that team. That should tell you something about how little talent they have.

What does it mean to be the best player on the team? The guy who shots the most? The guy who dribbles the most? The guy who takes 30 shots a game missing 20 of them then call out the rest of the team for not playing hard enough? Fans are so obsessed with the concept of have a "superstar" or two on their team that teams are more than willing to provide them with their 20 points/night scorer in the hope of selling tickets and merchandise.

 

[positivedoppler]

Perhaps Field Goal percentage is not as important as time of position, a category Kobe is the runaway leader in.

 

[TwiceOver]

Much boring, such awful.

 

[manly]

Father Time is still undefeated as the Lakers remain in good position to keep a lottery pick in the next NBA draft.

 

[tynopik]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNE1Vju1ftM

 

[lupi]

karma


and shaq still was a better player at his position than you.

 

[manly]

karma


and shaq still was a better player at his position than you.

well that's certainly debatable. Shaq was a beast in the playoffs, no doubt.

But at their respective positions which is how you stated it, Shaq is probably the 4th best center in NBA history.
By most observers, Kobe is the 2nd best SG ever despite his flaws.