The Achilles Heel of Bryant
Few sports stars stir up the emotions within like Kobe Bryant. The once well-liked and esteemed Laker has tumbled off the path of public adulation, and with good case (see: sexual assault charges, Shaq and Kobe feud, ’05 NBA season). What makes Kobe Bryant so loved by the devoted and hated by so many? And, could it be the same quality that makes him both the World’s best and worst athlete ever?
Kobe Bryant dominates players, so much in fact, that other NBA stars base their reputations on being able to slow him down (Ruben Patterson, Bruce Bowen). But, Kobe Bryant does not dominate teams. Even when the man scores 81 points (81!), the Lakers have trouble overcoming a horrible and inexperienced Raptor team. And Kobe couldn’t close out the Suns in the 2006 NBA Playoffs. Despite the taller Lakers out-weighing a small, Amare-less Phoenix team, and in spite of Phil Jackson’s (the NBA all-time winningest coach) Kobe could not get his team past the FIRST round of the Playoffs. That, to me, is incredible. It is incredible because Kobe Bryant, in the strictest terms possible, is the best athlete in the NBA. The range of skills he possesses (defense, penetration, fade-away jump shots, runners, etc, etc, etc) is daunting. He’s fast. He’s strong. He can jump incredibly high. Everything that should make the World’s greatest athlete is present in Kobe Bryant. But it is wasted.
If the NBA Finals were decided by a one-on-one contest, the Lakers would win more championships than they already have. Nobody, in my opinion, could beat Kobe Bryant at this individual game, with the exception of a heyday . In fact, Kobe’s sense of competition is paralleled only by that of His Airness.
Comments
truth
(Guest)
(Guest)
12/13/2009
People always say Jordan had a terrible team. This is so far from the truth. Rodman a great defender and the NBA's best rebounder ever, Kerr one of the best shooters the NBA has ever seen, along with Paxson, Pippen one of the best small forwards to ever play the game excpecially on D-fense, Ron Harper an athletic and prolific scorer who played great d-fense, Kukoc a very versatile forward who could handle the ball at 6'10", and good role playing centers who did not clog the lane for Jordan and hit open ten foot jumpers and guarded the basket on D-fense (Wennington, Longley 7'4", Cartwright, King).
real100
(Guest)
(Guest)
12/13/2009
I am old enough to have seen Jordan's career and Kobe's career and the same was said about Jordan early in his career. That he ballhogs, that he was a terrible teamate. That he shot the ball to much. That he could not lead all these hall of fame players to a championship (Pippen, Rodman, Kerr, Grant, Harper). Soon as he won those championships he was the goat.
JT9
(Guest)
(Guest)
12/04/2009
No one will take MJ's title of the GOAT. If someone comes close to Jordan's stats, accolades and ships; I hope to be able to see that. Back when Kobe entered the league the guy was an 18 year old high school superstar that showed flashes of outstanding basketball for his age; and once he got with the Zen Master and Shaq the whole team was just flat out balling; the team had a lot of good characters.
Shaq was the "man" no questions asked but what people don't realize and the main reason they love to hate on Kobe is that Kobe was the best perimeter player in the league during the 3 peat. After the 3rd ship the ego bomb went off.
But before all this happened Shaq was acting like a kid because he will come in at the start of the season overweight and out of shape (specially after the 2nd title) by the time the 4th opportunity of a ship showed up Shaq barely could play 2 good games back to back (during the reg season) and in the finals he was running out of gas and Shaq knew that but
fgahafdhrhre
(Guest)
(Guest)
11/30/2009
it's true kobe is a ballhog and is nowhere near jordan. he can't lead a crap team to 50 wins but pau gasol can. lebron lead the cavs to the finals by himself. kobe can't. plus lebron averages 8apg.
whatttttt
(Guest)
(Guest)
10/07/2009
u have no idea about sports%2C THE LAKERS HAD KWAME BROWN IN THE STARTING LINEUP%2C r u serious. enough said
reginald
(Guest)
(Guest)
07/15/2009
kobe bryant is simply the best player in the nba bar none so stop hating and give him his props
g
(Guest)
(Guest)
06/12/2009
Horrible article in both subject matter and delivery.
L A Fan
(Guest)
(Guest)
05/30/2009
What Kobe did not have the best team in 05 name one other player in the Lakers that you remember...name one other player that step up when he had to score 81...come on you are a horrible writer....talking about his Achilles heels but in the article you say he is unstoppable.
B I N G O
(Guest)
(Guest)
05/29/2009
G.R. is the worst writer ever.
wh1t3FoX24
(Guest)
(Guest)
05/26/2009
you suck ass if you think kobe sucks. he is the second best player (MJ is first) in the history of Nba basketball.
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