Kobe Discussion: shark swimming / #prayforthesharks (664)

Doc Brown wrote:^^^^ Henry Abbott doesn't approve of that stat.

The Original 81 wrote:

Doc Brown wrote:^^^^ Henry Abbott doesn't approve of that stat.

He's probably sitting at his desk formulating a rebuttal as we speak.

intuitivelOve wrote:

The Original 81 wrote:

LakerLegacy24 wrote:

The Original 81 wrote:So I've been checking Operation Sports for some updates on NBA 2K13, and I came across a thread featuring a video made by someone comparing Kobe and MJ using NBA 2K12 footage. And man, I've never seen so many people totally clueless about the game of basketball. I'm gonna assume that most of them are kids who have been brainwashed into putting MJ on a pedastal that no other player in history could climb to.

Exactly. So many people will never ever give up MJ's title and they just hate Kobe so much because they know he is so close to Mike. What also bugs the crap out of me is when young people try to argue MJ over Kobe and i'm like you've never even seen Mike play except on Space Jam or when he was a wizard so they have no arguement. lol

I wasn't even arguing that Kobe is better, I was simply stating that the two can be compared! That's all I was trying to say and they acted like I attacked their religions.

Jr Swag with Papa Jellybean :-)
My sis sent me this pic.. Thought you might get a kick out of it.

CaCHooKa Man wrote:

lakerswiz wrote:They just called him the player of the century...that's a rank to me.

#1.

lakerswiz wrote:Eh. All-time? He never played against Kareem, Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, etc. Hard to judge that.

Player of the Century is good enough for me. He's at the top of the list for the players that he was up against. I can't ask for more than that.

With that said, I am okay with Kobe being #1 since 2000. And I'm okay with Jordan being #1 during the 1990's. And so on for each decade and each #1 guy from the era.

Comparing them and coming away with a clear cut choice? Unlikely and IMO impossible.

Basketball Fan wrote:Kobe will appear on Ellen September 28th

Basketball Fan wrote:Kobe will appear on Ellen September 28th

intuitivelOve wrote:

Basketball Fan wrote:Kobe will appear on Ellen September 28th

Thanks for the info!!! So excited about this!!!

Doc Brown wrote:

intuitivelOve wrote:

Basketball Fan wrote:Kobe will appear on Ellen September 28th

Thanks for the info!!! So excited about this!!!

Fingers crossed Vanessa is on there with him.

lakerswiz wrote:

MadMax wrote:

Basketball Fan wrote:Kobe will appear on Ellen September 28th

Never watched Ellen, but I want to see any show which Kobe appears.

Ellen is actually kind of amazing.

1. KOBE BRYANT

No one went through more transformations in one career. No one logged more SportsCenter time, been the instigator of more Internet forum threads or managed to fight and beat Father Time more often. No one dealt with as much drama away from the floor – self-inflicted or not – as Kobe Bryant. He is a survivor, and you can make the case his 16-year career is more impressive than winning six championships or grabbing five NBA MVP awards.

When Kobe and Shaquille O’Neal put aside their petty differences and won championships, we Bryant figured was an uber-sidekick who was literally unafraid of the moment. When the Laker dynasty went up in smoke, and people accused Kobe of forcing O’Neal out, we figured he was a callous gunner who wanted to win, but only under his own terms. He wanted to be the hero, but not quite as much as he didn’t want anyone else to be the hero. When the Lakers swindled Pau Gasol from Memphis, and started winning rings again, we figured Kobe was the best player in the world, a calculating basketball assassin who knew exactly how to take out his enemies. Now that Bryant’s legs are beginning to fail him, and younger cats are pulling on his cape, some think we have Kobe figured out again: as a relic of a lost era, the final link between the modern age of basketball and the forgotten glory days of the ‘80s and ‘90s. We figure he’s a hardened warrior getting up from the canvas for one more round, one more bout with destiny. But if we learned anything about Kobe Bryant over the past 16 years, it’s that we should never count him out.

Bryant is moving into a new chapter in his career. Only the staunchest and most ridiculous Stans will still include him in the discussion for the best player in the league. The Mamba can be that at times, perhaps for a quarter or even a night. But over the course of an entire series, an entire playoff run, he can’t do it any longer. The stats don’t lie. The Lakers have bowed out meekly in the Western Conference Semifinals in two straight seasons. In 2011, Bryant had the worst playoff run of his career, averaging a quiet 22.8 points against a rag-tag group of defenders (DeShawn Stevenson, a calcifying Shawn Marion, Marco Belinelli and old buddy, Trevor Ariza) that he would’ve turned into four-course meals just a few years before.

Then this past spring, Oklahoma City suffocated the Lakers, and Bryant shot under 40 percent in the series’ first three games.

Yet none of that should take away from what he’s done. There are 29,484 reasons why he’s still far and away the most popular player overseas. Remember the 2008 Olympics in Beijing? One night, the Redeem Team all went to support the women’s National Team, filing into their seats before the game even began. Kobe? He came in after play began, and caused an uproar that would make President Obama proud. Overlooking that only Kobe would milk a moment like that, it was telling. LeBron didn’t get that love. Neither did Carmelo Anthony or Dwight Howard. In this summer’s 2012 Olympics, after the U.S.A. criminally assaulted Tunisia in a 110-63 massacre, an opposing player jogged over to Bryant after the game, handed over his sneaker and asked for an autograph.

Worldwide love like that comes easy when you have five NBA championships, 14 All-Star Games, 10 All-NBA First Teams and 9 All-Defensive First Teams. Kobe might not be Mike, but he’s pretty damn good.

In 2011, Bryant had the worst playoff run of his career, averaging a quiet 22.8 points against a rag-tag group of defenders (DeShawn Stevenson, a calcifying Shawn Marion, Marco Belinelli and old buddy, Trevor Ariza) that he would’ve turned into four-course meals just a few years before.

Then this past spring, Oklahoma City suffocated the Lakers, and Bryant shot under 40 percent in the series’ first three games.

Doc Brown wrote:Jacks3 returns....

Jazzygirl205 wrote:It's like sawing off a leg to give Kobe full credit and compliments gotta shade him some way somewhere.

Doc Brown wrote:Jacks3 returns....

TIME wrote:

Doc Brown wrote:Jacks3 returns....

Good call. Do you have some kind of advanced hyper developed troll radar?