Top 5? Really? Have we really lost our minds, or do we just not know enough?
Ok. New poll. Been having this conversation since last week about if Kobe is one of the top 5 greatest players of all time or not.
My personal opinion is no.
There are way more than 10 players who were better than Kobe. This is not just the opinion I have but is also shared by the NBA who did not name Kobe in the 50 greatest players of all time (that’s right – 50). It’s also shared by long time Basketball Publication SLAM magazine who voted him as number 12. One of the people i’ve been discussing this with said to me today “anyone who knows anything about Basketball knows Kobe is in the top 5 of all time” – I couldn’t understand this logic since the NBA and Slam are of the same opinion as me? (!)
So I figured I’d throw it over to KB.
Lets start with the records. My man says Kobe has been “smashing records” since he joined the league. Agreed, except all the records he gets Lebron comes along after and takes them from him:
Youngest player to reach
· 1,000 Points - LeBron James
· 5,000 Points - LeBron James
· 10,000 Points - LeBron James
· 15,000 Points - LeBron James
· 20,000 Points - Kobe Bryant
· 25,000 Points - Kobe Bryant
· 30,000 Points - Wilt Chamberlain
In fact the only Records Kobe holds (other than the two above, which lebron will take) exclusively is Youngest Player to start a game and Youngest Slam Dunk Champion. And let’s face it he didn’t do anything we hadn’t seen before. Both of these records will remain his because of the no straight from high school business. I am blown away (Sarcasm - but if you want to check the list yourself check this NBA RECORDS) .
The crazy thing is, Slam Magazine doesn’t even rate Kobe as the best Active Basketball player? So how we gonna say he’s top five of all time?
Now I know some of you young gunners have probably never heard of the players I’m about to list, so open your minds and read the piece before you vote. And contrary to what other people will tell you (!) there is footage of these guys on the you tube and in Omars attic on the VCR's and even in my house on DVD's. I’ve decided to list the people who I think are better than Kobe, and are the reasons why I have my opinion – in no particular order.
Check it out.
P.S – 75% of the world thinks Mike is number one so we ain’t even gonna mention him. If you disagree, what you even doing on my team?
Wilt Chamberlain - 50 PPG average for a season
For Wilt Chamberlain, the ’72-73 season was the end. It didn’t seem that way. Sure, the 36-year-old Chamberlain averaged a career-low 13.2 points per game. But he shot over 70 percent from the floor—a record that still stands—and he led the League in rebounding for the 11th time. Wilt entered the League as the Basketball Colossus and stomped the record books flat. In his very first game, he posted 43 points and 28 rebounds. He went on to win both the Rookie of the Year and the MVP. In ’61-62, he scored 100 points in a game, averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds, and played all but eight minutes of the season. He only won two NBA titles, spurned again and again by Bill Russell’s Celtics. But his personal numbers stood up. They always did. Chamberlain’s last-ever NBA game came against the Knicks, in Game 5 of the 1973 NBA Finals. He scored 23 points and pulled down 21 boards. His team lost.
Bill Russell - 11 rings
I can’t prove that Bill Russell is into arithmetic, but I have a hunch he must love numbers. Russell’s gotta appreciate the number 1—that’s where he falls on the all-time list of chips won (11). He likes 2 also, collecting the second-most rebounds of all time (21,620). If he wasn’t into the digit 3, he’d better like it now, because that’s where we have him on this list. Four is special to Russ, too, it being the number of times he led the L in rpg (22.5 for his career). Five is near and dear—it’s the number of times he hauled in the MVP hardware, though he easily could have had a few more. And 6, well, 6 is the number that the Celtics retired along with him, after soaking it with sweat, tears and champagne over a 13-season career, while making the Celts into the storied franchise that they are. By being the greatest winner of all time, Bill Russell made the Celtics into a franchise of winners—long after his playing days ended. If you don’t believe me, just ask Kevin Garnett
Shaq - The reason Kobe has more than 2 rings
A legend in his own time. A juggernaut. A true difference-maker if ever there was one. Made everybody he played with better. Shaquille O’Neal is a star amongst stars and has been one of the focal points of the League for his entire 17-year career. His stats are monstrous. For reference sake, here are a couple: Playoff averages of 25 and 12, 15 All-Star Game appearances, tied with Chamberlain for the most times leading the League in field goal percentage (9), won two scoring titles, ’93 Rookie of the Year, 2000 MVP, three Finals MVPs and four rings. Could have had more if not for the Kobe battles, but still, four rings is nothing to laugh at. At his peak he was a physical marvel, 7-1 and 330-plus yet agile and quick. An underrated shot-blocker. Arguably the best post scorer ever. Even now, he still routinely pushes around other big men with a physicality rivaled by only a few players in the history of the game. He made you laugh. Made Kings fans cry. He calls himself the LCL (Last Center Left). I believe him
Oscar Robertson - Averaged a triple double over 80 games
Big O was the only player ever to average a triple double for a season: 30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg and 11.4 apg in ’61-62, his second year in the League. Read it and weep. He averaged 25.7 for his 14-year career, once led his team in boards from the backcourt and dished out the fourth-most assists ever, playing in an era when they were less often credited than today. And he had the undying respect of his peers. “Oscar would beat you anytime he had the ball in his hands at the end of a game,” says Elvin Hayes. “He was a complete player.”—
Magic - Check the video
He wasn’t a very good shooter, nor was he particularly athletic by NBA standards. And if you’re only old enough to know him as the husky guy on TV who hawks rebate anticipation loans for predatory lending firms, you’ll be excused for not understanding what made him so wonderful to watch in his prime: No player in the history of the game better combined court vision, creativity, competitiveness and sheer joy. This dude now, I don’t even know who he is. Twenty-five years ago, he was everything basketball is supposed to be.
Larry - Played with a bad back and still got called Larry Legend
Larry Bird collected every accolade the NBA offered. At 6-9, 220, and long-armed, Bird had the body for ball and he was blessed with a natural command for it, if not abundant athleticism. Physical limits didn’t stop “Larry Legend.” You don’t average 24.3 ppg and 10 rpg without athleticism, but Larry did. You don’t average 6.3 apg and 1.7 spg as a forward, but Larry did. You don’t win three rings and last 13 seasons in the L with a bad back, but somehow Larry did. More than anything else he did, he always found ways to overcome, to compete, to win and to repeat
Jerry West - is the NBA logo
Jerry West honed his skills in solitude, emerging from Cabin Creek, WV, to lead West Virginia University to the NCAA title game in 1960. West was rawboned, long armed and springy. His jump shot, especially off the dribble, was warm pie. West’s reticent aloneness both fueled and haunted him. His Lakers lost in the Finals his first six seasons, and each heartbreak added kindling to his astonishing drive to win. After more than a decade in the League, West’s ’71-72 Lakers won 33 consecutive games—still the record—and the NBA Championship. West chipped in 25.8 points and 9.7 assists on perhaps the greatest team ever. Modest yet self-assured, West was also the best clutch shooter the game has seen. He averaged a remarkable 27 ppg over 14 years, but upped that to 29 in 153 Playoff games—all before the three-point line. West was named an All-Star every year, First Team All-NBA 10 times. Here are two measures of the respect given Jerry West: He is the only Finals MVP not on the championship team. His image is the NBA’s logo
Elgin Baylor - The reason the NBA is like it is
Do you believe in basketball evolution? You should, you know. Because the NBA wasn’t always like this. And I’m not just talking about recent developments like three-pointers and Thundersticks. The fundamentals of the game have changed. They’re still changing. They’ve always been changing. But if you know anything at all about evolution, you know it isn’t just about small steps. Because that’s not how you get from Ralph Kaplowitz set shots to LeBron James dunks in a mere 60 years. Somewhere along the line, someone has to leap. And Elgin Baylor took the biggest leap of them all. Understand this, if you understand nothing else: Without Elgin Baylor, there is no Michael Jordan, no Kobe Bryant, no LeBron James. Elgin took a ground-bound game skyward, transformed the entire sport. True, he never won an NBA championship, despite playing in eight NBA Finals. But his 61-point outburst in 1962 remains an NBA Finals record. His 19.8 rpg average in ’61 is unsurpassed by any other non-center. Everyone since has just built on the foundation he laid
Bob Pettit - Thats how you win a game
At 6-9 and only 215 pounds, Bob Pettit was under-undersized. But after being cut from his high school team as a freshman and as a sophomore, Pettit went on to star at his hometown Louisiana State and then play 11 seasons in the NBA and total over 20,000 points and 12,000 rebounds. Pettit played his entire career for the Hawks, though at the time the team was based in Milwaukee, then St. Louis. As a rookie, BP averaged 20.4 ppg with 13.8 boards and won the Rookie of the Year award. His coach, Red Holzman, noted, “We didn’t ever hope that anybody could be that good.” His second year, Pettit averaged 25.7 and 16.2. In 1958, Pettit lead the Hawks to the NBA Finals against Bill Russell and the Celtics. The Hawks won the chip—the franchise hasn’t won another since—with Pettit going for 50 points in the decisive Game 6
Here’s some youtube videos of why these guys were so exciting to watch:
But the real reason I think Kobe can't be considered top 5? These guys above changed the game. Brought something new. Kobe? He just wants to be like Mike. His whole game, his defense, every offensive move.
The thing I like about Kobe? His willingness to win... except he doesn't want to win.. he just wants to do what Mike did..
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