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What happens to Kobe's legacy if...
At 31 years old, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, in 14 seasons, has blossomed into one of the eight best players in the history of the NBA.
His career has been the epitome of "roller coaster ride:" winning the Slam Dunk Contest his rookie season; throwing up airballs in the playoffs against Utah in '98; his relationship with Shaquille O'Neal; winning three titles in a row from 2002-02; facing rape allegations in 2003 and watching his "Q" rating fall faster than Lindsay Lohan's after coach Phil Jackson took a sabbatical and Bryant "ushered" O'Neal out of L.A. supposedly.
But the shine has returned to Bryant's star the last three seasons, as he earned his first regular-season MVP award in 2008. He's also led the Lakers to three straight NBA Finals, something that hasn't been done since Bryant's Lakers accomplished it in 2000-02.
Bryant also won his fourth NBA title in 2009, answering a number of questions in the process: Could he win without Shaq? Could he lead a team to a ring?
But questions still remain for Bryant. Those could be answered in the next two weeks, as Bryant and his squad tangle for the 12th time in the Finals with the Boston Celtics, which hold a 9-2 advantage in the series.
What if the Lakers win their 16th title?
-Bryant will have earned his fifth ring, tying him with greats such as Magic Johnson and George Mikan. He would be just one behind Scottie Pippen, Bob Cousy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and some dude named Jordan.
-He will have brought L.A. within one title of Boston (17 to 16) for most all time. The Lakers would be in good position to pass the Celtics sooner than later, too.
-Phil Jackson, without a contract for next season, would return to Los Angeles.
-Bryant's record in the Finals will go to 5-2. Johnson's was 5-4.
-Bryant's next 30-point playoff game would give him 76, placing him second all time ahead of Abdul-Jabbar and behind Jordan.
-Bryant will supplant Tim Duncan as the seventh best player in League history.
-The "is he as good as Jordan" talk will (foolishly) continue.
What if Bryant isn't able to best the Celtics?
-Bryant will be 5-4 in the Finals, 1-2 as The Man. Comparisons with Peyton Manning will start.
-Bryant turns 32 in August. He won't have many more shots at championship glory - or at moving up the Greatest of All Time ladder.
-Jackson may retire if he thinks the door is closed on L.A.'s title chances.
-He will have never beaten his franchises greatest rival for anything substantial.
-The "is he as good as Jordan" talk will (finally) cease.
Has there ever been so much on the line for one athlete? You'd think that, at 14 years in, Bryant's place in history would be secure. But when you become apart of any "greatest ever" argument, questions are always abound.
From what I know about Kobe, all of things are on his mind and will remain on his mind until this series is over. Anybody would fold under that type of pressure. But Bryant isn't just anybody. He's playing the best playoff basketball of his career.
It's almost like a revenge tour. By sweeping Utah, and knocking the Jazz out of the postseason for the third season in a row, Bryant exorcised the demons left by those airballs he put up in the Delta Center in 1998.
By vanquishing Phoenix, Bryant finally bested the squad that knocked his Lakers out of the playoffs in 2006 and 2007 - the only two seasons a Jackson-led team failed to get passed the first round.
And by beating Boston, Kobe and his teammates will be able to (somewhat) erase the memory of a 39-point beatdown in the clincher in 2008.
I say it happens.
Lakers in 6.
His career has been the epitome of "roller coaster ride:" winning the Slam Dunk Contest his rookie season; throwing up airballs in the playoffs against Utah in '98; his relationship with Shaquille O'Neal; winning three titles in a row from 2002-02; facing rape allegations in 2003 and watching his "Q" rating fall faster than Lindsay Lohan's after coach Phil Jackson took a sabbatical and Bryant "ushered" O'Neal out of L.A. supposedly.
But the shine has returned to Bryant's star the last three seasons, as he earned his first regular-season MVP award in 2008. He's also led the Lakers to three straight NBA Finals, something that hasn't been done since Bryant's Lakers accomplished it in 2000-02.
Bryant also won his fourth NBA title in 2009, answering a number of questions in the process: Could he win without Shaq? Could he lead a team to a ring?
But questions still remain for Bryant. Those could be answered in the next two weeks, as Bryant and his squad tangle for the 12th time in the Finals with the Boston Celtics, which hold a 9-2 advantage in the series.
What if the Lakers win their 16th title?
-Bryant will have earned his fifth ring, tying him with greats such as Magic Johnson and George Mikan. He would be just one behind Scottie Pippen, Bob Cousy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and some dude named Jordan.
-He will have brought L.A. within one title of Boston (17 to 16) for most all time. The Lakers would be in good position to pass the Celtics sooner than later, too.
-Phil Jackson, without a contract for next season, would return to Los Angeles.
-Bryant's record in the Finals will go to 5-2. Johnson's was 5-4.
-Bryant's next 30-point playoff game would give him 76, placing him second all time ahead of Abdul-Jabbar and behind Jordan.
-Bryant will supplant Tim Duncan as the seventh best player in League history.
-The "is he as good as Jordan" talk will (foolishly) continue.
What if Bryant isn't able to best the Celtics?
-Bryant will be 5-4 in the Finals, 1-2 as The Man. Comparisons with Peyton Manning will start.
-Bryant turns 32 in August. He won't have many more shots at championship glory - or at moving up the Greatest of All Time ladder.
-Jackson may retire if he thinks the door is closed on L.A.'s title chances.
-He will have never beaten his franchises greatest rival for anything substantial.
-The "is he as good as Jordan" talk will (finally) cease.
Has there ever been so much on the line for one athlete? You'd think that, at 14 years in, Bryant's place in history would be secure. But when you become apart of any "greatest ever" argument, questions are always abound.
From what I know about Kobe, all of things are on his mind and will remain on his mind until this series is over. Anybody would fold under that type of pressure. But Bryant isn't just anybody. He's playing the best playoff basketball of his career.
It's almost like a revenge tour. By sweeping Utah, and knocking the Jazz out of the postseason for the third season in a row, Bryant exorcised the demons left by those airballs he put up in the Delta Center in 1998.
By vanquishing Phoenix, Bryant finally bested the squad that knocked his Lakers out of the playoffs in 2006 and 2007 - the only two seasons a Jackson-led team failed to get passed the first round.
And by beating Boston, Kobe and his teammates will be able to (somewhat) erase the memory of a 39-point beatdown in the clincher in 2008.
I say it happens.
Lakers in 6.
Labels: 2009-10 NBA, Boston Celtics, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Michael Jordan, NBA, NBA Playoffs, Phil Jackson
posted by Jason Carmel Davis at
2:49 PM
3 Comments:
I completely understand your line of reasoning, however I am fed up with the idea that your legacy as an individual is based almost solely on what your team accomplishes. If the Lakers win this year, it means that Kobe is better then he already is?
I don’t get it.
Obviously you have to take championships into account when you look back at somebody’s legacy or career, but your career is different from your skill. Sometimes, through no fault of your own, you are just not on the right team. John Elway lost 4 Super Bowls until winning two late in his career. Did those championships make him a better player? No, in fact, as an individual he was vastly superior in the years that he lost the championships.
Kobe’s legacy would improve with the championships, but I don’t get the logic that if he wins 6 he’s automatically better then Magic, if he wins 7 he’s automatically better then Jordan. That doesn’t make sense to me.
Kobe Bryant is not better then Michael Jordan, a fact shared almost unanimously by anyone with even a sliver of basketball knowledge. So outside of substantially improving his on court performance, to a level greater then Jordan achieved, how can he be considered a “better” player?
Everybody’s career is different, for instance, I’ve already come to the sad conclusion that my favorite player, Magic Johnson will most likely lose his Best Laker Ever status when Bryant retires. People who are obsessed with using rings as a benchmark will look at the overall numbers, however they will most likely not realize that Kobe has already played 100 more games then Magic did in his career and only has 4 rings, which would contradict their faulty logic anyway.
To summarize, I think there is far too much emphasis put on championships, plenty of inferior players have more rings then some of the greatest players of all time. We need to base the legacy of players based on what they do as individuals on the court. Obviously helping your team win a championship is a tremendous contribution, but it seems that some people use it as the sole factor of their analysis.
Actually, there's not a lot of inferior players with a lot of titles. Guys like Steve Kerr and Robert Horry may not be Hall of Famers, but their contributions to championship teams are well chronicled.
Sure, everybody's career is different, but in basketball, unlike baseball, where stats matter over everything else, great players are defined by their ability to lead teams to titles. Kobe has a lot to lose and gain in this series. Statistically, he could climb into the top 3 in playoff points. Sure, I know the format has changed in the last decade (best of 7 instead of the BETTER best of 5 in the first round), but he still has had to go out and produce.
I know Kobe isn't better than Jordan. In my opinion, there's no way he can crack my all-time top 5 (Jordan, Russell, Magic, Bird, Kareem). I think he has 2-3 years left of being one of the three best players in the league. At that time, he'll have completed his 17th season, which is 5 more than Magic played. He'll have 5 or 6 titles, but he'll also have a year where a team he led missed the playoffs, two first round exits, the Shaq riff, etc. I know Magic, and Michael, got coaches fired, but they never missed the postseason, and didn't take games off in the playoffs like Kobe has.
Bryant's continued success, however, would bring a lot to some interesting hoops conversations, though.
I agree with most of your reasoning but I still feel there are plenty of players whose stats do not match their rings.
K.C Jones might have been a great defender, but he's in the Hall of Fame because he won 8 rings, which is more then his career scoring average. There won't be another NBA Hall of Famer to average 7.4ppg EVER again.
Tom Sanders, also with 8 rings, comes in at 9.4ppg
Jim Loscutoff,8 Rings, 6ppg
Don Nelson won 5 rings as a player and didn't even start.
Slater Martin, 5 rings, 9ppg
Larry Siegfried, 5 rings, 10.8ppg
I realize all of these players played in a different era and were role players for dynasty teams.
But most are in the Hall of Fame for no other reason then they won a bunch of rings. I'm just pointing out that there are indeed players with inferior stats who have multiple rings.
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