FanPost

Kobe Bryant Underrated?

When describing the affluent basketball personality that is Kobe Bryant, a litany of adjectives come to mind: selfish, ball hog, overpaid, old, bad teammate. Underrated seems like it doesn't even belong in the same sentence as Kobe Bryant. Unfortunately, as age and attrition have caught up with Kobe, his reputation as an all time great has taken quite the toll. In light of recent contract signings by other veterans such as Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki, in which they've decided to sacrifice millions of dollars in order to build a contender for their franchise, Kobe Bryant has been the scapegoat of the Lakers' recent shortcomings. Next year Kobe Bryant will make roughly 25 million dollars in NBA salary alone, much more than Duncan's 5.2 million and Nowitzki's 8.3 million. After 2 seasons in which he's missed a combine 120 games and has shot below 40% from the field, his enormous salary certainly seems unwarranted and seems to contribute to the Lakers' fall from grace. On the surface, Kobe's inability to do what's right for his team in his twilight years has led to his status as an all time great to diminish in the eyes of the media and the general public. Most have already placed Duncan ahead of Kobe as the best of their generation, and this has been undeservedly so.

First and foremost, Kobe Bryant's salary gets blown out of proportion in terms of how much negative impact it has had on his team. The Lakers have never been a franchise unwilling to empty out their pockets, and they failed to get a star player this off season despite having more than enough cap space for a max contract. Thus, money shouldn't be an issue. Kobe's personality as an egocentric curmudgeon also shouldn't impair his status as an all time great. This is because Michael Jordan, universally recognized as the G.O.A.T received little to no backlash from the public for his somewhat disrespectful persona. Kobe Bryant should be held to that same standard and have his on court excellence be taken into account more. Thus dispelling the notion that Kobe Bryant's hefty salary and undesirable persona should penalize his status as an all time great in any way.

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Over the past few years, after the devastating achilles injury suffered at the end of the 2012- 2013 season, Kobe Bryant's stats have been rather mediocre over these past two season. He registered a measly PER of 17.6 this past season, which according to ESPN, was surpassed by 74 other NBA players. This recent decrease in stats contributes to the ongoing damage that Kobe's prestige as a top 10 player of all time has taken. However, the numbers which he has put up in the last 44 games should not tarnish the legacy he established with the first 17 seasons and 1236 games of his career. Lest we forget, it was only 2 years ago at age 34 in his 17th season, that Kobe Bryant was putting up MVP like numbers by averaging over 27, 6, and 5. According to Basketball Reference , Kobe Bryant is the only player aged 32 or older to average such numbers over the course of a single season. On account of recent injuries, people forget about Kobe Bryant's remarkable durability and the unprecedented consistency in which he's put up superstar number year after year after year. Very few NBA players could ever say they put up such a consistent stretch of efficient, high quality numbers that late into their careers, even the all time greats. Larry Bird suffered injuries, Magic unfortunately had his HIV setback, Shaq regressed and became a journeyman late in his career, while the G.O.A. T Michael Jordan went on far too many hiatuses and really had 13 seasons of high level basketball. Even the great Tim Duncan whose been the cornerstone for durability and consistency hasn't his career averages of 19 points and 11 rebounds for 7 seasons. Therefore, Kobe Bryant's ability to play at a prime level for such a long time should not be taken for granted.

Something else that has always been overlooked when examining Kobe Bryant's legacy is the adversity he faced. This notion probably sounds absurd to most people as it seems like nearly every opportunity to succeed was given to Kobe on a silver platter. After all, he came into the league with no pressure and had a resident superstar by his side in Shaq.

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In truth, the situation which he was put in made it more and more difficult for Kobe to showcase the undeniable greatness he possessed. By being picked 13th overall in the draft, Kobe wasn't given a chance to start right away and had to toil away on the bench for the first few seasons of his career. If he had been given the immediate minutes that most high-caliber players receive upon entering the league, his career numbers would be significantly bolstered. Being alongside Shaq , placed him in the unenviable position of being a sidekick even though he was so much more than that. Unfortunately, the perception among the general public will always be that Shaq carried Kobe to those undermining the spectacular play of Kobe Bryant during that time. Incredible seasons such as 2002- 2003 in which Kobe averaged 30, 6, and 7 often get overlooked because he wasn't seen as the focal point of those Lakers teams. When Shaq left following his feud with Kobe, the Lakers were finally Kobe's teams.

Unfortunately, although he put up historic numbers and won scoring titles in the succeeding seasons, Kobe had little to no talent around him and still made the playoffs on a consistent basis. He took a team with Smush Parker, Luke Walton, and Kwame Brown in the starting lineup, notable NBA laughingstocks, to 45 wins and a near 1st round upset over Steve Nash's Suns. Contrary to popular belief, Kobe Bryant does make his teams better. What might be the greatest knock on Kobe's legacy was that he supposedly did not pass the ball. This is just utterly false. His all around game is severely underrated as people tend to forget that Kobe Bryant started the 30,000 points, 6,000 assists, 6,000 rebounds club. His career average is around 5 assists a game, perfectly respectable for a shooting guard. After all, Michael Jordan only averaged 5.3 assists a game for his career. Finally, Kobe Bryant has repeatedly deal with management issues. From the tumultuous coaching change of Mike Brown and Mike D'Antoni to Jim Buss' inability to draw talent. It's reasonable to surmise that had Kobe Bryant's situation been a bit different, maybe if he had been apart of a model franchise such as the Spurs, then the comparisons to Michael Jordan wouldn't sound as crazy after all.