Professor Emeritus: "Kobe was never clearly the best in any season of his career"

[Marc Spector]

i can see how its up for debate and i voted no but after reminiscing..,,

06 and 10 kobe was the best player in the league. The scoring run was nothing we had seen since Jordan and capping off a b2b title run as the leader of his team made him undeniable imo.

and im 37 so i was there

 

[Heavy_Handz]

Dudes was saying Kobe only had a 3-4 year run from 05-08 totally forgetting about when he won back to back titles 08-09 & 09-10 where he balled out and scored nearly 30 a game during those playoff runs Just because the consensus was that LeBron was the new GOAT in the league it was Kobe winning titles in back to back years playing like a GOAT.

 

[Braman]

He ain’t wrong. And it ain’t rocket science.

1- He was never better than Shaq when together. Ever. Shaq’s final season in LA was 03-04. At BEST you can say it as a tie that final year. But that argument got deaded in the finals. More on that in a sec

2- 04-05. Shaq ‘only’ averaged 22 and 10 in miami but was 2nd in mvp voting. Again, debatable for Kobe but not definitive.

And then we get to that kid from Akron

3- By year two, TWO, Bron was giving you 27-7-7 on 47/35 shooting splits on a 40 win team. Kobe was giving you 27-6-6 on 43/33 splits on a 34 win team.

By year THREE, Bron averaged a career high 31ppg, plus 7 and 7, for a 52 win team. Kobe had his 81 point season where he was going ham…But then blows a 3-1 lead and quits mid game. All facts

Bron meanwhile at age 21 takes a vet pistons team to 7 and averages 26/9/6 on 44/27 splits. Now back to those 03-04 finals. 25 year old Kobe vs that same pistons team 22/4/3 on 38/17 splits

So, yea. RIP Kobe but he benefits from fandom and emotion more than any player in any sport. In actuality the statement is correct: he was NEVER the definitive best player, and very rarely did he even have a case

 

[NYC Rebel]

Dudes was saying Kobe only had a 3-4 year run from 05-08 totally forgetting about when he won back to back titles 08-09 & 09-10 where he balled out and scored nearly 30 a game during those playoff runs Just because the consensus was that LeBron was the new GOAT in the league it was Kobe winning titles in back to back years playing like a GOAT.

He wasnt the clear cut best player in the league during that run. Not sure how citing the ships turned into that.

 

[Dwight Howard]

He ain’t wrong. And it ain’t rocket science.

1- He was never better than Shaq when together. Ever. Shaq’s final season in LA was 03-04. At BEST you can say it as a tie that final year. But that argument got deaded in the finals. More on that in a sec

2- 04-05. Shaq ‘only’ averaged 22 and 10 in miami but was 2nd in mvp voting. Again, debatable for Kobe but not definitive.

And then we get to that kid from Akron

3- By year two, TWO, Bron was giving you 27-7-7 on 47/35 shooting splits on a 40 win team. Kobe was giving you 27-6-6 on 43/33 splits on a 34 win team.

By year THREE, Bron averaged a career high 31ppg, plus 7 and 7, for a 52 win team. Kobe had his 81 point season where he was going ham…But then blows a 3-1 lead and quits mid game. All facts

Bron meanwhile at age 21 takes a vet pistons team to 7 and averages 26/9/6 on 44/27 splits. Now back to those 03-04 finals. 25 year old Kobe vs that same pistons team 22/4/3 on 38/17 splits

So, yea. RIP Kobe but he benefits from fandom and emotion more than any player in any sport. In actuality the statement is correct: he was NEVER the definitive best player, and very rarely did he even have a case

Shut up. Shaq had passed up Shaq in 04-05, anything else is a lie. I don't even know why you mentioned Lebron any year before 2009 because before then Kobe was still seen as the best player in the league easily

 

[NYC Rebel]

Shut up. Shaq had passed up Shaq in 04-05, anything else is a lie. I don't even know why you mentioned Lebron any year before 2009 because before then Kobe was still seen as the best player in the league easily

No he wasn’t.

 

[murksiderock]

Dudes in here openly lying or, just as likely, are unable to separate Kobe fandom from the actual work and/or are misremembering the time...

Anybody saying they don't remember Duncan being in the conversation in 2006, right after he'd won his 3rd ring and in the middle of a 3-in-5 stretch, are openly lying, or just weren't objectively paying attention. Duncan was never not in the conversation, but we also know that Kobe was always more popular than Duncan. He played on the perimeter, was flashier, talked more and was louder, had the Like Mike thing going on. The funny thing is in real time there were Kobe/Duncan conversations and people acknowledged that Duncan's greatness was understated because of his play style and his "boring" team, but years later nikkas completely omitting Duncan from the conversation ...

'06 scoring run elevated Kobe within our consciousness but he was never "clearly" the best player in basketball...

The best player in basketball doesn't lose a 3-1 series lead, it doesn't happen...

'06 Dirk was in the conversation, and again while I don't think he was ever better than Kobe at this stage of his career, yall are blatantly misremembering the real time conversations or outright fabricating. Dirk for a 3-year stretch (05-07), the same stretch yall saying was straight Kobe, Dirk was a Top 3 player giving you 26 and 9 on 60-win teams, people were talking about this in real time. My personal opinion is he wasnt better than Kobe, but the OP's premise is when was Kobe "clearly" the best player alive, and the answer is never...

The 3 best players in basketball in the mid-00s were Duncan, Kobe, Dirk. After Wade's '06 Finals people put him in the conversation but he wasn't really there...

@Codeine Bryant I don't know how old you are or how long you been following ball but I remember Dirk's breakout stretch. He'd been an elite player going back to like 2000 but the middle of the decade he was steering one of the best teams in basketball with absolute dominant play and people were saying he was playing at a level of a best in the world guy. I remember the playoff runs and going into the '06 Finals nobody thought Wade was a better player than Dirk, that was supposed to be his coronation...

This the same year as Kobe's scoring blitz, the 2005-07 stretch dominating the same era Kobe was...

Duncan was still dominating...

Yall nikkas not getting away with this open lying. There was never a "clear" Kobe year...

 

[FlyRy]

Why would we bring up smush Parker in a year that he wasn’t even on the team when we missed the playoffs dumbass?

Stick to being a film geek

You've been bringing him up for 11 years. You have 3 pages of posts mentioning smush name

Kobe tards are mentally ill claiming he was the best player alive in years he missed the playoffs.

Bron took worst teams further

The juelzing is too funny

Kobe 2006

starting lineup was

Smush Parker
Kobe
Luke Walton
Odom
Kwame



he was one rebound away from one of the biggest upsets in history.

Smush Parker, Luke Walton, Odom and Kwame Brown. Scust.

Kobe's starting 5 in 2006 was

Smush Parker
Kobe
Devean George
Lamar Crackhead Odom
KWA-MAY BROWN(sas voice)

Meanwhile Russ has PG, Steven Adams and Melo's corpse.

Kobe had crackhead Odom and Smush Parker. He never even had close to an all star on his team. Negged

Wes is legit the woat Laker since Smush Parker

 

[CantStop]

You've been bringing him up for 11 years. You have 3 pages of posts mentioning smush name

Kobe tards are mentally ill claiming he was the best player alive in years he missed the playoffs.

Bron took worst teams further

The juelzing is too funny

Read what I wrote. Are you illiterate?

 

[Red Money]

I hated Kobe when he played and even I can admit that nikka had a stretch of 4-5 years where he not only looked like the best player in the league…maybe the best player I’ve ever seen.

Too bad SOHH ain't around for that real-time perspective look-back.

SOHH created the term Psycho Bean. The culture was saying Kobe The God by 2007. Phil Jackson said Kobe better from range and making difficult shots compared to Jordan.


People forget Curry Range was Kobe Range before Steph Curry elevated himself 2014. And Kobe was pulling up for fast break 3's as well.





I Still watch the highlights video that I think someone shared/posted on SOHH from time to time:

 

[RedBull]

Kobe wasn’t considered the best but this happened. Doesn’t get any clearer than this.




Literally forming Voltron to stop someone who was never the best is wild. Happened to no one else in the history of the game, but Kobe. Disrespectful. Voltron’s weren’t formed to stop Bron, Wade, or Duncan. Why? Also, Lebron and Wade outplayed Kobe on the Olympic team, why? Because Kobe sacrificed his game for the sake of defense and pumping courage into those cowardly lions, sans Wade.

 

[10bandz]

Too bad SOHH ain't around for that real-time perspective look-back.

SOHH created the term Psycho Bean. The culture was saying Kobe The God by 2007. Phil Jackson said Kobe better from range and making difficult shots compared to Jordan.


People forget Curry Range was Kobe Range before Steph Curry elevated himself 2014. And Kobe was pulling up for fast break 3's as well.





I Still watch the highlights video that I think someone shared/posted on SOHH from time to time:

Kobe wasn’t considered the best but this happened. Doesn’t get any clearer than this.




Literally forming Voltron to stop someone who was never the best is wild. Happened to no one else in the history of the game, but Kobe. Disrespectful. Voltron’s weren’t formed to stop Bron, Wade, or Duncan. Why? Also, Lebron and Wade outplayed Kobe on the Olympic team, why? Because Kobe sacrificed his game for the sake of defense and pumping courage into those cowardly lions, sans Wade.

No point in talking about Kobe with these dumbass in the house ass nikkas.

 

[darryl]

He ain’t wrong. And it ain’t rocket science.

1- He was never better than Shaq when together. Ever. Shaq’s final season in LA was 03-04. At BEST you can say it as a tie that final year. But that argument got deaded in the finals. More on that in a sec

2- 04-05. Shaq ‘only’ averaged 22 and 10 in miami but was 2nd in mvp voting. Again, debatable for Kobe but not definitive.

And then we get to that kid from Akron

3- By year two, TWO, Bron was giving you 27-7-7 on 47/35 shooting splits on a 40 win team. Kobe was giving you 27-6-6 on 43/33 splits on a 34 win team.

By year THREE, Bron averaged a career high 31ppg, plus 7 and 7, for a 52 win team. Kobe had his 81 point season where he was going ham…But then blows a 3-1 lead and quits mid game. All facts

Bron meanwhile at age 21 takes a vet pistons team to 7 and averages 26/9/6 on 44/27 splits. Now back to those 03-04 finals. 25 year old Kobe vs that same pistons team 22/4/3 on 38/17 splits

So, yea. RIP Kobe but he benefits from fandom and emotion more than any player in any sport. In actuality the statement is correct: he was NEVER the definitive best player, and very rarely did he even have a case

I expect there not to be a whole lot of responses to this.. he shut yall down

 

[FlyRy]

Kobe wasn’t considered the best but this happened. Doesn’t get any clearer than this.




Literally forming Voltron to stop someone who was never the best is wild. Happened to no one else in the history of the game, but Kobe. Disrespectful. Voltron’s weren’t formed to stop Bron, Wade, or Duncan. Why? Also, Lebron and Wade outplayed Kobe on the Olympic team, why? Because Kobe sacrificed his game for the sake of defense and pumping courage into those cowardly lions, sans Wade.

didn't need Voltron. Kobe couldn't even get past dirk and a bunch of old washed role players who swept him and then the baby thunder

Meanwhile

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

He ain’t wrong. And it ain’t rocket science.

2005-06 Kobe was the undisputed best player in the league. So he is wrong and so are you.