Hello, WORLD!!!! Contrary to popular belief, the Celtics did NOT stop Kobe from his destiny of becoming a 5 time champ. I personally could not be happier. This is, of course, due to my extreme dislike for everything Boston CELTIC-y that I ride with anybody that can oppose them damn leprechauns! Even, Kobe, who hasn't always been on my favorite player list himself, but at least he is enjoyable without stepping on anybody's toes that I'm concerned with. See: Shaq for more details. Now he has broken the tie that has been between them since his Championship run last year against the upstart Magic (what a waste of a Finals!!!). I've learned to except that Kobe IS one of the greatest players of the past decade, right up there with Tim Duncan, Shaq, Steve Nash (who hasn't won a 'Ship but he has more regular season MVP title's than Kobe, PLUS he got cheated out of a few title shots and the cheater got caught AND went to jail for it!). Now Kobe has 5 rings, compared to Shaq's 4, Magic Johnson's 5, & Micheal Jordan's 6. Now, where does he stand in the NBA's Pantheon or greats? In my opinion, right where his ass is at now..NOT quite there YET. True he may be one of the greatest players now, but is he that much better than Dwayne Wade, who clearly proves every time that he is healthy that teams wont like him when he's healthy? Or what about Carmelo Anthony who showed his ASS in the 2008 Olympics where he rose to be consider the best player on that team, which also consisted of Kobe, Wade, and a certain soon to be Chicago BULL (please, please, please, fingers crossed, fingers crossed). & what about LeBron? Lets. Not. Go. There. Yet(that is, let's not before he decides where he wants to be and if he dont pick Chicago, I'ma go HAM on him too!!). Now, as far as the legends are concerned, Shaq has been named as one of the NBA's 50 greatest; the 1993 Rookie of the Year has been a MVP of the regular season once and has been to the Finals 6 times and got 4 rings with 3 Finals MVPs under his belt. Magic Johnson (who is finna get it in this post too!)was a Rookie of the Year winner too. Magic won a ring & a Finals MVP in the his first year. Let's talk numbers: Magic is a 4 time NBA MVP, 3 time Finals MVP and a 5 time NBA Champion (via 9 appearances make him 5-4 in Title series) who also made the NBA 50 Greatest list. Both of them are Lakers, so it would make more sense to talk about where he ranks among them great players versus where he stands against THE GREATEST PLAYER EVER: Micheal Jordan! MJ numbers, read 'em and weep: 6 Championships outta 6 appearances and he collect the Finals MVP award each time, 5 NBA MVPs, NO! I don't want to disrespect the man by even beginning to compare him with them! Look at what this discussion brought about on my Facebook page:
I said " Now, for all yall TRUE Laker fans (of which I am NOT!) THIS is the discussion yall should be having before yall try to make Kobe something he's not (*cough**cough*the "greatest"*cough*). Is Kobe the gretest Laker EVER? Hmm..maybe,maybe not."
And I got a response from my buddy, O:"I have MAD respect for the mans GAME bro, always have... I don't care who he is off the court. To be able to do what he's done with the teams he has is a feat in it's own. There aren't many that can accomplish the things he has every season, so I say hands down by far Kobe Bryant is the BEST player in the Game of Basketball today. Not yet the best to ever play the game, that is still yet to be proven IMO..."
This prompted me to say:"I can't deny him of his talent and his rightful place as the league's best RIGHT NOW, O. What I can deny is the quality of his quest to be the greatest EVER. BTW: NOT.GONNA.HAPPEN. Who has he beat for a Championship besides Boston and that JUST happened. I mean really, the NETS from a completely watered down East? OK, but didn't that same exact ... See MoreNETS team repeat in the exact same watered down East the next only to get swept by the SPURS? Who else has he got a ring off of, The PACERS, up til this title run was the best team he had faced and beat for a ring. Then the 76ers and that's bad because all they had was Iverson and *cricket sounds*. Know what, O? I gotta use your comment and finish this on my blog because I gotta go in on him now. Thanks, O!"
Which led to me doing this. But actually haven't I said enough WORLD? Who did Jordan beat for his rings? No less than Magic himself, then another member of the NBAs50 Greats, Clyde Drexler, then ANOTHER NBAs50 great in Charles Barkley before facing Shawn Kemp and future Hall of Famer Gary Payton, then 2 more of the NBAs50 in Karl Malone and John Stockton 2 years in a row! No losses! Only Magic had better Finals competition (maybe), but he only won 5 outta 9 too, so that actually DOES mean something huh? So where does Magic get off saying Kobe is the greatest ever like it's his torch to pass? How dare he do this at the same building he lost his last Final's game to the guy many people credit with making this a more WORLDwide sport than, say, him or Bird, who is another NBAs50 member and also a key reason why Magic didn't get 6 rings. Jordan DID NOT LOSE! Whatever, look I lost my train of thought. Oh yeah,I remember: In Kobe's defense, he didn't say it himself but he sure looked like he was trying his best to imitate it. What Kobe is probably gonna retire as is the greatest Laker ever & with that I can almost agree...wait, Robert Horry got how many rings again?
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