As a long time Laker fan…I never try to convince people to like Kobe…but to simply enjoy watching one of the all-time greats play the game. But I have defended Kobe time and time again….and you hit the nail on the head. This goes as far back as his rookie year…when he was “ostracized” from his teammates because he would rather stay in his hotel room and watch game tape all night instead of partying. People and the media sided with Shaq in the “feud”…why, because Shaq is extremely funny and likeable and has a huge personality….but he was also immature, and a baby, and would party all night and all summer and come into camp fat and injured and then decide to have surgery (compare that to Kobe who played a year and a half with a dislocated pinky so that he wouldn’t miss a single game). Why shouldn’t Kobe think he’s the top dog when he woke up at 4-5am every day that summer, and Shaq misses games like it was no big deal. (Ironic also cuz it was Shaq that was a driving force in trading Van Exel cuz of one lackadaisical comment made by Nick…when that comment encompassed Shaq’s entire work ethic.) Post-Shaq, noone had to endure 82 games of watching garbage players like Smush Parker and Devean George and Vladimir Radmanovic and Brian Cook play starters minutes…and people questioned Kobe’s ballhogging when in fact at the time, Phil completely encouraged it, why? because it made BASKETBALL SENSE. Kobe wasn’t in “selfish mode” as much as he was in “attack mode”. With Phil in agreement, Kobe was taking every chance and opening to score…whether it was in the first 5 seconds of the shot clock or not….he was gonna attack. It was like the mid-2000 Suns offensive philosophy…only, in one person. Having seen almost every game of Kobe’s career , his basketball IQ is very very underrated.

I really like your point on the difference between Kobe and MJ. Very insightful.

I could go on, but there is too much to say. Other than, I give you major props for your objectivity. Kobe is one of the most polarizing figures in sports…and there are people that just blindly hate (and follow) Kobe. Which is a shame…as they are missing out on just enjoying the last few years of one of the best to ever play the game.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/chris_ballard/05/27/kobe0602/index.html

I believe what CB was trying to say with that last sentence is that while Kobe’s game is the most fundamentally sound, and backed up by his time spent in the gym, Lebron’s game features freakish athletic moves that nobody except Lebron can achieve. In this sense, Kobe’s game is more complete than Lebron, because Lebron has the ability to fall back on his athleticism and use it as a crutch.

I just wanted to point out one thing about the Lakers (I am a Lakers fan)- I understand why you would hate them. I despise the Yankees for the same reason but give the Lakers a pass because the Knicks have deeper pockets and the NBA has a salary cap.

But what I wanted to point out to you is that right now, you should at least give them a chance and watch their games. They play a unique brand of basketball (right now)- the triangle. No constant pick and roll, no constant up-tempo, rather the triple post. In fact- I think Kamentzky said it bast in the intro to his blog post said it below. Perhaps you could view at least the current Lakers from that perspective and put your hatred on hold?

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/11/lakers-nba-news-phil-jackson-kobe-bryant-.html

I think what’s happening here is that you’re having trouble accepting LeBron as the best player in the game because it seems to come so much easier to him than it does to Kobe (or really, anyone). If I’m wrong about this, please explain what you mean by the above-quoted statement.

Second, naturally I find this to be a pretty interesting entry, and it really makes me want to read this book. For all the years I’ve watched Kobe play and be interviewed and written about, I feel like this shows how little understanding of him we all have. He almost sounds like a true sociopath or something. I have to wonder though, if he’s really the basketball nerd that he’s made out to be, will he have any interest in writing or commenting about the game once he’s retired and thus doing so no longer poses some kind of competitive threat to his goal of winning championships (i.e. not wanting to divulge his insights or trade secrets or whatever)? He sounds like if he’s really such a student of the game, that he’d be the kind of person the rest of us hoops nerds would really love to trade comments with.

Either that or maybe scientists can dissect his brain and figure out what the hell is wrong with him :)