Kobe Bryant announces retirement

Win shares is one of those "all in one stats" that are pretty much inconclusive in basketball, because of the team nature of the game and the lack of good tape and good defensive stats for pre-1980s and 1990s games. I was just linking because it at least provided a sort of jumping off point for debating Kobe's place in history.

 

Issues with a lady in Colorado? Odd way to describe a rape.

 

He should have hung them up already. Last year was painful enough.

I have a hard time putting Kobe above any of Jame's top ten. He's got Oscar Robertson at ten, and that's a guy who averaged a triple double for an entire season... in tenth.

 

Ha, yes, I was intentionally kind of sidestepping around that. At least according to The Internets, it sounds like she got paid to go away, and Mrs. Kobe is still around. So, good times? Not that it matters a ton when evaluating his career, but Kobe doesn't sound like a great hang, but his dad also sounds like a piece of work, but it probably wasn't great fun to grow up in Europe as an American teenager, but, but, but... Kobe is probably the most fascinating player of the last 20 years, given all of the shit that has gone on in his career.

 

So anyone here buy Kobe drinks before he announced his retirement to the rest of the world?

 

Magary nailed it. Nailed it.

 

Magic, Jordan, LeBron, Kobe, and Bird.

They are the very best of the best.

 

Kobe, while a very great player, is in a sport where there have been a lot of very great players over the years. He also played for a franchise where he sneaks into its all-time starting five out of position at small forward with Kareem (Wilt wasn't a Laker long enough), Elgin Baylor, Kobe, then West and Magic in the backcourt.
PS: If win shares has Russell at number 19, it stands revealed as an utterly bogus statistic.

 

Don't most people who do it for a living put Kobe ahead of West?

 

Agreed. He's A-Rod with more championships. An annoying try-hard, and that's just about the best thing you can say about him, personality-wise. And yes, he's in the top 10 all-time, albeit in the lower reaches.

 

Who gives a shit about everything else (even though yes, the personality and rapey stuff is part of the overall package).

But pound for pound as a baller? Top 5. Not even in question.

 

For real?

Without putting them in order, I'd say Jordan/LeBron/Magic/Bird/Chamberlain/Russell/Robertson/Duncan rank above, and Steph Curry is gaining from the outside at least in comparison to Kobe.