Yes, he is a great player. Best ever? Not a chance.

yup Kobe can play ball. Def not the greatest ever, prob not even top 5

Hmmm, I think I'll just put butter and salt on my popcorn. Yummy!

I wouldn't say top 5 of all time, no way. I think this might push him into the top five guards of all time if he's lucky.

Its easy to forget ridiculous players from back in the day. If I was picking a team, with everyone in their prime, I'd pick Jordan, Jerry West, Magic, Oscar over Kobe, and that's just at the guard spot.

If position isn't important, I'd definitely take Wilt or Shaq in their primes over Kobe.

Topic title adjusted.

Is it just me that thinks he is the most selfish player out or.... ?? I'm sorry, but the guy should score as much as he does considering he takes every 99.9% of their shots. So much for being a team sport!!

Larry Bird was the most skillful player of all time.

I really, really HATE Kobe Bryant

Love him or hate him, you have to respect the fact he is the best player in the nba and has been since 2002!!

NOPE not even

i like the way he gets to the free throw line,all the great players could make something out of nothing.
plus,thats one hell of a shot fake he has !

i guess when you really are cranking it all night every night,that helps when you go to get your man off the ground!!!

If Kobe gets his fourth ring today, it might put him in the same group, but he won 3 of those while playing with the most dominant player during that era. And neither Magic, MJ nor Russell cost his team an easy title by trying to be the man.

I think if you put Jordan in todays game, he would be averaging like 50 a game. He used to get hammered every time he went to the rim, especially in the early 90's. I don't know if Kobe is putting up these numbers without the touch fouls that get called today.

Plus who else is his competition? There were a lot of great players going against Jordan, Kobe is only seeing great players come in now.

TC2 Magic had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar some have said perhaps the GREATEST of all time. Jordan had Pippen. Pierce had Garnett and Allen. All teams that win finals usually have 2 or more brilliant players. So you trying to discredit Kobe because Shaq was there is pretty lame.

I'm not discrediting Kobe because Shaq was there and I am well aware of who has played on other championship teams. I am saying that the era when the Lakers won, Shaq was simply unstoppable.

I don't know why you mentioned Pippen, Garnett, Pierce or Allen.

Magic also had Scott, Worthy, Wilkes, Nixon and Green, but at no stage did Magic shut them out of the game or an entire series just so he could look like a hero.

Isn't it a bit more (not a lot more) like Pippen winning championships with Jordan, and then winning one post-MJ to acclaim?

Means he's good, but you wouldn't want to get ahead of yourself.

I don't see Kobe Bryant's name on any of the 2000-03 championship Finals MVP awards. *shrugs*

I don't see the Lakers name on the 2004 Championship trophy either.

Who did MJ shut out to look like a hero? In which finals series? I believe he won them all so his heroics had the desired effect. It was Paxson who hit the big shot in Phoenix, and Kerr who hit the big shot against the Jazz.

"MJ can't win a championship without Pippen, MJ came back to acclaim trying to win one without Pippen and failed miserably...that's just garbage."

Hehe he went into one of the worst teams in the league and made them competitive, scoring 40ish points a game. What a failure he is huh 40 points a game after 3 years out of the league and ohh how old was he!

now his baseball career was a failure

@Anon

congrat to Kobe and the Lakers and KingJames for agreeing with me.

lol cheers Anon and hereschenes :P

TC2 my point for mentioning Pippen and other players was saying that Jordan required Pippen while Pierce required Allen and Garnett. So I was just saying all great players need other great players.

Magic never won a title without Kareem or Worthy so does that mean his championships meant nothing?

Actually, Magic won his first title without Kareem and Worthy;-)

Top 5 all time in my opinion.

In terms of skill level, he is unmatched by anyone in league history but Jordan.

One of the bset competitors aswell.

4 rings, 1 mvp, 1 finals mvp, 6 finals appearances, 11 all star appearances.

If he's not in your top 5, he should at least be in your top 10. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just a massive Kobe hater or is one of those that gives in to the glorification of past players.

as much as I'm not a Kobe fan, congrats to him for the determination and desire shown, his stat line was damn good for the finals series (apart from game 3) and when he trusted his team mates, they delivered. I'm guessing it was helped by the Magic second guessing themselves, but hey, the Lakers got the job done.

And all this talk about top 5 or 10 of all time, you can't compare era's. It's a good discussion, but you can only look at how dominant a player was/is on their era. End of story.

Just as you mention his statline for the finals, Sportscentre just said the only other player in finals history to have 30+ 5+ and 7+ was Jordan.

haha good call TC2 but technically that was one game :P

"Is it just me that thinks he is the most selfish player out or.... ?? I'm sorry, but the guy should score as much as he does considering he takes every 99.9% of their shots. So much for being a team sport!!"

"And neither Magic, MJ nor Russell cost his team an easy title by trying to be the man."

Reckon I'd be better off walking down to the nursing home to talk about basketball when people are dumb enough to say crap like that on here. I'm talking the ones with dementure too, not the wise old ones who used to watch Pistol Pete doing his thing. Unbelievable.

Well done KB. CHAMPIONS.

Can i just say that Kobe has silenced the haters today, BUT not without 11 other guys

I think the best thing is to ignore the haters and the trolls!

Kobe has proven him self and even the commentators said many times years ago he would have tried to score 40-50 in that game however now he is a different player and is very team orientated.

Screw having him in my team, i'd rather lose and have a shot, than win without touching it.