Kobe Bryant : "Shaq would have never won without me" and "There is no GOAT"

[dirk4mvp]

Replace Kobe with T-Mac and they still win at least 3.

[sonic21]

for the "no goat" part, kobe just didnt wanna disrespect magic thats all

[MiamiHeat]

for the "no goat" part, kobe just didnt wanna disrespect magic thats all

Magic Johnson :

"There is Michael Jordan, and then there is the rest of us."

"Michael is the greatest player of all time."

[ElNono]

Replace Kobe with T-Mac and they still win at least 3.

Or AI, or Ray Allen, or Vince Carter, or Finley... all those guys BACK THEN could have won with Shaq and that surrounding cast. The only player I can think of from that time that could have replaced Shaq was Duncan.
The DRob and the Mailman were already on the decline and KG simply can't dominate like those other two.

[RsxPiimp]

2 words to the OP


READING COMPREHENSION

[sonic21]

Man if the Lakers win we are gonna have to put kobe haters on suicide watch.

[Ghazi]

You GUYS act like the Lakers BLITZED to championships.

They did in 2001 but 2000 and 2002 they easily could have NOT won a le. Who is to say Kobe's BRILLIANCE could be REPLICATED by some lesser players like VC or T-Mac! Keep in MIND that even if those players were SLIGHTLY worse than Kobe that could have easily meant NOT winning a championship in 2000 or 2002.

But I didn't have CABLE back THEN so I can't really COMMENT.

[cobbler]

Kobe doesnt wen without Shaq...Shaq doesnt win without Kobe..blah blah blah blah. Neither win without Horry or Shaw. And even with them all, they didnt win until Phil got there. What a bunch of hogwash to start throwing names in place of Kobe and say they could have won otherwise. Nobody knows for sure. It's all conjecture.

The only thing that truly matters is.....

THEY, not one, but all 12 WON!

[Sec24Row7]

Man if the Lakers win we are gonna have to put kobe haters on suicide watch.

I love Kobe's game... I just have that much respect for Manu.

[cobbler]

anyone else laughing at Kobe's attempt to blur the lines of the GOAT talk?

Just last year in June, Kobe was talking about MJ as the GOAT.

Now he's saying pretty much 'we're all equal'

No, actually laughing at your needing to bring it up 3 times in a thread. We got your point the first time. GOAT is nothin but speculative bull . You cannot compare eras. Impossible. Why Is Jordan the GOAT? Stats? Ther are players with better stats. les? Ther are players with more les. Not to mention the differences in pos ons. I don't get why people are so obsessed with this GOAT thing. It's impossible to determine.

[cobbler]

I thought Wilt's only le came with LA in 71-72? you may be right tho...

I believe Wilt won one with Philly in 66 or 67.

[Spursfan092120]

How many did Shaq win in Orlando with Penny. The truth is the Lakers sucked with Shaq as the go to guy. Utah owned them . Kobe came into his own and the Lakers could not lose.

Someone has forgotten Miami.

[Ghazi]

Miami didn't win

[Spursfan092120]

Magic Johnson :

"There is Michael Jordan, and then there is the rest of us."

"Michael is the greatest player of all time."

[Spursfan092120]

Miami didn't win

[NewJerSpur]

Kobe Bryant, in an interview with Magic Johnson, said

"The truth is, he(Shaq) never would have won without me. And we would have never won without anybody else, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher"


Bryant also said, when talking about the greatest players of all time -

"It's impossible to say that one player is the best, you can't do it. Everybody brings different things, everybody is great in their own way"


This differs from 2008, when Bryant said that MJ "is the greatest of all time"

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4226198

Thoughts?

Don't think I've ever agreed with Kobe more....actually I don't think I've ever been in agreement with him up to this point at all, LOL. For me unless you dominate every category statistically (on both sides of the ball) at some point it would be impossible to crown anyone as the greatest; until then someone will always be better than you at some aspect of the game. Just my 2 cents.

[daslicer]

Man if the Lakers win we are gonna have to put kobe haters on suicide watch.

I think I will be ok. I have experienced much worse in my life to be overly concerned about him winning.

[Kriz-Maxima]

So winning championships in basketball is a team effort?

What a travesty!

[j-money24]

shaq and kobe needed each other.

Exactly

[lefty]

How many did Shaq win in Orlando with Penny. The truth is the Lakers sucked with Shaq as the go to guy. Utah owned them . Kobe came into his own and the Lakers could not lose.

Didn't Kobe throw airball after airball in game 5 of the 1997 Western Semis vs Utah????

[JamStone]

I vaguely recall a fade-away three pointer that was an airball early in Kobe's career. If it was against Utah in 97, that would have been Kobe's rookie year. I also vaguely remember someone (perhaps one of the broadcasters) actually giving him praise for not being afraid to take the shot.

[DrHouse]

All I know is THIS forum is going to become a very interesting place if Kobe gets a ring this year.

Kobe haters FAVORITE snipe at him is the fact that he hasn't won a ring without Shaq. If they can't say that anymore all they are left with is the tired old rape jokes. Not nearly the same impact.

[daslicer]

All I know is THIS forum is going to become a very interesting place if Kobe gets a ring this year.

Kobe haters FAVORITE snipe at him is the fact that he hasn't won a ring without Shaq. If they can't say that anymore all they are left with is the tired old rape jokes. Not nearly the same impact.

Nothing will change really other then that you will be a permanent resident here for another year. Kobe will still be hated the same way just like he always has been. Kobe is mainly hated because of his narcissistic personality much like people still hated on Duncan after the third and fourth le due to his "boring" personality. In other words get over it some people are just hated for who they are and not because of their skill set like you try to spin it.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Personally, if I were an LA fan, I wouldn't give two s about what player other fans give credit for the 2000-2002 championships, all I would care about is the fact LA won it those three years. Just my two cents.

[DrHouse]

Nothing will change really other then that you will be a permanent resident here for another year. Kobe will still be hated the same way just like he always has been. Kobe is mainly hated because of his narcissistic personality much like people still hated on Duncan after the third and fourth le due to his "boring" personality. In other words get over it some people are just hated for who they are and not because of their skill set like you try to spin it.

Kobe is hated here because his skillset led directly to the Spurs being knocked out several times in the playoffs when they had chances to repeat.

His personality is no worse than LeCrab or any other superstar out there.