Kobe's 1st three teams without Shaq were terrible. Kwame Brown and Smush Parker were starters.......enough said. This season is the first season he's actually had a good team and he's taken them to the Finals despite key players being in and out of the lineup with injury all year. For all the Laker's problems defensively he managed to keep them afloat with his superb play up until the Finals where he met a defense that was just too good for him to beat by himself. He needed someone else to step it up, and nobody else did on a consistent basis.
But hey, don't let facts get in your way.