Kobe Bryant Cannot Carry a Team (Duh)

We have this impression that Kobe Bryant is one of the great players in history, if not at MJs level, then certainly a rung below. I remember when there was talk of bringing Kobe to Phoenix to play alongside Steve Nash. My thoughts at the time were, no one else will win a championship for 5 years - if Kobe is all-NBA without Nash, imagine how good he'll be with Steve setting him up all game long? Of course, this was based on my assumption that Kobe is one of the top 10 players in history.

Then, I watched the Lakers / Cavs game today, and it made me wonder if Kobe was really as good as we are told he is. There were several possessions where Kobe and Lebron were matched up on both ends, and on both ends there was no contest. Lebron shut Kobe down like Scottie Pippen in his prime might have...and on the other end, got whatever shot he wanted. Lebron was SIGNIFICANTLY better on both ends of the court. It got so bad at one point, that Phil Jackson benched Kobe with 4 minutes left in the game and Los Angeles up by 2.

All of this got me to thinking - Is Kobe REALLY that good? Seriously...what's he ever DONE? He's never even placed 2nd in MVP voting, never led a team to a playoff series win. He has been on the all-defensive team 3 times, but his team is better defensively with him on the bench. He's like Allen Iverson - he gets steals, but often leaves his team in a lurch when the gambles don't pay off.

All of this leads me to wonder if Kobe is really about marketing and his own self-promotion. Yes, he can score, but he gets his points at the expense of his team, and his team mates. No one ever has a career year playing next to Kobe, right? MJ won his championships with role players like Steve Kerr, BJ Armstrong, John Paxson at the point, no dominant big man, Horace Grant at the power forward, and one all-star in Scottie Pippen and later Dennis Rodman. All of these players made significant contributions to championship teams, and the faded into oblivion once they stopped playing with MJ. He made everyone around him elevate their game, by force of will if nothing else. One could easily make the argument that Kobe has every bit the talent around him already that MJ had...and yet no one's game is ever elevated! He scores points, but sucks the life out of the offense in the process.

Moreover, I see Kobe's career winding down quickly. He's clearly lost a step, and as MJ proved at the end of his career, you can only go so far with a jump shot and tricky post moves.

What I saw today was the torch being passed...from MJ to Lebron, and it skipped Kobe altogether.