Yeah, I Said It. Kobe Bryant Is Incredibly Overhyped

Many view Kobe Bryant as one of the greatest NBA players of all time. But what do I see? Basketball’s most celebrated shot-chucker.

I cannot believe that people argue that Kobe Bean Bryant is a top ten player of all time and the second best shooting guard of all time. It makes me sick to my stomach that they want to compare him to Michael Jordan. I am in no way a Jordan fan, but I would never disrespect a great athlete like that. Kobe fans, it is time for you to accept that Kobe Bryant is barely a top twenty player of all time. The facts back it up…

First off, yes, Kobe is a five time NBA Champion, an MVP, a scoring champion, and an 18 time all-star. He is a great player who has thrived in numerous clutch moments, but honestly, there are a lot of guys like that out there.

The main reason for the overhype of Kobe is the time period he played in. People in our time become infatuated with fandom. For example, a player has one good season, wins a championship, and before you know it they are being compared to NBA legends. That is the media’s fault for propelling such comparisons, and, well, this is the case with Kobe Bryant.

Kobe’s prime came at a time when the “social media generation” was old enough to understand basketball, but not yet educated enough to truly analyze it. What these generational fans saw is a high volume shooter that plays isolation basketball and is an incredible scorer that somehow found a way to be even better in the clutch. That was enough to convince these fans that Kobe is in the same league as Michael Jordan.

Let’s take a look a Kobe’s five NBA titles. He won in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2010. Of those five championships, he only won two NBA Finals MVP awards. This was because Kobe played alongside arguably the most physically dominant player in the history of the sport, Shaquille O’Neal. It was Shaq that led those early 2000’s Lakers teams to their wins, not Kobe.

Kobe has been very blessed to share the court with productive, efficient big men in not only Shaq, but also Pau Gasol. When he played with Shaquille O’Neal, the Lakers won 69.7 percent of their games along with three titles. After O’Neal left for Miami in 2004, the Lakers did much worse. Then when Pau Gasol joined the Lakers in 2007, the team thrived once more, winning 62.5 percent of their games along with two more championships.

In Kobe’s time without those two big men, his teams managed to only win 43.3% of their games…

Kobe was great. The numbers say he was good. But despite all of his points, those same statistics don’t place him among the NBA’s all-time greats. Not when his prolific point totals go along with so many missed shots. Scoring matters, but how you score matters a whole lot more.

We should appreciate Kobe, and remember all of the unforgettable moments that he gave us. The NBA wouldn’t be the same without his famous shrugs, tongue out layups, and historic 81 point game. But the hype is out of hand.

I respect Kobe enough to consider him an NBA legend, but do not dare to put him in your top ten, your Mt. Rushmore of basketball, or even as the best shooting guard ever. He is none of those things. But damn, could he score the ball.