Kobe Bryant; A rare breed of basketball player.

Kobe Bryant is the most maligned player in the NBA today. A polarizing hardcourt superstar hated not only by opposing fans but by many in the Laskerslandia as well. A future Hall of Famer that is both loved and cursed, serenaded and booed alike. His loyalty to the Laker management was doubted after his summer monologue. A request for trade to another NBA team? But who wanted to stay in a team he thought then as mediocre? All these things said, no one , however, can question his extreme determination to triumph and earn more championshp rings, if not for personal laurels. Not even T.J. Simmers - the number one Kobe-hater of Los Angeles Times - can say this is not so.
His ultimate desire to compete against the best players in the NBA is interpreted by others as Jordanesque. Some say he does not even reach the level of greatness of Michael Jordan. Is that right? Who scored the highest points in a single game after Wilt Chamberlain's 100? Not Jordan. Bryant's 81-point is a greater feat than Chamberlain's staged game in the little town of Pennsylvania. It was reported that both Chamberlain's teamates and opponents wanted him to make history. Besides, it was easier to score then against the small players in the shaded area than in today's environment where defensive players are more athletic than those of yesteryear's.
Jordan got six championship rings while Bryant earned only three. But who were Jordan's teamates during his glorious time in the Chicago Bulls? Jordan has had the luxury of having Scottie Pippen (NBA's top 50 greatest player), Toni Kukoc (Europe's best that time), Ron Harper (cerebral player), Dennis Rodman (defensive monster and great rebounder), Steve Kerr and John Paxson (both pure shooters), Luc Longley (Center with a shooting-touch) and other second cast veterans. Look who Bryant had in the past three years? Kwame Brown (NBA's top-draft bust player), Lamar Odom (a see-saw player for the 9th year, not even an All-Star caliber), Luke Walton (an injury-proned player), Andrew Bynum (who is yet to see his worth), Derek Fisher (who is in the sunset years), and the rest of neophyte players that have yet to make names for theirselves. Thank God Brian Cook was traded. Can you compare this set of players with those of the Bulls? Jordan was so lucky enough to be surrounded by talented and veteran players during his last years. Bryant, on the other hand, is so unfortunate enough to be surrounded by average and space cadet-like players in his last years.
Jordan did not make his teamates great; in the contrary, they made Jordan great and helped him achieved championship rings and personal records! He had a great supporting casts and they elevated him to pedestal. Even when Jordan was in his retirement period, the Bulls of Pippen and Kukoc made a show and even reached the Eastern Conference playoff - mind you, without Jordan. This speaks volume of who Jordan were playing with before, really. Can Odom and Bynum lead the Lakers to the first-round in the Western Conference playoff? Jordan's games were elevated by his teamates and it's not the other way around. Sorry die hard Bulls' fans. Please consider Jordan's early years in the Bulls without his veteran teamates? Yes, he scored in the 40s and 50s but those scoring titles did not take him to the NBA finals. Had only the Laker management made true of its promise to surround Bryant with great talents in the past years, the Laker superstar would have narrowed the gap in terms of the achievements with Jordan and led the Lakers to the Western Conference finals. Sadly, the nincompoop collective mind of the Laker management favors the third-year Laker Center - who has yet to prove his competence - than supporting a seasoned superstar whose capability is already well established. This should not happened. Too much ego in the liquor bottles.
Even as a wounded warrior, Bryant injuries did not prevent him from stepping in to the court. The more he licks blood, the more his killing instinct flares up. Woe to his opponents on such a time as those! Can Lebron James - the poster boy of the NBA - duplicate Bryant's mental will to face the gauntlet despite of physical limitations? No, Commisoner David Stern, no, he cannot. King James sat for a number of games nursing his non-shooting finger, while letting his teamates lose and lose. On the other hand, Bryant in the past, had played with broken fingers, dislocated shoulder, poisoned-body, bout of influenza, and groin injury! This is a sign of true greatness, a real gladiator in the hardcourt who always fight to win for the Lakerslandia. Whoa! If only Bryant's teamates had his extreme desire to succeed despite of their lack of talents, this would surely (my fingers are crossed) lead them to greater heights and possibly a second or a third round in the Western Conference playoffs. Yes, Samantha, there is hope.
Just a few days ago, Bryant had accomplished another record, which is a testament to his greatness. The sports headline said it: Kobe Bryant became the youngest NBA player to score 20,000 thousand points. Move over Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan, Bryant now passed you by . . . eat his dust. He could score more, and more and more had Phil Jackson not reined Bryant most of the times in the past. Remember when Bryant scored 62 points all in the third quarter and Dallas Maverick's total was 61? Jackson did not let him play in the fourth, same with the many games when Bryant showed his scoring prowess and Jackson would pull him out of the games to the dismay of the paying public. Some say Jackson did not want Bryant to top Jordan, so Bryant has always been reined in whenever a history-in-the-making is in the process. One more - remeber the time when Bryant and Jordan played against each other years ago in the Staples Center and Bryant made Jordan looked like a college player? Jackson yanked him from the court and benched him in the fourth quarter.
There were many spectacular moments and great achievements Bryant had in his total years in the NBA. Some people had surely overlooked them because they were focused on the personal dealings of Bryant and not on the business aspect of his game. We have not seen yet his maximum caliber because of Jackson and the Laker management. For sure, there will be more highlights in the coming years - be it with Lakers, Bulls, or Knicks; but the business situation prevented us from witnessing the possible great moments of Bryant in the current period, or we may never be. Along with his greatness, there will be people who will pull him down from glory - yes, they are the envious ones and wicked ones (including T.J. Simmers). This comes with the territory, of course. So much will be said about his private life, summer meltdown, ball hogging, selfishness, and other gutter adjectives. But no one can deny that this Laker superstar is a rare breed of a hardcourt gladiator. Yes, only time would tell of his true greatness . . . I wish it would be all with the Lakers.