First off, Chris Bosh ... I don't blame him one bit for leaving Toronto ... 7 years, two playoff series appearances, three playoff wins and missing the playoffs last year despite career averages ... This incarnation of the Toronto Raptors couldn't win even with Bosh, so time to move on ... but it's just funny how he's enjoying his new found fame ... presenting awards at the ESPY's, talk show appearances and caught by TMZ getting into a limo with a bunch of ho's ... good for him ...
LeBron James' b!tch move to South Beach ends the Kobe Bryant debate once and for all, he's not on Kobe's level, let alone Michael Jordan's ... People can criticize his one-hour special on ESPN, but they still watched, myself included ... but all LeBron accomplished is finally opening everyone's eyes on how much of an egomaniac he is ...
Collectively what did The Three Am-Egos accomplish? ... one, they created a new set of villains for the NBA, which IMO is good for business and good for television ... and two, they turned Kobe Bryant into a bigger hero than he already is ... let's be honest, barring injury, the 2011 NBA Finals will be Lakers/Heat, no question ... Chris Paul potentially teaming with Dwight Howard in Orlando could make things interesting, but at the end of the day the eyes of the basketball world in June of 2011 will be on Hollywood and South Beach ...
Onto Kobe Bryant's legacy ... I've stated before, 7 NBA Titles and the all-time scoring title would put him Top 3 of all-time in my book ... right now, I can honestly say he's Top 5 ... a couple weeks ago I got into a bit of a heated argument with my cousin Tatsu's husband Carteron ... He's saying Kobe's better than Jordan this and that ... now Carteron is a f*cking idiot, he sounds/looks stupid talking about ball as much as he does playing it ... he was still rocking his Vince Carter jersey until '08 and thinks Jose Frauderon is a starting caliber point guard ... but my argument was simple and two-fold ... level of competition and accomplishment ...
Jordan went through the Celtics, Pistons, Sixers, Knicks, Lakers, Blazers then later Magic, Sonics and Jazz ... Kobe IMO beat one tough team and that's this year's Celtics, an aging team nonetheless which still took 7 games ... now accomplishment ... MJ: 6 titles, 5 MVP's, 10 scoring titles, 3 steals titles ... Kobe: 5 titles, 1 MVP, 2 scoring titles, BUT he lost twice in the Finals ... hmmmm, geee that's a tough comparison LOL ...
Now Carteron did ask me "what would it take [for me] to consider Kobe better than Jordan?" ... nothing ... Kobe can get the all-time scoring title, which is not unrealistic, 5 more seasons of avergaing 25 will get it done ... BUT, Kobe started playing outta high school, Jordan went to UNC for three years and retired twice ... Kobe can win more rings, but again Jordan retired twice ... prime Jordan wouldn't have lost to the back-to-back champion Rockets and The Bulls could've won a couple more titles if Jerry Krause didn't break them up ...
Finally, Kobe had the better supporting cast, no question ... Jordan had Pippen and Rodman, but the rest were a bunch of Joe Blows, meaning they could've been anyone ... Kobe has Gasol, Odom, Artest, Bynum and Fisher (who IMO is 100x better than Ron Harper and Steve Kerr) ... now all Kobe nuthuggers have to admit, that if the Lakers lost to the Celtics in this years Game 7, they wouldn't have any ammunition in their "Kobe is better than MJ" argument ... so basically, Game 7 in their eyes defines Kobe's legacy ... but what happened in that game? ... didn't Kobe shoot 6-24? meaning he was a non-factor on the offensive end ... on top of that, if either Gasol or Artest didn't play as well as they did, the Lakers lose that game ...
To all the Kobe fans (I'm one of them BTW) at the end of the day there's nothing wrong with second best ...
A couple parting shots to my former team, The Toronto Raptors ... MJ was 100% right in c*ckblocking Frauderon/Evans for Chandler/Diaw, that was highway robbery ... anyway, no chance in hell if they're rolling with "Il Mago" and "The Young Guns" ... although, I do like Demar DeRozan and Ed Davis ... DeRozan can be a 20 ppg scorer, while Davis can be a 15 ppg/10 rpg guy ... but they'd need a better coach and a great point guard (ala Steve Nash/Jason Kidd) to just be a middle-of-the-pack team ... 2011 hello lottery ... again ...
~J-Smooth~
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