Why Kobe Bryant Is Still One of the Most Overrated Players in NBA History
"I think it is because most great second options aren't hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread like Kobe is. A lot of people love Kobe so much they want to talk about his three championships without even mentioning Shaq. That in turn leads others without the rose colored specs on to say 'what? those were Shaq's teams!' That's really all you're looking at here.
It's kind of like if someone were to turn around and say 'Scottie Pippen is the best player ever because he won six rings'. Of course the rebuttal would be 'Sorry but Scottie was second banana to Jordan, those were Jordan's teams'. Then someone such as yourself may write an article about how even though Jordan was the man, Scottie was still a star. Like that clears up the issue.
Kobe was of course a great second option on those teams! The problem arises when people try to use those three rings as part of an argument to say Kobe is a better individual player than LeBron James or that he's the greatest player not named Mike or other such over the top declarations of his unstoppableness."
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...uld-not-be-defined-based-upon-this-past-title