Thank you both.
I've tried that mentality on people here before, and all I get is "
He's #5 in this and top 3 Lakers in that and blah, blah, championships, rings, blah," and I'm like "I know... and he could have actually been better than THAT."
I think people just have a negative connotation to the phrase 'could have been better', so when they hear that applied to Kobe, they think he's being compared to the likes of Harold Miner or JR Rider or Darius Miles.
No.
For example, I've tried this on here before with others and got nowhere, but let me know what you 2 think. Shaq & Kobe. That was equally both of their faults. HOWEVER, if one of them would have done what LeBron James did to Mario Chalmers last night (he said, verbatim, "I was wrong. My bad"), I think we get right back at it after that Detroit loss. I am NOT saying it was all Kobe's fault, what I am saying that if either one of them would have backed off, both of them would have benefited.
if Shaq would have backed off, they both would have benefited, both individually and on their career resumes.
If Kobe would have backed off, they both would have benefited, both individually and on their career resumes.
Since we're not talking about Shaq, then I'm left w/...
If Kobe would have backed off, they both would have benefited, both individually and on their career resumes.
And people just absolutely can't wrap their minds around that without getting defensive about him, thinking it's a shot.