The Sports Rotation

Does Kobe Bryant elevate the play of his teammates?  Can Kobe Bryant win a championship being the best player on his team?  What will become of Kobe Bryant's legacy if he can't win a championship without Shaquille O'neal?  And on and on the "Great Kobe Debate" continues.  This is what I was forced to listen to at 6:24 AM, although I suppose I could have tuned in to Joe Rose or Jorge Sedano...what a choice.  And so I continue to listen on as Mike Greenberg rattles on about the Hall of Fame and Kobe's place among the best players and whether or not Kobe belongs in that list if he doesn't win another championship (as if 3 rings wasn't enough).  And I think to myself, were you (or anyone who bothers to debate this topic) watching the NBA playoffs this year? 

Just take a look at the top teams that made the playoffs in the Western Conference and each teams top player and compare them to Kobe.  Just the names alone without their statistics is enlightening if you consider that Dirk Nowitzki's (former league MVP) title contentions with the Mavericks are all but over.  Deron Williams is considered the 3rd best point guard in the West, even when healthy.  Carmelo was considered an afterthought until Chauncey Billups arrived in Denver.  And everyone knows that Ron Artest was just taking a personal jab at Kobe when he declared Brandon Roy the best guard he's had to defend. All that talent in the West, with many that I have left off, without even getting to The Eastern powers and Lebron James or Dwyane Wade.  All that talent that Kobe must face.  All the game planning to stop Kobe, and all the "defensive specialists" to try and shut Kobe down.  And he still gets his shot off anytime he wants, like some kind of Japanese ninja assasin (which by the way is what I think of when I hear his name).

But forget what Kobe Bryant does to you on the court and consider also that having a talent like him makes teams have to sign and overpay for names like Hedo Turkoglu, Ben Gordon, or Carlos Boozer.  The reason being that if you have a player with even a quarter of Kobe's talent you have to sign him because there's only one Kobe to go around.  So considering the impact that Kobe has on the league, I think his legacy is in place.