By JOSHUA NATOLI
Sports Editor
Blatant disrespect. Those two words crossed my mind when I took a look at this year’s ESPN NBARank, which ranks the NBA’s best active 300 players. The one ranking that seemed to jump at me, and the NBA’s entire fan base, was Kobe Bryant sitting at 25. WHAT?!
No, you didn’t read that wrong. Kobe Bryant, The Black Mamba, one of the greatest players of all time is ranked as the 25th best player in the league. Let me give you a rundown of players ranked ahead of Kobe just to give you a feel of how big of a joke this ranking is: Chris Bosh, Joakim Noah, John Wall, Al Horford, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin (who’s ahead of Carmelo Anthony, too, by the way. Let that sink in), and Marc Gasol. Those are just the guys that require no sort of argument whatsoever to disprove being better than Kobe. I’m not counting guys like Steph Curry, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, guys who you can argue may be better than Mamba. What I’m saying is that if I came up to you on the street and asked “If you could choose between Al Horford and Kobe Bryant to have on your team who would you pick?” That’s not even a question. Anyone who picks Big Al either has some sort of chronic fandom with the Hawks big man, or they just don’t know basketball. Even a Kobe-hater, and there are many, wouldn’t even pass up a shell of Kobe Bryant for Al Horford. I wouldn’t even take Horford AND Bosh for Bryant.
The main, face-saving attempt of an argument used to justify the absurd travesty was the torn Achilles Bryant suffered during the playoffs last postseason. I realize that a torn Achilles has the potential to ruin a career, a la Elton Brand, but have people forgotten about the durability of Kobe, the man who played with a broken finger ON HIS SHOOTING HAND?! That’s impressive and excruciatingly painful before you even mention the fact that Bryant was 34 years old at the time. So, I don’t want to hear the ranking justified by injury. Kobe is the second most durable player in the NBA behind Russell Westbrook (who is also currently injured but had not missed a game since his high school days before then).
I haven’t even mentioned stats yet. Go take a look at the rankings. You see Kobe at 25 (still can’t believe I just typed that) with 2012-2013 per game averages of 27.3 points, six rebounds and 5.6 assists. This is accompanied by a field goal percentage of 46, and a Player Efficiency Rating, the Mecca of basketball talent measurement, of 23.10, good enough for 10th among all players last season. Now that you’ve marveled at the numbers take a peek at the Chris Bosh (ranked 24th) stat line: 16.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.7 APG, .535 FG%, and a 20.08 PER. So here we have Kobe with stats significantly more impressive than his superior (?) in every category. You can even say Bryant is a better rebounder even though Bosh has a slightly better average. Look at the position and height difference. Mamba is a 6’6” shooting guard, Bosh is a 6’10” center/power forward. Bosh’s total should be around two to three more boards than Kobe based off of position and height, but it isn’t. The PER difference doesn’t seem like much but it definitely is. A few points in that metric rating translates to quite the difference between a Chris Paul and a Jrue Holiday.
Let’s not forget the legacy this man has compiled. Five NBA titles, an MVP, two-time Finals MVPs, two-time scoring champion, 11 All-NBA First-Team selections, nine-time All-NBA Defensive Team, second-most points in a single game (81), and tied with Donyell Marshall for most three-pointers made in a single game (12) and I just hit the tip of the iceberg. I know you’re not supposed to live in the past but c’mon, that is amazing. Last year Bryant’s Lakers experienced quite the failure, but still make the playoffs even with a much turned-down Dwight Howard and the cancer that is Mike D’Antoni. Let me just rant about D’Antoni for a minute. He’s terrible and has a huge ego. What kind of coach forces his “successful” run n’ gun style on a team that is notorious for slowing down the offensive pace to get quality looks. He needs to go. End rant.
Kobe has never come back from an injury and not been the same old superstar. If for some absolutely bizarre reason that he doesn’t or (don’t jinx it) pulls an Andrew Bynum and misses the entire year the ranking will be justified, I’ll eat some crow and admit I was wrong, but I don’t see that happening. Even though this has caused a plethora of controversy it makes for one great storyline to follow. It will be in my top three things to watch for this NBA season next to the size of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s hands, and the looks on Kobe’s face every time Laker newcomer Nick Young chucks an errant three-pointer.
