This got a lot of Kobe fans upset, unsurprisingly. But it’s not hard to upset Kobe fans – anytime he’s not mentioned in the GOAT convo (which he doesn’t belong in) they get upset and say you’re disrespecting him.
His fans are probably the most annoying, overzealous fans of any sports figure I’ve seen. Literally hyping up everything he does like he’s some demi-god and then hating on Bron for any small mistake he made, they are the definition of hypocrisy and double standards. Good example is they shit on Lebron for the 2011 Finals and being beaten by the Mavs – yet give Kobe a pass and make excuses for him getting swept by the EXACT SAME TEAM.
But Bleacher Report yes did put Kobe at #11 all time – behind Steph Curry. It goes deeper than that – BR voters ranked Kobe anywhere from #4 to #18 all time.
Kobe is quite a polarizing figure when it comes to ranking him. No other player in the top 10 would have quite a divisive difference of opinion. When it comes to Kobe, I think people just have to understand, how he’s perceived by fans and other NBA players is often romanticized and seen with rose tinted glasses because of their emotional bias to him. His ‘mamba mentality’ and ‘killer instinct’ and ‘legendary work ethic’ and ‘closest to Jordan skillset’ contributes to this perception often overrides his actual achievements on the court.
You take all those emotional feelings away and what you’re left with is a guy with 1 MVP, 2 FMVPs, 15x All-NBA, 12x All-Def and 5 rings in 20 seasons who averaged 25/5/5 on a mediocre 45% shooting and who neither raised or dropped his game in the playoffs – he maintained roughly the same level of production. This is his resume. And this is how websites like Bleacher Report and ESPN rank him. They put aside their feelings and rank him based on his resume only, which compared with other all time players, it’s probably right on the edge of the top 10 and that’s where he generally gets ranked by analysts. Fans and analysts often rank differently. Fans rank him a lot higher because of the emotional bias.
Why is Curry ranked higher? Well personally, I would not although I see the argument. Curry is the better offensive player. I don’t care how much people talk about Kobe’s 81 points or his 50/60 point games, these are the result of a ball hogging type player. Kobe’s peak scoring is because of his hero ball antics, which are generally not good for the game of basketball. Curry is not only a lot more efficient, but he is a better team player than Kobe, and his scoring is because he is a naturally great shooter who can get hot streaks, in addition to his better passing abilities. Curry’s scoring is less of a double edged sword than Kobe’s scoring ( who can win or lose you games ). So I’ll take Curry’s offense over Kobe’s.
Defensively, Kobe has the edge. Although Kobe is overrated defensively, he is definitely still a better defender than Curry. So other than defense, Kobe has more All-Stars, more All-NBA, 1 more ring and 1 more FMVP while Curry has 1 more MVP. Curry raises his game in the playoffs while Kobe’s stays the same.
Overall, I would still rank Kobe higher although the gap between him and Curry is pretty close. Overall Kobe is a better player but Curry’s offense is superior and more conducive to team basketball. Personally, I think Hakeem could actually be ranked above both Kobe and Curry, and Moses Malone was completely left out of the top 20 which is disrespectful. Moses not being top 20 is to me much more disrespectful than Kobe not being top 10.
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