Kobe “Bean” Bryant. The Black Mamba. The greatest basketball player of our generation. One of the greatest competitors in our time. One of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Now, there are going to be people commenting about how Kobe Bryant will never be like Michael Jordan, but stop for a minute and just marvel and admire his skill set. He has been entertaining each and every one of us since 1996. Just this past Tuesday, November 11 2014, Kobe Bryant made history as the National Basketball Association’s all-time leader in missed field goals with 13,418, passing Boston Celtics legend John Havlicek. Almost everyone was commenting on social media about how terrible of a player Kobe Bryant is and how he was never as efficient as Michael Jordan. To clarify this situation, yes, Kobe Bryant does hold the record for the most missed field goals. However, Michael Jordan once said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s why I succeed.” This quote symbolizes and summarizes Kobe Bryant’s missed field goal record into the right perspective because this list contains hall of famers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, John Havlicek, and many others.
These greats have missed many shots, but in the end they won championships. Anyone in their right mind would agree that Bryant, Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, and Havlicek would miss more than 12,000 shots in exchange for at least five championships. In the end, it is worth it because due to their longevity and aggressiveness, these players wanted to try to score in order to better their chances of winning games.
For Bryant, he took this statistic with a grain of salt and did not really care about it because his motive is to win championships. Also, Kobe Bryant is one of the hardest workers anyone will ever meet. The best NBA head coach in the history of the game, Phil Jackson, who coached both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, recently stated that Bryant, “went beyond Michael in his attitude towards training.” Bryant legitimately wakes up with only a few hours rest and trains his body to make himself a better basketball player. The most compelling attribute about Kobe Bryant is that he was blessed with a skill set that others dream about and he was never complacent about it. He works day in and day out to shoot baskets, improve his footwork, and train his body for the rigors of an NBA season all while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon and a knee fracture at the age of 36.
That is what makes him one of the best to ever play the game because he wants to better himself, even with the God-given talent he was blessed with at a very young age. Kobe Bryant holds records such as the most All-Star Game MVP awards, Most All-Star Game points scored, and the youngest player to score 31,000 points and is fourth most all time in points scored in NBA history, and is the only player in NBA history to score at least 600 points in the postseason for three consecutive years. These records are not easily attainable and only prove just how special of a player Kobe Bryant is. Although he holds these records, the one record he wants to surpass or at least tie is Michael Jordan’s sixth championship. Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers should have beaten the Detroit Pistons in 2004 and could have made it a seven game series against the Boston Celtics in 2008 before blowing a 24-point lead in game 4.
However, since he is just one championship away from tying Michael Jordan, how close is he to reaching the NBA Finals this year? Not even close.
As a die-hard Lakers fan, it’s hard to say that Kobe Bryant is a selfish and greedy basketball player, but he is. For what he has done to the game and sport, he deserves the $48.5 million he is making in two years. However, there is a salary cap. Signing Kobe Bryant to that contract further hindered the Lakers into acquiring better talent through free agency, a Carmelo Anthony or another player.
No one in the New York media is questioning this, or the Los Angeles media, but to ask the hard question; why doesn’t Kobe Bryant take less money to field a more competitive team to better his chances of winning a sixth NBA championship? Bryant can take in more money when he retires or the Lakers could create a position where he would be paid back for his wonderful and endless contributions to the franchise.
Bryant was at a crossroads with his career and decided to take the money instead of building a more competitive team. His decision hurt the franchise to the point where no legitimate player wants to play for the team until he retires. It’s a shame, because although his accomplishments puts him up there among the best, people will probably remember him as a player who decided to take the money instead of a player who would sacrifice to win a championship like Tim Duncan.
Jared Fortunato is a first-year student majoring in physical therapy. He can be reached at fortunatojared@gmail.com
I agree 100%… But I also want to push the blame onto Jeanie Buss for not consulting her brother Jim Buss on the upside and downside of signing Kobe for 2 years and too many millions of dollars against the cap! Too much money for a broken down former super star that Jeanie wanted to play for 2 more years, keep the seats filled and Time Warner happy!
The Lakers are doomed for years to come and someday the family shareholders will consider selling the team and Magic Johnson will be right there to buy it with his fellow investors!