I'm a Southern California boy, so most Kobe "haters" are automatically going to assume that my opinion is biased and therefore means nothing. To those of you that feel this way, stop reading now.
The fact is, Kobe Bryant has skill. His father was a professional basketball player and he was raised in Italy to play intelligent, fundamental basketball. He's an on court coach that knows all there is to know about the game of basketball. He knows each and every strength and weakness of every player on his team and knows how to utilize their abilities to the fullest extent possible. He's going to get another championship soon, the question is, will that be his last or will he begin another dynasty?
Now, I'll simply let Kobe Bryant's achievements speak for themselves.
Kobe Bryant's Career Achievements
3 time NBA Champion: 00 - 02
2 time regular season scoring leader: 06, 07
11 time NBA All-Star: 98, 00 - 09, all appearances were starts and 10 consecutive appearances at the NBA All-Star game from 00-09
3 time NBA All-Star MVP: 02, 07, 09
10 time all NBA selection (All consecutive)
First team: 02 - 04, 06 - 08
Second team: 00, 01
Third team: 99, 05
8 time All Defense selection
First team: 00, 03, 04, 06 - 08
Second team: 01, 02
NBA All-Rookie second team: 97
97 NBA Slam Dunk Champion (youngest player at 18 years and 175 days)
96 – First Guard in league history to be drafted out of Highschool
January 7th, 2003. Most 3 pointers in a single game (12) tied with Donyell Marshall
January 7th, 2003. Most consecutive 3 pointers in a single game (9) tied with Latrell Spreewell and Ben Gord0n.
Career 40 point regular season games: 90 (3rd all time)
Career 50 point games: 23 (3rd all time)
Career 60 point games: 4 (3rd All time tied with Elgin Baylor)
December 20, 2005 Kobe outscores the entire Dallas Mavericks team 62-61 at the end of the third quarter. This is the first and only time a player has outscored a team after 3 quarters.
January 22, 2006 in a 122-104 win over the Toronto Raptors Kobe scores 81 Points a Laker record and 2nd to only Wilt Chamberlains 100 points.
Only player to score 50+ points in 4 consecutive games other then Chamberlain who scored 50+ in 7 consecutive games.
Only player to score 20,000 points before turning 30 other then Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.
Recorded ten - 50 point games in a season (06/07) joining only Chamberlain who did it twice (61/62, 62/63)
Sources: ESPN.com, NBA.com and Wikipedia.org
