Damien Vs. Kobe Bryant....
Damien versus....
The Kobe Bryant Legacy
Welcome to the real. Powerful word isn't it? Real. "Keeping it real." A statement that can seem overused at times, but I find it necessary. So allow me to keep it real.
One of the greatest basketball players and athletes of all times. Yes. One of the greatest of all time. There's no doubt about that. The man lit up arenas for 20 years. He won 3 titles with Shaquille O'Neal, one of the most dominant centers of all time, and when Shaq moved on and people said he couldn't win another one, he led the Lakers to win two more. The Shaq and Kobe era Lakers are one of the best teams assembled. I know this will piss a lot of people off but I firmly believe that team would beat the 90s Bulls in a seven game playoff series. That's right, I said it. The Shaq & Kobe Lakers had a stronger supporting cast. Choke on that MJ! (I still love your sneakers though).
But if you take the good, you have to take the bad as well. Kobe and Shaq won three titles. However, if not for egos and immaturity, they could've won a few more. If I'm going to be real, I have to say that Kobe basically ran Shaq out of town. Sure, I'll admit that Shaq may not have helped matters but with the argument behind the scenes of who the true leader at the time was (Hands down it was Shaq) and the fact that the Black Mamba told the damn police about Shaq's dealings with women other than his wife, it's safe to say that most of the blame rests with Kobe.
I couldn't write this piece without mentioning the comparison to Michael Jordan. Several athletes over the last twenty years have been compared to the G.O.A.T but none have actually been more deserving of that comparison than Kobe. However, that's mainly because, (as Jordan himself has once said) Kobe steals all MJ's moves. The tongue hanging out his mouth in some earlier seasons, the pushing off defenders using the forearm, and the form of the off the dribble jump shot, yes the Mamba has taken them all. But I can't deny that it has been a dream of mine to see those two men's teams play against each other with both in their prime. I've already given my thoughts on who I believe would've won, but to see it either live or on a flat screen in HD would be the definition of amazing.
And how about that grand finale? It was really something, wasn't it? Nope, it wasn't. Sports writer Jason Whitlock called it "Joy garbage", and although I won't go that far, I will say that it was pretty pointless. 60 points that is an accomplishment, considering the fact that we haven't seen Kobe ball like that in quite some time. But why did it matter? Last game of the season and your team had no shot of making the playoffs, like I said, it was pointless. And forgive me or not but I have to go in on the celebrity turn out. These vanity driven whores showed up just because the world was watching and they sat there at the Staples Center with their mouths open, waiting to take the Mamba's load. So, 60 points from a guy on a team in 15th place in the Western Conference (that's dead last in case you didn't know) against the Utah Jazz, a team who also weren't making the playoffs = pointless. Some might argue that it was an entertaining show. But I say this, if it were a playoff game, or a championship game, then I would've been right there at the Staples Center watching in awe.
I'm not saying the mamba wasn't worthy of attention. Of course he was. As I said before, he's one of the greatest athletes to ever set foot on a basketball court. But what I have a problem with, what I think is just so inauthentic, is that because this was the man's last season everybody wants to pretend that he wasn't an awful teammate for years, or that he couldn't stomach having other great players around him for long periods of time and broke up a team that possibly could have rivaled the dynasty of Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And speaking of Magic Johnson, if you follow him on Twitter, you would've seen a tweet that said Kobe is the greatest Laker. That is probably the biggest lie I've heard. Magic himself is the greatest Laker and that's a fact. I understand Magic is a good guy with a good heart so maybe he feels like he had to say that, but damn, it was straight up bullsh**.
Here's the truth boys and girls, Kobe's last game should've been at NBA All Star Weekend back in February. That would've made this retirement a true spectacle. I mean sure, if the other players knew that going into the game, they would've stepped aside every time Kobe drove to the basket. But they damn near do that for everyone else already. However, that game would have been unquestionably more special because we would've seen Kobe really go out in style. He would've have said his farewell in the presence of other greats in his sport like Lebron, Carmelo, Chris Paul Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook instead of Kanye and the Utah Jazz. And that my friends is not opinion, it's not shade, it's simply real.
