Wake Up and Smell the (Black) Coffee

Daniel Buerge
5 Min Read

Written by: Alan Ni

Here’s a quickie, how many championships did Michael Jordan and LeBron James have at age 24?

June 17, 2010 - Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - epa02208487 Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant celebrates after the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics 83-79 to win their 16th NBA Championship at the Staples Center in Los Angeles California, USA 17 June 2010.


Zero.

Here’s another, how many rings did Kobe Bryant have at age 24?

Three.

Now that I got that out of the way, I want to ask you guys something, why do people hate on Kobe so much? To me, it’s because they don’t want to admit his greatness.

Every single time Kobe does something that nobody has ever seen before, the result is, “Oh, it’s just Kobe.” Not amazing. Not great. It’s normal? Because “Kobe” did it?

That makes absolutely no sense to me.

People take every chance they get to diminish this guy’s talent and work ethic for the game, basically to the point that they stole an MVP from him. Yeah, Kobe should have two of them. Most Laker fans should know what I’m referring too. That dreaded 2006 season, when he went on a tear during the regular season. From the string of 40 and 50 point games to that other-wordly rampage he had on January 22nd.

Then in the 1st round, he had his game winner that still gives us Laker fans chills when we watch it on YouTube. If that isn’t an MVP season, I really don’t know how high the bar was that year for MVP. But, oh wait, Steve Nash won. I really didn’t follow Steve Nash’s game that year, but it was his SECOND STRAIGHT MVP. Only Bill Russel, Wilt, Kareem, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, and most recently LeBron have done that.

Do you mean to tell me that he is in the same category as those players? No disrespect to Steve Nash, but he is far beyond that class of players and let’s not forget that his SECOND STRAIGHT MVP season was better than Kobe’s in the opinions of the “professionals.” Sorry, but that is simply not true.

Next: The Next MJ or the First Kobe?

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Daniel is the former Managing Editor of LakersNation. He has also written for SLAM, ESPN and other various publications. Follow Daniel on Twitter @danielbuergeLA
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