Every year, around playoff time, when the Michael
Jordan-LeBron James GOAT argument heats up on Facebook, I’ll occasionally see
someone jump in with a post along these lines.
“LeBron better than Jordan? He’s not even as good as Kobe
Bryant.”
I hate to break it to you Kobe fans, if you look at the
advanced stats, it’s not particularly close.
Bryant was the member of five NBA title teams and played in
seven NBA Finals. He played in 18 all-star games. He won two scoring titles and
three times led the NBA in playoff scoring. He won one regular season MVP and
got MVP votes in 13 seasons. He won two NBA Finals MVP.
That’s a really good list of positives, but we’re talking about whether Bryant deserves to be in the top 10 all-time.
That’s a really good list of positives, but we’re talking about whether Bryant deserves to be in the top 10 all-time.
Here is why he’s on the outside just looking in.
He never led the league in any advanced stat in the regular
season. In the playoffs, he led in win shares just once even though he was on
five title teams.
He topped 20.0 PER 14 straight years, but he only had three
seasons above 25.0. His career PER ranks 24th all-time, below Yao
Ming and Neil Johnston, to name a couple.
Bryant had 11 seasons where he topped 10.0 in win shares
with a career high of 15.3 in 2005-2006. He played 20 seasons and wracked up 172.7
win shares. That ranks 18th, below Reggie Miller, Charles Barley and John
Stockton, among others. Those three didn’t win a single NBA title.
Bryant had seven years where he was top 10 in Box +/-, but
he was never higher than fifth. His career +/- of 3.88 ranks 37th.
He’s below players such as Alvin Robertson, Joakim Noah and Larry Nance.
In VORP, Bryant was top 10 seven times again with a career
best of third in 2007-2008 (behind James and Chris Paul). His career VORP of
72.07 ranks 17th, immediately behind Clyde Drexler and good buddy
Shaquille O’Neal.
How can this be? Bryant undoubtedly could score. His 25.0
points per game average is 12th all-time. But he wasn’t a
particularly efficient scorer. He shot just 44.7 percent for his career. His
best season was just 46.9 percent. He was a 12-time all-defense selection, but
he wasn’t a particularly strong rebounder (5.2 per game for his career) or
passer (4.7 assists per game). Shooting guards such as Dennis Johnson and Clyde
Drexler averaged more assists and George Gervin averaged more rebounds.
The strongest point Bryant fans have in their favor is Kobe’s
5-2 record in the NBA Finals. Kobe, though, was clearly second fiddle to O’Neal
in his first three titles. Shaq was the NBA Finals MVP in all three. In the
final two, Bryant clearly was the top dog in 2008-2009, his best season in my
system. But in 2009-2010, Pau Gasol had higher win shares in the playoffs than
Bryant and ranked higher in VORP.
Plus, you should look at the time in between Shaq and Gasol.
Shaq left the Lakers after the 2003-2004 season and Gasol didn’t arrive until
midway through the 2007-2008 year. In the three years without either big man to
clean up his mistakes – which coincidentally include his two scoring titles -
the Lakers went 112-101 and 4-8 in the playoffs. These were his prime seasons –
26, 27 and 28.
Bryant clearly was great and great for a long time. He’s the
second-best shooting guard of all time. But he’s not in the conversation for
GOAT. Not by a long shot.
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Kobe
Bryant bio info
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Career
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1996-2016
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Games
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1,346
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Points
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25.0
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Rebounds
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5.2
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Assists
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4.7
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FG Pct.
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44.7%
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All-Star games
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18
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NBA MVPs
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1
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NBA titles
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5
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Playoff seasons
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15
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Playoff games
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220
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Points
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25.6
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Rebounds
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5.1
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Assists
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4.7
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FG Pct.
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44.8%
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Hall of Fame
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Top 100
rankings
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Points
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Top 100 ranking
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1-year
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381.66
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23rd
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5-year
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1,768.02
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16th
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10-year
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3,225.04
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14th
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Career
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4,733.11
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8th
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Kobe
Bryant at his peak
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|||
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2008-2009
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Bryant
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Top 5
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Points
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PER
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24.4
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28.35
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Win Shares
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12.7
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16.19
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Box +/-
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4.5
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9.12
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VORP
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4.9
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8.45
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Total Advanced Stats
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46.5
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62.12
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74.86
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Playoff PER
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26.8
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29.85
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Win Shares
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4.7
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4.30
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Box +/-
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7.5
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9.60
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VORP
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2.2
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2.18
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Total Advanced Stats
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41.2
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45.93
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89.71
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Reg. Season Win %
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79.27
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79.27
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Playoff Win %
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69.57
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69.57
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MVP Voting (75 points)
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698/1,210
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43.26
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Playoff MVP (25 points)
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25
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25.00
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Total Score
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381.66
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Bryant’s 10 greatest seasons
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2008-2009
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381.66
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2007-2008
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378.38
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2009-2010
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355.99
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2000-2001
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340.55
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2003-2004
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311.43
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2001-2002
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310.90
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2002-2003
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299.33
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1999-2000
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293.97
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2005-2006
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278.47
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2010-2011
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274.35
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Career
winning percentage
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W
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L
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Pct.
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Regular Season
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836
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500
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62.57%
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Playoffs
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129
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79
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62.02%
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