Why Kobe Bryant is the Best (and Worst) Athlete Ever..

Few sports stars stir up the emotions within like Kobe Bryant. The once well-liked and esteemed Laker has tumbled off the path of public adulation, and with good case (see: sexual assault charges, Shaq and Kobe feud, '05 NBA season). What makes Kobe Bryant so loved by the devoted and hated by so many? And, could it be the same quality that makes him both the World's best and worst athlete ever?

Kobe Bryant dominates players, so much in fact, that other NBA stars base their reputations on being able to slow him down (Ruben Patterson, Bruce Bowen). But, Kobe Bryant does not dominate teams. Even when the man scores 81 points (81!), the Lakers have trouble overcoming a horrible and inexperienced Raptor team. And Kobe couldn't close out the Suns in the 2006 NBA Playoffs. Despite the taller Lakers out-weighing a small, Amare-less Phoenix team, and in spite of Phil Jackson's (the NBA all-time winningest coach) Kobe could not get his team past the FIRST round of the Playoffs. That, to me, is incredible. It is incredible because Kobe Bryant, in the strictest terms possible, is the best athlete in the NBA. The range of skills he possesses (defense, penetration, fade-away jump shots, runners, etc, etc, etc) is daunting. He's fast. He's strong. He can jump incredibly high. Everything that should make the World's greatest athlete is present in Kobe Bryant. But it is wasted.

If the NBA Finals were decided by a one-on-one contest, the Lakers would win more championships than they already have. Nobody, in my opinion, could beat Kobe Bryant at this individual game, with the exception of a heyday . In fact, Kobe's sense of competition is paralleled only by that of His Airness.

Kobe Bryant is the modern sports world's Achilles. People talk about someone like Robert Horry having ice in his veins (which is a fair argument) but Kobe can on the fly sense vulnerabilities in a defense, take multiple defenders off the dribble and always, always get his shot. It's incredible to watch. Infuriating too-especially if you are a Phoenix fan with a weak heart. But the NBA is a game of Odysseus. KobeBryant, while a prime candidate for best athlete ever, isn't even a great basketball player. I feel good just saying that. And it's the truth. After dishing away Shaq to the Heat (who, of course, won this year's NBA Finals) the Lakers FAILED to make the playoffs in a soft Western Conference in 2005 and barely clawed in 2006, ultimately losing in dramatic fashion to the Suns in the FIRST round. How can this be? How can an athlete that tosses up the numbers that Kobe tosses up, or breaks the records that he does, or inspires diffidence in defenders (with exception to the brave and tenacious Raja Bell!) the way he does, be so bad at basketball?

The answer is simple and apparent every time Kobe Bryant plays. I've watched this All-Star take a spinning fade-away with three defenders on him rather than pass the ball. Sure, people argue that other Lakers can't make shots. But that too is

Kobe's fault. Part and parcel of his job, someone that draws the kind of defensive attention that Bryant does, is to get teammates good looks at easy baskets. It doesn't happen (with the exception of the first few games against Phoenix). Kobe Bryant has his own idea of what winning is, and I don't think it has much to do with the NBA Finals. He is a fierce and brilliant athlete, one of the most incredible and best of ours or any time. But he is also tragically flawed. Hubris is what they called it during the time of Achilles, and I think the term works pretty good for number 8. I'm sorry, number 24.