Kobe Bryant Announces Official Retirement

[RonSpringsdaman20]

After The Season He Will Officially Retire

KOBE BRYANT

Dear Basketball,



From the momentI started rolling my dad’s tube socksAnd shooting imaginaryGame-winning shotsIn the Great Western ForumI knew one thing was real:
I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & bodyTo my spirit & soul.

As a six-year-old boyDeeply in love with youI never saw the end of the tunnel.I only saw myselfRunning out of one.

And so I ran.
I ran up and down every courtAfter every loose ball for you.You asked for my hustleI gave you my heartBecause it came with so much more.

I played through the sweat and hurt
Not because challenge called meBut because YOU called me.I did everything for YOUBecause that’s what you doWhen someone makes you feel asAlive as you’ve made me feel.

You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.This season is all I have left to give.My heart can take the poundingMy mind can handle the grindBut my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.

And that’s OK.
I’m ready to let you go.I want you to know nowSo we both can savor every moment we have left together.The good and the bad.We have given each otherAll that we have.

And we both know, no matter what I do next
I’ll always be that kidWith the rolled up socksGarbage can in the corner:05 seconds on the clockBall in my hands.5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

Love you always,
Kobe

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/dear-basketball/

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

He's been retired for years,
Got that new deal and cashed out on his name and previous success.

Salute Black Mamba!

 

[Biggems]

I have never been a KoME fan.......but, he is one of the few guys in the league that didn't whine or complain when a defender was in his jersey, like Bruce Bowen used to be. He would accept the challenge, and may the best person win that night. He was a freakin assassin....and a shark, who when he smelled blood, would bring an offensive feeding frenzy that would decimate his victims.

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

Why He Is Worth Every Dime In His Contract

The formality of Kobe Bryant announcing that this season will indeed be his last sent ticket prices skyrocketing on Sunday night.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...ant-los-angeles-lakers-announces-final-season

 

[Yakuza Rich]

To me, perhaps the most overrated basketball player I've ever seen. Not a bad player by any means, but I just never got all of the hooplah. Yeah, he could make some insane shots, but he took a ton of terrible shots and wasn't an efficient offensive player. Very good defender, but I had see better overall defenders that were far more efficient than Kobe. I also think he was the main figure in that era when the NBA dramatically declined in popularity. I grew up on Magic, Bird, Kareem, etc. Tough to watch such inefficient, ball hogging basketball that was supposedly better than Jordan.

Just my .02





YR

 

[big dog cowboy]

To me, perhaps the most overrated basketball player I've ever seen.

I've always felt that way and wondered how the world would view him if he didn't play for such a high profile team.

 

[bounce]

Kobe is one of the top 15 players of all-time, regardless of which team he's on. The guy was an absolute assassin. One of the best to ever lace up. The game was better with him in it.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Okay that was a pretty cool letter though.

I've never been a Kobe fan cause I hate the Lakers and I hated the fact that pretty much immediately, before he'd done a thing, they were trying to anoint him the next MJ.

He was never as good as MJ. Period.

But Kobe was a damned good basketball player.

One of the best all time.

I think he's held on a little too long but that happens. Tons of great athletes hold on too long because they love that sport so much and it's all they know. I mean obviously the money is great as well, that goes without saying, but we have to remember that long before these guys were ever making millions of dollars to do this they were little kids that just loved the game, and through that love kept playing that game.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Kobe is one of the top 15 players of all-time, regardless of which team he's on. The guy was an absolute assassin. One of the best to ever lace up. The game was better with him in it.

To say he is overrated is just plain silly.

Reminds me of a poster on here that rates every great player as overrated EXCEPT Orioles players lol lmao

 

[Yakuza Rich]

To say he is overrated is just plain silly.

Reminds me of a poster on here that rates every great player as overrated EXCEPT Orioles players lol lmao

I don't think it is silly at all.

How many times did ESPN not only compare him to Jordan, but tried everything they could to claim he was better than Jordan?

I think in many fans' eyes and the media's eyes, they rank him better than Bird and I just don't find that to be realistic.

If I had players off the top of my head I would take over him it would look like:

Magic Johnson
Shaquille O'Neal
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlain
Jerry West
Bill Russell
Larry Bird
Michael Jordan
Oscar Robertson
Tim Duncan
Hakeem Olajuwon
Charles Barkley
Lebron James
John Stockton
Karl Malone

That's 15 players, easy. And Kobe doesn't even make the top-5 Lakers (and I didn't include Elgin Baylor)

Comes off as vastly overrated to me.









YR

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

I don't think it is silly at all.

How many times did ESPN not only compare him to Jordan, but tried everything they could to claim he was better than Jordan?

I think in many fans' eyes and the media's eyes, they rank him better than Bird and I just don't find that to be realistic.

If I had players off the top of my head I would take over him it would look like:

Magic Johnson
Shaquille O'Neal
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlain
Jerry West
Bill Russell
Larry Bird
Michael Jordan
Oscar Robertson
Tim Duncan
Hakeem Olajuwon
Charles Barkley
Lebron James
John Stockton
Karl Malone

That's 15 players, easy. And Kobe doesn't even make the top-5 Lakers (and I didn't include Elgin Baylor)

Comes off as vastly overrated to me.









YR

The last two were not greater talents or players than KB.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

I don't think it is silly at all.

How many times did ESPN not only compare him to Jordan, but tried everything they could to claim he was better than Jordan?

I think in many fans' eyes and the media's eyes, they rank him better than Bird and I just don't find that to be realistic.

If I had players off the top of my head I would take over him it would look like:

Magic Johnson
Shaquille O'Neal
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlain
Jerry West
Bill Russell
Larry Bird
Michael Jordan
Oscar Robertson
Tim Duncan
Hakeem Olajuwon
Charles Barkley
Lebron James
John Stockton
Karl Malone

That's 15 players, easy. And Kobe doesn't even make the top-5 Lakers (and I didn't include Elgin Baylor)

Comes off as vastly overrated to me.









YR

I hear ya... But I don't go the "compare" route, I think that's silky too. It's not necessary to determine or validate greatness or not.

I won't list them but look at his accomplishments.


Jordan is my all time favorite. Best ever!

One thing Kobe did that Jordan didn't was win without the "other guy" Jordan/Pippen .... Kobe/Shaq... Kobe won last two without Shaq.

Yeah yeah he had NEW HELP.... So did Jordan..... Jordan needed Rodman added to achieve the second three peat.


Funny note : Kobe was drafted in the year as our calendar year super bowl win.



1990s were great for me. Almost unfair for opposing fans.

Cowboys win 3 in 4 years
Yankees won 4 in 5 years
Chicago Bulls 6 in 8 years (two 3-peats) (admittedly not a bulls fan... I only watched basketball because of Jordan)

 

[bigdnlaca]

I would say that this "overrated" talk is somewhat valid now then in the present time. People are saying now that Kobe led the Lakers to 5 titles when the Lakers had Shaq in his prime being unstoppable. It wasn't until 2000 when he started full time and it wasn't until the 2001 post season when he really kicked it up a gear. Also, we have seen him struggle against Tayshawn Prince when Shaq wasn't commanding the double teams (2004 finals).

However, I will say that when Shaq left, Kobe was playing at a very high level. But for him to be a top 5 player some people say, I will say he had a great stretch from 04-10 where he was the greatest player on the court, but he had a lot of seasons where he was just a very good sidekick.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I hear ya... But I don't go the "compare" route, I think that's silky too. It's not necessary to determine or validate greatness or not.

I won't list them but look at his accomplishments.


Jordan is my all time favorite. Best ever!

One thing Kobe did that Jordan didn't was win without the "other guy" Jordan/Pippen .... Kobe/Shaq... Kobe won last two without Shaq.

Yeah yeah he had NEW HELP.... So did Jordan..... Jordan needed Rodman added to achieve the second three peat.


Funny note : Kobe was drafted in the year as our calendar year super bowl win.



1990s were great for me. Almost unfair for opposing fans.

Cowboys win 3 in 4 years
Yankees won 4 in 5 years
Chicago Bulls 6 in 8 years (two 3-peats) (admittedly not a bulls fan... I only watched basketball because of Jordan)

Outside of Jordan's initial retirement year, Pippen was not a good player without Jordan. He wasn't good at Houston or Portland.

What Jordan had in terms of help was he eventually had arguably the greatest defensive team ever assembled with himself, Pippen (excellent defender), Rodman (all-time great defender) and Ron Harper (one of the best defending guards in the past 30 years).

The game has also changed in recent years to being more of a perimeter game. But in Jordan and Kobe's prime, having a center was key and Jordan had Bill Wennington and Luc Longley while Kobe had one of the greatest centers of all-time to play with.

But for years ESPN in particular tried to paint Kobe as better than Jordan. Anybody with half of a brain knew that was nonsense and that's why I always looked at Kobe as being overrated.

What Kobe did do (which hurt the game in its own right) was he convinced teams and players that you didn't need to be a 7 footer to jump from HS to the NBA. Kevin Garnett was one of the most freakish athletes on the court that I had ever seen in HS and he was very NBA ready and people still doubted if he could make the jump. And after he was successful there was still people that thought Jerry West was crazy for wanting Kobe. But, once Kobe made it in the NBA, then every HS player with any talent thought they could bypass college.




YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

The last two were not greater talents or players than KB.

Stockton is one of the all time great point guards. He was the all-time assists and steals leader.

Malone is #2 in points and #6 in rebounds. Both were far more efficient on offense than Kobe. Kobe was a better defender by far.

What hurt them was they played in Utah and they couldn't beat Jordan and the Bulls.





YR

 

[bigdnlaca]

Outside of Jordan's initial retirement year, Pippen was not a good player without Jordan. He wasn't good at Houston or Portland.

What Jordan had in terms of help was he eventually had arguably the greatest defensive team ever assembled with himself, Pippen (excellent defender), Rodman (all-time great defender) and Ron Harper (one of the best defending guards in the past 30 years).

The game has also changed in recent years to being more of a perimeter game. But in Jordan and Kobe's prime, having a center was key and Jordan had Bill Wennington and Luc Longley while Kobe had one of the greatest centers of all-time to play with.

But for years ESPN in particular tried to paint Kobe as better than Jordan. Anybody with half of a brain knew that was nonsense and that's why I always looked at Kobe as being overrated.

What Kobe did do (which hurt the game in its own right) was he convinced teams and players that you didn't need to be a 7 footer to jump from HS to the NBA. Kevin Garnett was one of the most freakish athletes on the court that I had ever seen in HS and he was very NBA ready and people still doubted if he could make the jump. And after he was successful there was still people that thought Jerry West was crazy for wanting Kobe. But, once Kobe made it in the NBA, then every HS player with any talent thought they could bypass college.




YR

I agree but Pippen played fine imo. The issue was that Houston expected Pippen to be the 3rd scorer like Clyde Drexler was. However, Pippen wasn't a natural scorer, but he was asked to score in Chicago. Also, it was a shorten season. I think the Rockets as a whole took it easy that year since the schedule was horrible for an aged team. What Houston got was a player who showed some glimpse of scoring (Game 3 of playoffs), but majority of the time being a playmaker and a very good all around player for the other 4.

In Portland, I think they expected for him to be what they saw in Houston and not Isiah Rider. It worked out well because you had 3 other guys who are willing to score and he was still their best all around player.

 

[YosemiteSam]

To me, perhaps the most overrated basketball player I've ever seen.

I can just puke the word D-Wade and I've already beat you.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I can just puke the word D-Wade and I've already beat you.

Meh.

Never heard a media outlet and his fans actually try to say that Wade is better than Jordan was. I don't think any of them would even say that Wade is better than Bird or Magic was.





YR

 

[YosemiteSam]

Meh.

Never heard a media outlet and his fans actually try to say that Wade is better than Jordan was. I don't think any of them would even say that Wade is better than Bird or Magic was.





YR

lol, are you kidding me? That is your argument? Only an imbecile would say that and if you take an imbecile's opinion and consider "that" makes a player overrated, then I think you should look around the table and ask who the real fool it.

I think they were comparing him to Jordan because he is one of the all-time greats. You always compare those guys, but how many actually said Kobe was better? Only a fool.

I can only think of a single player that can be considered in the realm of Jordan's all around talent and that is LeBron. He can dominate all aspects of the game just as Jordan did. LeBron isn't Jordan.

Wade on the other hand is (or at least was) INCREDIBLY overrated. It certainly didn't help that ludicrous perception with the NBA refs feeding his foul shots on a golden platter.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

lol, are you kidding me? That is your argument? Only an imbecile would say that and if you take an imbecile's opinion and consider "that" makes a player overrated, then I think you should look around the table and ask who the real fool it.

I can only think of a single player that can be considered in the realm of Jordan's all around talent and that is LeBron. LeBron isn't Jordan.

Wade on the other hand is (or at least was) INCREDIBLY overrated. It certainly didn't help that ludicrous perception with the NBA refs feeding his foul shots on a golden platter.

I've always thought Wade was overrated, but Kobe to me takes the cake. I can't ignore all of the people in the media and the fans that thought he was on par or better than Jordan when Kobe was in his prime. That's why I said 'most overrated.' I never saw anybody more overhyped than Kobe. Go google 'Kobe better than Jordan' and there's tons of results that will follow. And this was nothing compared to the talk back from 2001 to 2007.






YR