Wow, how so much can change in the past two years. I try my best to filter through the crap that we've come to know as 'ESPN', but I've been a Scoop Jackson fan for quite a while now. Two years ago, I thought this was an absolutely great article chronicling how Kobe can do almost everything right (on the basketball court), yet have it construed as failure. In this day and age it seems normal to have stars torn apart and compared to the greats of the past. Think of all the 'next' Michael Jordans; Grant Hill, Kobe, Lebron, etc... They're all great players in their own right, so why do they get so much criticism even though they give their all on the court? Well, my only explanation is that everyone is searching for something that doesn't exist... perfection.
Which brings me to my point. At this stage in Kobe's career, after this last 12 months, it seems like he's truly on top of it all in terms of basketball. He's won the MVP, didn't chase and hurt his team's record in search of another scoring crown and most importantly, is playing in his first finals without Shaquille O'Neal. His teammates are expecting the kickouts in late shotclock situations and are ready to knock down those shots (well, for the most part anyways). He's not forcing the issue against great defenders, instead he's taking what they're giving him and Kobe's being very disciplined with his shot selection. Everything's hunky-dory right? Well...
Scoop Jackson closed his article with the following:
"Overlooked in all of this new Kobegate is a point Kenny Smith made during and after the infamous Game 7. He talked about Kobe being in a place no other basketball player exists. A damned if he does, damned if he doesn't place. Hoops purgatory. A place where he can't win.
Which is funny, because the first comment out of Kobe's mouth the other night was, "We play the game to win."
Unfortunately for Kobe, you can only play basketball to win.
The game that is his life has slowly become a no-win situation."
I'll admit, things look REALLY great right now. However, if the Lakers don't go on to win the NBA championship, lets see how quick the media is to jump on the MVP for his mistakes. No, I don't think they'll crucify him but the pity card would be just as insulting.
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