Oct 16, 2013
Kevin Hagen/for New York Daily News
Just to answer that question very quickly, hell to the no.
For a while now ESPN has been ranking all off the players in the NBA. Just like every other offseason, the players are ranked and we all find somebody’s rank that’s wrong. This year is no different, as an all time great has found himself outside of the
top 20.
This isn’t just your ordinary guy being misranked. This is ESPN telling us that Kobe Bean Bryant will be the 25th best player in the NBA in this upcoming season.
The number 24 player is Chris Bosh, the number 23 player is Joakim Noah. I want to let that sink in.
Oh yeah and Roy Hibbert is number 22.
Laker fans I also have to point something out to you. There’s a 6 foot 11, 265 pound center who hasn’t been ranked yet. I’ll give you a hint Kobe was very very mean to him so he’s with his friends in Houston now. Yup, that guy is ranked higher than Kobe Bryant.
From what I understand Kobe was given this ranking because of his injury status. The funny thing is that Derrick Rose and Andrew Bynum were both injured at the time of last years rankings and still the both of them finished in the top 15. Russell
Westbrook is still hurt but I highly doubt his ranking is dropping like Bryant’s has.
Now lets put his legacy to the side? Is Kobe Bryant really only the 25th best player in the NBA? Are there really 24 players in the game right now that will have a bigger affect on their team than Kobe Bryant?
Lets be honest here, there are only a handful of players in the NBA right now that are better than Kobe.
Ill list them now:
LeBron James
Kevin Durant
And maybe Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony (personally I say no but they both pose an argument).
Even at this stage in his career Kobe Bryant is still top notch. Some people will probably say I’m crazy for even ranking 2 players
ahead of him. At the end of the day, having Kobe Bryant on your roster gives you a hell of a good chance to beat any team in the world.
ESPN dropped the ball on their ranking of Bryant for sure. He will prove it, once he’s cleared to play. Trust me he’s going to get buckets.
Everick Davis Jr.
Was good though, it's me Everick Davis Jr. Born and raised in Portsmouth Virginia, I'm currently a senior at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I watch every sport (not so much golf) but I am huge on the NBA. My favorite players right now are J.R. Smith, Russell Westbrook & Nick Young. Drinking beer and watching sports is my favorite past time and I do it year round! I used to play basketball on the regular until everyone else kept growing and I still stood at 5'6. So that's when I channeled my efforts into becoming the next Stephen A Smith or anything close to that. I currently write for "The Carolinian" newspaper in Greensboro, NC and intern for http://theurbantwist.com/ Random Fact about me, I love anime, my favorite one is One Piece! Second random fact, I got beatz! check me out http://www.reverbnation.com/ielabs
