LOS ANGELES
No one benefits from LeBron hate more than Kobe Bryant.
Hatred of LeBron — more than even Kobe’s five
championship rings — is the primary reason Kobe is allowed to delude himself
with the notion that he is on equal footing with Magic
and Bird and in hot pursuit of Michael Jordan’s legacy.
We sell the false Kobe narrative because it fuels and
justifies our disdain for King James. The closer Kobe is to NBA royalty, the
more distance James must travel and the more people he must pass to get a seat
at the table reserved for Jordan, Magic and Bird. LeBron haters don’t want him
anywhere near the NBA’s Lord, Savior and Holy Ghost. LeBron is Judas, in the
haters’ mind, the man who betrayed Cleveland. Kobe is Peter, Jordan’s most
trusted disciple.
Shacks’
Take: I love Whitlock but he’s
wrong on this one. Lebron is the most
talented player of our generation but there’s more to sports than talent. Kobe has an inner fire to win that is so much
bigger than Lebron’s it propels him above Lebron in terms of greatness. Kobe’s six rings also go a long way in
convincing me to be on Kobe’s side.
Since most of us hate Kobe equally as much as we dislike Lebron, it
comes down to which one would win the big game for your team. Until Lebron proves he won’t choke in the
clutch, Kobe’s my man. We can revisit
this in five years and I might think different but not today.
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