Awesome.

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Bully for him, but it's still nonsense.

Bernsie, is that you?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Idk if I agree with it either. I don't think it can be so easily dismissed as nonsense, if one of the guys in the comparison is already conceding the argument. They are very close on my list.

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Retired players in all sports say stuff like that all the time though, unless they're MJ-level ruthless. Johnson does everything better than Bryant except score, and even there he was far more efficient.

I may have just not heard it before, but I don't think that's necessarily true. If the above statement is verifiable, I'd have to say such humility exists less in basketball than any other sport. A lot of retired greats from the late 70's throughout the early 90's would love to tell you how they were better than today's stars of the NBA. What Magic said about Kobe can't be discounted.

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Why was Lyle Lovett just played to close the broadcast from Portland?

Charles looked uncomfortable in the studio.

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Well I'd like to see a source on Magic's quote anyway, especially given his history of being an attention whore. All I could find on a cursory search was a thread with braindead Lakers fans whining that Johnson takes too many shots at Kobe. Regardless of whether he said it or not though, I don't think retired players are the best at analyzing where active guys rank, and they may be just as likely to underrate themselves as they are to overrate. I don't think their opinions should have much weight in compiling any ranking.

This one is great. It was funnier when I posted it on the 1st page though. D-Will pushing Sloan overboard is awesome.

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My favorite part of last night's Inside the NBA was the .0000000000001 second delay to both Kenny and Charles answering the question "Do the Hawks have a shot against the Bulls?" with resounding "no"s.

Tom Thibodeau seems to have inherited Lovie Smith's rectum-spelunking horseshoe, although we all remember where the magic ran out with Lovie..... very likely the same thing happens here.

...and what really sucks is that this is probably the best year for the Bulls to have a crack at the title, cuz getting out of the East is going to get harder and harder and harder despite Boston's diminishing presence.

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Love the Birdman's spot

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

My bad DB. Not even reviewing my own thread like I should.

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Always search with Google. With as much seedless as I take down, your gonna have to cut me a little slack on this memory. I was close. And Magic thinks Kobe is close too. Already considers him his equal. From the article:

After Kobe won his fifth title Thursday, Magic said on ESPN that Kobe deserves a statue next to his outside Staples Center. Later that night, Magic told me Kobe is now his equal, although not yet his superior.

"The great thing about the Lakers is that we judge by championships,'' said Magic, who -- along with Kareem, Kobe and crucial role player Derek Fisher -- has won a handful of rings with the Lakers. "So when Kobe gets that next one, then he'll be The Man; he'll be the greatest Laker. And I'll have no problem giving him that.''

First search result for "Kobe Magic"... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/ ... obe-100618

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Thanks for digging that up, but this just reinforces for me how unreliable the words of pro athletes are for judging who the greatest player of all time is. RANGZ alone is not an adequate argument for assessing Bryant's place in history, especially given who he has played with and against for many of his championships. I'm also curious whether Johnson would say the same thing since he's now sold his share in the team.


Even with Bryant's more frequent trips to the line and more three pointers, Johnson still has Kobe clearly beat on adjusted stats like TS% and EFG%. Johnson also blows Kobe away on points per possession, despite having a higher usage than nearly everyone on the top ten of that list aside from Barkley. I also don't think the defensive comparison is as much of a blowout for Kobe as you think. Johnson had respectable stats in measurable defensive categories and actually has a higher defensive rating than Bryant. He was also asked to guard far more positions than Bryant has. Obviously defensive effectiveness remains extremely difficult to measure, but even if we throw out the stats, I disagree with the idea that Bryant is an all-world defender. He still looks good when he's motivated, but I simply don't think he's played at a consistently high level on that side of the ball since their first three-peat.

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It's not like we're talking about Elgin Baylor here. Magic is a bright guy. He's probably weighing personal variables about himself and Kobe that we either value differently, or will never know about. I value the perceptions of the all time greats more than someone like Mark Jackson or Steve Kerr. Magic's statement doesn't clinch anything for me, but it does help frame an argument Kobe is closer to being the GOAT Laker than most will admit.


I don't buy into this argument. Every Championship team in NBA history dating back to the mid 60's (Aside from the Supersonics Champ team) had at least 2 studs on their squad. Weighing the age/significance of each star's prime can be unreliable as well when there are situations like Kobe taking over games in the Playoffs and Finals when Shaq was in foul trouble or when the Lakers' 3pt shooters weren't hitting their shots off of O'Neal double teams. For as much as he is the Gordon Gecko of 21st century professional basketball, Kobe knows how to dominate. He knows what it feels like to contribute and win. It's actually been fun, as an NBA nerd, to watch Kobe adjust from unstoppable all the time, to picking and choosing his spots. It's like MJeff his first full year back after the initial retirement.

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The show is worse without Ernie Johnson he is the glue that holds it together

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It's not just playing alongside another superstar (though I think Shaq was undeniably the more valuable piece of the first three-peat). The Lakers of the past three finals were in my opinion far and away the deepest team in the league. This regularly gets overlooked however in discussions of Bryant's all-time ranking, and while I realize it's difficult to weigh the contributions of different members of a given team, I believe he receives far too much of the credit for their success. In recent years, the players with comparative usage levels like Rose with the Bulls, Nowitzki with the Mavericks, and Wade with the Heat often arrived at their numbers because they were the only players capable of consistently creating their own shots. I simply don't think this is the case with Bryant and the current Lakers squad, and so I am inclined to punish him more for lower efficiency ratings.

This ties in with my objection to the idea that Bryant is now somehow more discerning in his game. He might settle for the fadeaway more often than the drive, but he's still going to take a whole lot of shots every game, even when he's doing poorly (see game 7 last year).

I noticed Matt Winer, formerly of ESPN, sitting in E.J.'s seat last night alongside Kenny Smith & Charles Barkley in the Atlanta studio...Is Turner/TNT Sports putting E.J. to work on one of the other NBA Conference Semifinal series as a play-by-play voice?

They said he was at the Sports Emmy's last night.

Or maybe he performing elsewhere:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNqsUtbw5yA

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Douchebag, thumbs down to me...Dan Patrick mentioned on his syndicated sports talk show yesterday the Sports Emmys were last night in New York, but didn't say anything about E.J. in attendance, let alone if he was nominated for "Inside the NBA".

Barkley was hilarious when he got the Derrick Rose MVP headphones. This is without a doubt the most entertaining shit on television.

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Barkley reflecting on his career was excellent too. Dirk just passed Barkley on the all time playoff points list

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Totally agree, best pre/post game going on right now.

Barkley breaking his driver head on the very first shot was fucking hilarious!

Kenny ripping on Barkley for his golf swing -"Do da stanky leg,do da stanky leg"

"Where's the earthquake"

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You never miss your wealth, till your well went dry
Seem like only yesterday, you were here smiling
Now you gone away, but I know you in a better place
No traces of you, what can I do?
Alone and confused

Shaq is joining the studio crew next season.

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Not sure how to feel about that yet. I like the existing dynamic between Ernie, Kenny & Chuck. I have a bad feeling, but I hope it doesn't make it suck...

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This is my signature...