Has he though? As far as I know, no one throws themselves into debates, not even Lebron. It's all the fans and sports media doing it. And that still doesn't answer the question of if Kobe stirred the pot with the Lebron to LA story.
Yes, and everyone on NBA twitter laughed about it when he did it in May with a tweet. People were talking about LeBron and Jordan, and then he has to start talking about his 5.
Serious question. If Kobe doesn't want in on the debate, why even bring up his rings?
Kobe's goal is to be considered the GOAT or at least in the conversation, and it has been something he has been trying to keep himself in forever. The Kobe stans, Meet me Temecula, this isn't stuff Kobe hasn't fed. Kobe loves it. And one of the off shoots has been those people spending the last decade trying to come up with a way to make Kobe look the better of him and LeBron. And that is why we are now here. Lakers fans are very happy about LeBron. Kobe fans aren't. And yes, there is a difference.
A funny thing about Kobe is that he spent years trying to catch Jordan, and when he didn't, rings were no longer the absolute, because he didn't catch Jordan. But now, rings matter because it somehow keeps him ahead of LeBron.
I don't know why people forget how petty Kobe is. NBA twitter hasn't. Those that talk about the game for a living haven't. Then again, most people seem to forget there is a real chance he raped a woman, so yeah. Kobe likes the idea of being considered the best player, to the point that he wouldn't want LeBron to succeed in a way he didn't. Its just how Kobe is. The dude tries to act like it was his team when they won the first 3 titles, even as Shaq won all 3 MVPs for that show. It was Shaq's team. Kobe chased off Shaq, and hurt the team's chances at adding more, during a stupid barren period because of Kobe's ego.
Kobe has shown who he is. The Jordan copycat, that was never quite as good, who missed the playoffs in his prime. Then acts like it is all feast of famine, within the context of people talking about LeBron's streak of making the finals.
This is just like the Messi/Ronaldo stuff. What I don't get is why people try to act like these things don't exact. Ronaldo, like Kobe, has needled and kept the debate alive because they want to be considered the best. And it has produced fandom that mirror their pettiness. Messi and LeBron has crazy fans, but there is a reason Ronaldo fans and Kobe fans have a similar level of insanity. It is because they are playing catch up that their favorite players bask in.
And I ain't even mad about that from Kobe. Its fine and rather funny imo. But acting like it isn't a thing really avoids reality. Kobe can now talk about how happy he is LeBron is coming to "his team" (that in and of itself says it all), but come on. Jordan is even doing it now with LeBron. Talking about how Kobe is better then LeBron because of his ring count, as the idea of LeBron being better then Jordan because more and more prevalent. Let's see if Jordan would make that argument for anyone that has more rings then him on that basis. Probably not.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/new...-celtics-nba-finals/49b38ualgix71syb9gbj8a2qn
Bryant makes a valid point. The tendency to point toward Jordan any time James takes a step on a basketball court can suck all of the enjoyment out of watching the games in front of us. Yelling about which player deserves the G.O.A.T. tag quickly becomes an exercise in futility.
But the much funnier part of Bryant's tweet is how he framed it. He sneaks in the #enjoymy5 hashtag just to remind NBA fans exactly what he did during his 20-season run with the Lakers. It's a subtle, extremely Kobe move, and it's absolutely terrific.
He doesn't really fit in the LeBron vs. MJ debate (for reasons explained here), but why should that stop him? This is the kind of confidence that allowed him to make some of the most difficult shots we've ever seen.
It also opened the door for a pretty solid burn, though. But hey, it was still better than anything on FS1!
Its a Kobe move, because there has been years of this stuff.
