Where do you guys have Kobe in the all-time list now?

[Sedale Threatt]

That whole notion of "making others better" has got to be among the biggest misnomers in basketball. I can see making the game easier. But as for actually making players better, I'll leave it to Charles Barkley to sum up:

"Magic got to make Kareem and Worthy better. Michael got to make Scottie Pippen better. I got to make Shelton Jones better."

Charles is usually talking out of his ass, but there's a lot of wisdom in that particular statement.

[dub81]

I didn't put Kobe in the top ten for a number of reasons -

If I'm building a team from scratch and can pick any player from any era to start a team, there are just too many players that are more dominant than Kobe. Kobe is a great player in today's game, don't get me wrong. In fact, he's probably the greatest player in the NBA right now. But he isn't Michael Jordan, he isn't Wilt, he isn't Kareem, he isn't Bird, and he isn't Magic.

Over his career, Kobe has proven a few things -

He cannot carry a team to a championship on his own, he needs big men around him.

He isn't nearly as productive when double teamed, and can be isolated, (unlike Jordan)

He's had a habit of making poor shot selections by trying to do too much, and not allowing the game to flow to him.

But most of all, Kobe doesn't make the players around him better. Had Kobe not played with Shaq, and now a loaded team full of seven footers, his career probably would have taken a path similar to numerous other high scoring guards who never won a championship.

Once again, if I were a GM and could pick any one player to start a team with, here would be my first ten.

1) Michael Jordan

2) Kareem Abdul Jabbar

3) Wilt Chamberlain

4) Magic Johnson

5) Larry Bird

6) Shaq

7) Hakeem Olajuwon

8) Tim Duncan

9) Bill Russell

10) Oscar Robertson

Honorable mention....

Kobe, Jerry West, Rick Barry, Julius Irving, John Havlicek, Elgin Baylor, Scottie Pippen, Isiah Thomas.

Cool List... But I would take Kobe over Russell. I don't believe Russell would of dominated in this era since he was only 6'8 I believe...But he's a great player..You can argue Kobe over Oscar Robinson also..But dude did avg a triple double in a season..I don't think that record will never get broken.

[HoopsPro]

That whole notion of "making others better" has got to be among the biggest misnomers in basketball. I can see making the game easier.

Now you're just using semantics to essentially say the same thing.

As for Charles Barkley, funny how he played with Scottie Pippen and Pippen wasn't nearly as good a player as he was when playing with Jordan. Why is that ? Could it be that playing with Jordan forced players to play at their full potential ? Hmmm...