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Comment by chishaku | Hacker News Reader

John Stockton was a point guard so that's not an apt comparison.

Kobe averaged 6.0 assists per game the year after Shaq left, the highest season average of his career.

You're right -- although of all the great players, Kobe seemed the worst at making the players around him better. Of course, I have not watched the NBA lately, so don't take me too seriously.

I don't think you can be the worst at making players around you better and win 5 championships.

While this is true, there is a lot a negativity around the fact that Kobe was the second coming of Michael Jordan in nearly every sense.

What I mean by that is he copied his style, his shot, his drive to perform, but you're spot on in pointing out it really was all about him. Jordan took pay cuts to get better guys around him, he relentlessly made guys play up to his standards.

Kobe took huge contracts, drove out other players who made the team better and refused to let others share his spotlight. What I remember most is in several games after Shaq left, watching come down the court and repeatedly looking guys off who were wide open, then either take a wild three point shot, or drive the lane and lose the ball.

Here is a video comparison of Jordan plays vs. Kobe plays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v27Hk5OIe-k

I've never seen Jordan accused of taking a pay cut before. The lockout was because of his huge salary. I don't even think there was a salary cap then...

This is revisionist history. Jordan was signing 1 year contracts for 30+ million and that was 20 years ago.

Which is completely different than both Shaq and Kobe's multi-year $70 - $100 million dollar contracts. By doing so, it freed the Bulls up to sign better players and deepen their bench a LOT more than other teams.

FYI - The NBA has had a salary cap since 1985.

Good point. I assumed a 1-year, $33-million was just as bad as a long term deal but it may not have been.

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