Neither could Kobe until Pau came along.
TheKad's arguments against Kobe
are scraping bottom of the barrel...they're recycled and long ago refuted.
And, in 10 years some numbnuts is going to point to Carmelo Anthony in 2008-2010 as better than Kobe and cry
"he didn't have the help or the coaching Kobe did! If he had Pau and Phil he wins 3 chips instead of two"
Same argument can be made for Wade and Bron and Durant from 2008-2010 and
will be made in a few years by the same T-Mac crowd.
Basketball isn't about what ifs, it's about what is, and none of those players in those years were at Kobe's level mentally...and the only people who play what ifs games or stat comparisons are when they don't have actual accomplishments in their side of the argument.
T-Mac was Melo - not a great defender, not a leader at all, and improved his play in the postseason but still couldn't carry a team past the first round really.
you can do what if games with 8-10 perimeter players but the truth is none of them stack up. Kobe in 2000-2004 was leaps and bounds better defensively and at the very least equal offensively. When you factor in mentality and basketball iq there is no comparison.