PODCAST: Kobe Bryant among Top 5 players of all time

Kobe Bryant is now within 219 points of surpassing Michael Jordan (32,292) on the career scoring list. I covered all five of Kobe’s championships, along with the final three of Jordan’s six.

I was a little kid when I watched Oscar Robertson play in person, and I grew up watching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominate the NBA, both with the Bucks and the Lakers.

I have only faint memories of watching Wilt Chamberlain play on TV, and I never saw Bill Russell play — although I have met and interviewed both of them.

I just mentioned six players, none of whom are named LeBron James. So you already have a hint as to one name that is being left off my all-time Top Five. (He may ultimately get there, but he has a long way to go. You gotta win titles. Not one … not two … 

Comparing players from different eras is difficult. If you are not in your 70s, you cannot lay claim to having see all of them play. And I am not 70. Heck, I am still in the under-50 crowd, and it is good to still be a young man.

So when I am listing my all-time Top 5, I need to provide full disclosure: I have seen a lot, and I have witnesses a lot in person, but I am not old enough to have any memory whatsoever of a team winning 11 championships in a span of 13 years. For that, I talk to my dad. But imagine if a player came along these days and won that many titles in a similar span of time? The “greatest ever” debate would be over, right? (Just something to remember when debating the merits of greatness. If winning is valued above all else, Bill Russell is the gold standard. Period.)

One of my most vivid memories of Kobe’s most recent title, in 2010, came during the fourth quarter of Game 7 when Bryant was playing second fiddle to Pau Gasol down the stretch against the Boston Celtics (Gasol got my official Finals MVP vote for being the best when it counted most, the final 6 minutes). I was sitting alongside J.A. Adande of ESPN (we were four rows up, along the baseline), and Adande pointed out a tweet that Jordan’s son had posted saying anyone who believes Bryant is better than Jordan should take note of the way Bryant was practically shooting the Lakers out of the title (he finished 6-for-24 from the field, and he was the third-best player on his team in that game, behind Gasol and Ron Artest).

My most vivid memory of Jordan’s final title, in 1998, was the bird’s eye view I had (second row, center court) of Jordan sneaking up behind Karl Malone to poke the ball away, leading to his famous shot over Bryon Russell of the Utah Jazz (yes, Jazz fans, I know that Jordan pushed off) for the game-winning points. It was a great seat the NBA provided to the AP (my employer at that time) for the finals, and I saw Jordan coming before Malone did. Then again, so did everybody. But to see it in person from 50 feet away is a whole different experience.

So there is your full disclosure on where I am coming from when I list my Top 5. (Listen to the podcast below to hear where Bill Reiter of AM570 in Los Angeles lists Bryant. He is getting hammered for it my is listeners and followers).

My five, in order:

Chamberlain, Jordan, Russell, Robertson, Bryant.

Lots more on Kobe and the Lakers (present and future) in this podcast from Nov. 24, 2014: