http://grantland.com/the-triangle/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-absurd-present-and-unknowable-future/
Some excerpts:
Watching them play, and in particular watching Kobe Bryant play offense, gives the feeling of having jumped into a time machine to 1993. Bryant gets the ball on the wing early in a possession, backs down like some hybrid of Mark Jackson and Michael Jordan, and unleashes a preposterous 20-foot turnaround ripped from an ancient league.
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But how he’s doing it is ridiculous. No judgment implied, though obviously the Lakers are awful. It’s just … riveting. You can’t take your eyes off it. Watch the Lakers, and then flip to the Hawks, Celtics, Heat, even the Sixers. It’s not the same sport.
And people cheer! Even on the road! They don’t cheer for the Lakers. They cheer for Kobe. The Atlanta crowd was chanting his name — “Ko-be! Ko-be!” — after a couple of classic Bryant fadeaways. The L.A. fans in attendance were popping their Kobe jerseys and mean-mugging Atlanta fans, as if Bryant’s baskets gave them strength or validated their fandom — as if the score of the game didn’t matter. It was downright theatrical. It was like they were cheering for a gladiator, not watching two professional teams play a basketball game.
Despite the awful year for the Lakers, seems like people still fans can't get enough of Kobe. If anything, it's even more interesting to follow him this year than any other year. He's the old school Hall of Fame-er trying to put a stamp in today's NBA with his own former ways. It's clearly not working in the analytics-driven strategies of today, but it's amazing to watch him try to toss analytics out the door and win games like he used to.
He's the last one from his draft class playing and despite what his stats show, hes still playing at a high level. Hes one of the few left from the old school era and he doesnt care what others think. It shows in his game whether its for the better or worse
Won't be another one like him. Definitely the closest thing to MJ that we'll ever see, but he's also entirely his own story. Simply just a living legend.
+1 .... KB is so underappreciated
I think his mental toughness is just something that nobody in the league has
