Revisiting Kobe Bryant`s first three-peat

[plowking]

Its starting to look that way.

[Javat_90]

Nice to see some of my threads get bumped.

[Nevaeh]

This, rep'd.

Soooooooooo glad Jeff got rid of this bullsh!t.

[crisoner]

The rep thing comes and goes...it will be back again.

[Glide2keva]

To my knowledge, Kobe was on only ONE three-peat team. This title suggests that he was on another, also.

[Jacks3]

He will be after this year.

[Javat_90]

To my knowledge, Kobe was on only ONE three-peat team. This title suggests that he was on another, also.

This title will pwn you and my predicting skills will win come June.

[Big#50]

Shaq made it really easy for Kobe to get single coverage. Teams couldn't help because of Shaq. Everyone was worried about Shaq. Kobe is the greatest second option of all time.

[Eat Like A Bosh]

Agreed.

There's a double standard for counting rings. People say Kobe's first three rings are invalid because they were won with Shaq, then why aren't Magic's 5 rings invalid because he won with Kareem?

Also this whole "the Lakers could have still won championships with some other all-star guard or wing player in Kobe's place" argument is whatever.

They will say ''oh replace Kobe with Vince Carter/AI/T-Mac etc. and they still win 3 rings''.

That hypothetical non-sense might have gotten you some ground back in like '03 but we are in 2010!

I ain't hearing crap like this no more from you idiots cause its without a shred of even comprehensible evidence.

Kobe has proven WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that he is/was/will always be SUPERIOR to any of those guys. How on earth can you even make that argument with a straight face knowing what you know today?

And let's not even mention the defensive end, where Kobe was an All-NBA defender during that run. You telling me T-Mac and Vince played defense as well Kobe?

Your telling me Vince Carter would have went head up with Bruce Bowen and the Spurs defense like Kobe did?

Was Tracy McGrady was about to guard Iverson in the Finals, and Bibby, and Jason Kidd etc.?

I could just as easily speculate that if you replace Shaq with Tim Duncan not only do the Lakers still win championships, they probably win more than 3 without having to go through a rebuilding stage like they did from '05-'07.

Duncan was consistently on another tier as far as defensive impact goes, was consistently more healthy, less injury prone and more dedicated and professional as far as "rehabbing on company time" and conditioning goes.

His offensive game would mesh with Kobe's perfectly. Think Kobe/Gasol on steroids but with dominant instant-championship defensive presence on Tim's behalf and this part is pure speculation on my behalf, it would seem he has the type of personality that would prevent a lot of the clashes Shaq and Kobe had. The Duncan/Kobe duo wouldn't had even ever broken up and Tim's been playing at pretty much the same high level consistently and the Lakers wouldn't have had to waste 3 years of Kobe's prime trying to rebuild. If we're going the "alternate NBA history" route, I could see the Kobe/Duncan Lakers sitting at 6 or 7 rings right now.....

I also like a Kobe/Garnett duo's shot at multiple championships as well....

True, Kobe and Shaq's personalities don't go great together.
No way you can discredit Kobe's contribution to the titles.