Kobe. He’s a top-15 player, but the hype machine had him neck and neck with Jordan. The only reason he has 5 titles is because Shaq carried him to three of them (and the refs gave him another).
With his talent he should have been even better, but he never trusted his teammates.
I think it's amazing how the hype machine has flipped the narrative on Kobe. (But some of that is due to the fact the narrative on Shaq and Karl Malone has also somewhat changed).
Pre-2008:
* Kobe is a selfish ball hog (like when the All-Star game was still somewhat serious and he waved off a pick from Karl Malone to go one-on-one with Jordan, so George Karl benched him).
* Kobe is a terrible teammate, drove Shaq out of town, didn't get along with teammates, while Shaq was and continued to be everyone's favorite teammate.
* Didn't invite any teammates to his wedding.
* Terrible son/brother. Parents and sisters didn't go to his wedding, sued his mother for cleaning out her own home after she'd been asking him for years to come get his stuff, etc.
* Not coachable, made Phil Jackson quit. Drove Rudy T. to either quit or get fired.
* Couldn't lead the Lakers to the playoffs ('05), or out of the first round ('06-'07) as a one man show, while Shaq was still winning championships in Miami.
* Constant stories of Kobe being selfish, a jerk, etc.
* Rapist
Post-2008:
* Shaq is lazy, Kobe is just a work horse who won't accept anything less than 100%.
* Karl Malone is a scumbag rapist who hit on Kobe's wife.
* Kobe's family were scumbags, didn't attend his wedding, tried to sell all his stuff.
* Kobe's one of the greatest competitors of all time.
* Constant stories of Kobe being a great teammate, leader, competitor
Now some of that is Kobe's own growth, but a lot of it is perception. Like when Shaq was dominate, Kobe was the jerk and it was all his fault. Kobe has the team to himself and not winning, see he's a slefish jerk, not a leader. Kobe's now winning, and Shaq was no longer dominate, it was all Shaq's fault, Kobe's a great teammate and leader.