Five Rings

[Roy H.]

Rank these players who won exactly 5 NBA championships:

Magic Johnson
Kobe Bryant
Tim Duncan

Am I the only one who has Kobe has a clear number three?

[Donoghus]

Rank these players who won exactly 5 NBA championships:

Magic Johnson
Kobe Bryant
Tim Duncan

Am I the only one who has Kobe has a clear number three?

Nope.

1) Magic Johnson
2) Tim Duncan
3) Kobe Bryant

Kobe is one of the most over-rated players in the history of the NBA.  Don't get me wrong, sure fire HOFer and well accomplished.  I just think the pedestal he is put on, especially by the younger generation, is absurd.

[BitterJim]

Rank these players who won exactly 5 NBA championships:

Magic Johnson
Kobe Bryant
Tim Duncan

Am I the only one who has Kobe has a clear number three?

Nope.

1) Magic Johnson
2) Tim Duncan
3) Kobe Bryant

Kobe is one of the most over-rated players in the history of the NBA.  Don't get me wrong, sure fire HOFer and well accomplished.  I just think the pedestal he is put on, especially by the younger generation, is absurd.

That's the same order I have, too. I've never understood people putting him asa top 3 or 5 all time player, he isn't even a top 3 Laker if you count Lebron

[Roy H.]

Rank these players who won exactly 5 NBA championships:

Magic Johnson
Kobe Bryant
Tim Duncan

Am I the only one who has Kobe has a clear number three?

Nope.

1) Magic Johnson
2) Tim Duncan
3) Kobe Bryant

Kobe is one of the most over-rated players in the history of the NBA.  Don't get me wrong, sure fire HOFer and well accomplished.  I just think the pedestal he is put on, especially by the younger generation, is absurd.

That's the same order I have, too. I've never understood people putting him asa top 3 or 5 all time player, he isn't even a top 3 Laker if you count Lebron

Yeah, The inspiration for this thread was a social media post I saw where Kobe was being hailed as the best Laker of all time, and that seemed like a consensus pick by Laker fans.

How on earth have current fans forgotten about Magic Johnson?

[Who]

Ditto. Magic, Timmy, then Kobe.

[Who]

The inspiration for this thread was a social media post I saw where Kobe was being hailed as the best Laker of all time, and that seemed like a consensus pick by Laker fans.

How on earth have current fans forgotten about Magic Johnson?

I think Magic Johnson calls Kobe the best Laker of All-Time too. Or maybe that was Jerry West.

[Moranis]

Kobe is clearly 3rd as a player to those guys

Whether he is the greatest Laker is a different question in my view.  I actually think he is the greatest Laker in that he sits at the top of a whole bunch of their all time leaderboards (even though I have him behind Lebron, Kareem, Wilt, Magic, and Shaq on the all time list).  He is BY FAR, their leader in games, minutes, points, steals, FG, FT, 3's, etc.  He is 2nd in assists to Magic.  He is 3rd in rebounds to Baylor and Kareem (yep more boards than Magic, Shaq, and wilt). He is even 5th in blocks.  He has 10.1 more WS than West, just edges Magic in VORP. So as Lakers go, I think Kobe is the greatest Laker even though I have him around 15th best all time and behind a bunch of other guys that played for the Lakers.

[Moranis]

I think you could have a somewhat similar discussion about the Celtics and Pierce.  He isn't ahead of Russell or Bird, but I do think you could reasonably have Pierce as the 3rd greatest Celtic even though he is far from the 3rd best player to play for the franchise (Cousy, Hondo, Cowens, Garnett, Tatum are all clearly better and you could argue about McHale and Allen with Brown closing the gap as well).

[Donoghus]

I think you could have a somewhat similar discussion about the Celtics and Pierce.  He isn't ahead of Russell or Bird, but I do think you could reasonably have Pierce as the 3rd greatest Celtic even though he is far from the 3rd best player to play for the franchise (Cousy, Hondo, Cowens, Garnett, Tatum are all clearly better and you could argue about McHale and Allen with Brown closing the gap as well).

What is the argument for Pierce over Hondo as the 3rd greatest Celtic?

[Moranis]

I think you could have a somewhat similar discussion about the Celtics and Pierce.  He isn't ahead of Russell or Bird, but I do think you could reasonably have Pierce as the 3rd greatest Celtic even though he is far from the 3rd best player to play for the franchise (Cousy, Hondo, Cowens, Garnett, Tatum are all clearly better and you could argue about McHale and Allen with Brown closing the gap as well).

What is the argument for Pierce over Hondo as the 3rd greatest Celtic?

probably not much as I dig deeper. So just call Pierce 4th.

[GreenEnvy]

Magic
Duncan
Kobe

[Celtic Fan Forever]

I agree with what most are saying- Magic, then Duncan, then Kobe.

I think Magic is around 4-5 all time, Duncan 6-7, and Kobe can be anywhere from 8-12.

[Birdman]

Really is a difficult question..u can?t go wrong on who u choose

[jpotter33]

I think Bryant's unfortunate untimely death has a lot to do with how much he's elevated, though you did see some of it even before he died.

[0003323344]

When we didn't get the chance to pick Timmy in 1997 with M.L. Carr as our lucky charm I was sick to my stomach because I knew Timmy was going to be a great player. I think we got picks 3 and 6 and picked Ron Mercer and Chauncey. I put Duncan first because he had a longer career than Magic. Magic lost 4 years to HIV.

1. Duncan
2. Magic
3. Bryant