What Bryant has done in these playoffs leaves little to be desired in terms of talent, athleticism, teamwork, execution, determination and dedication. He has transformed from a young, talented player who needed to be coddled by his coach and brought up and taken down by teammate Shaquille O'Neal to the man that provides the coddling to his own young, talented teammates.Many continue to forget the most important factor in Bryant's playoff performance thus far which is the fact that everything he has done since the All-Star break is being accomplished with a torn ligament in the pinkie finger on his shooting hand. Bryant is injured and playing better than he ever has before.
I will not start comparisons to Michael Jordan because Bryant (and James for that matter) is his own player. But when you think of Bryant and watch him play the same words used to describe Jordan come to mind: clutch performer, perfectionist, teammate.
And while media types continue to praise GM Mitch Kupchak for this season's turnaround, I say we should look at Bryant as the real catalyst. While some saw his off-season antics as petty, insulting and rude, I disagreed. Bryant did what James needs to do, demanded help or a trade. He wanted to succeed as a Laker. He wanted to win more championships as a Laker. He wanted to retire a Laker.
It may have taken an injury to center Andrew Bynum to give Kupchak the kick-in-the-ass to make a deal for Pau Gasol, but now that he has, can we really question who was right all along?
You can see where I am going with this. It was Bryant. The league's MVP, the superstar on the best team in the NBA and the probable Finals MVP. He could also be only the second player in history to win both MVPs, a championship and a gold medal (at this summer's Olympic Games.) The other player? You guessed it...Michael Jordan.
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