Brandon Bass on Kobe: 'Arguably the best player in the game still'
Los Angeles forward Brandon Bass said Kobe Bryant is still "arguably" the best player in the game. Sure?
•
2 min read
Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Bass, like most newly signed free agents, is optimistic about the upcoming season. That's because it's August and everything is awesome until you lose eight of your first 10 games. Bass, though, took it to a whole 'nother level in an interview with the New Orleans Times Picayune's Terrance Harris -- he didn't just say that the Lakers were going to surprise people, prove doubters wrong, be competitive every night or any of the other things that players on bad teams say. He said this:
"It's quite a challenge but I felt like we've got enough players right now with the signing of Lou Williams, the trade for Roy Hibbert and then myself and we have arguably the best player in the game still," Bass said. "When he is healthy he is a monster still. If he is healthy he's right up there with the best players in the league, that's LeBron or whoever the best players in the league are.
Quick reaction: Wow, Bass thinks highly of Nick Young.
Seriously, though: Guys are still saying this! Kobe Bryant has played half a season's worth of games in the last two years. He is entering his 20th year with the Lakers. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was in his draft class, and that dude has been in Cleveland's front office for years. In the 35 appearances Bryant managed to make before tearing his rotator cuff last season, he took more than 20 shots per game and made 37 percent of them. There is no evidence that he is up there with LeBron James anymore, but he has such cache around the league that Bass can say this with a straight face.
The craziest part is Bass might have said it even if he wasn't Bryant's teammate. The future Hall of Famer and five-time champion -- count 'em -- is respected beyond belief because of what he did and the manner in which he did it while his peers were watching or competing against him. His insane work ethic and competitiveness have been chronicled so thoroughly that nobody wants to doubt him or anger him. It doesn't really matter how great or not Bryant is next season -- the Lakers are almost certainly going to lose a lot of games regardless -- but it'll be interesting to see how he plays and how he's discussed as his career winds down. He's never accepted being less than a star, and he probably won't now, either. Everybody knows that.
