Written By: Derrick Bond
With recent individual player NBA rankings by both ESPN and Sports Illustrated released all I can sit here and think about on the eve of the upcoming 2013/14 season is “are they watching the same league that I’ am?”
With many rankings that I don’t understand, the one on both list that are most disrespectful involve a five time NBA champion and Hall of famer Kobe Bryant. On one list he is number nine and on the other he is number twenty five! Word? The good people at ESPN see twenty four other players who will have a better season than a man who has been a top five player in the league since the 2000 season? Yes old man Kobe is now thirty five years old with prime years behind him.
He also ruptured his Achilles tendon at the end of last year leaving a storied franchise with countless questions about the future. Yes these rankings project what will take place this upcoming season and Kobe is still not ready to go. Now this is where things get tricky.
Russell Westbrook a dynamic player in his own right is ranked number five on those list despite tearing his meniscus last season and he’s not cleared to play yet. Derrick Rose didn’t play at all last season and is ranked way higher on both list. John Wall is ranked higher on one of those list and that guy hasn’t played one second of playoff basketball.
There are definitely some other travesties on there like Carmelo at number ten, James Harden at eleven and Tim Duncan at number six but I think the Mamba is by far the biggest one. All he did is average 27ppg 6apg and 5rpg the highest scoring avg in NBA history by a player starting the season at 34 years of age or older.
His pain threshold is unmatched by maybe any athlete ever and his determination and work ethic make him seem almost super human at times which is why even after this devastating injury you still feel like he has something left in the tank. You can add these rankings to his motivation but I for one won’t be surprised to see a return to all star form.
