One of the stories I often tell in this forum – as the following posts indicate — is that Kobe Bryant is a very good, but not the very best, basketball player.
Often a person (or many persons) will state in the comments on these posts that I really just “hate” Kobe. And because I “hate” Kobe, I played with the numbers until I was able to say that Kobe is not the greatest player of all time.
This always seemed like an odd argument and I was never able to explain its persistence. And then I read the following by Scoop Jackson:
Here are two paragraphs from this column that capture the basic argument:
Truth is Kobe Bryant will never win the MVP of the league. He is hated too much. Hated by those who cast votes. Hated too much by those he plays against. And the two All-Star Game MVPs he’s won, well, they don’t count in this scenario. Voting Kobe as the best basketball player in the world for a day is one thing, honoring him with that same title for an entire season … in the infamous words of Bobby Brown’s ex-wife: “Oh, hell to the No!”
Writers won’t honor Kobe like that, not even when in good consciousness they want to or would like to. As one writer said to me when the subject was brought up in conversation, very apropos for an election year, “Kobe’s electability quotient is zero.” In other words, he’s Ralph Nader.
Jackson goes on to argue that he thinks Kobe deserves the award. But again, he won’t win it because he is hated. And that is something I did not know. Apparently, if we are to believe Jackson, a large number of writers strongly dislike Mr. Bryant. Therefore, it is not surprising that people assume that any critic of Kobe also hates Mr. Bryant.
Although I now understand the sentiment, let me clarify the difference between what Jackson and I are saying about Kobe and the MVP award. As I noted a few days ago, I don’t think Kobe is as productive as the other candidates for this award. So in my view, he doesn’t deserve the MVP. But having never met Mr. Bryant, I do not like or dislike the guy.
So let me summarize. If Jackson is correct, Kobe deserves the MVP but won’t win it because he is hated. I don’t think Kobe deserves the MVP award, but I do not have an opinion on Kobe personally.
Again, now that I have read Jackson’s column, I can see why people would think I “hate” Kobe. Hopefully, though, this brief comment clears up some confusion (probably won’t, but at least I tried).
– DJ
Our research on the NBA was summarized HERE.
The Technical Notes at wagesofwins.com provides substantially more information on the published research behind Wins Produced and Win Score
Wins Produced, Win Score, and PAWSmin are also discussed in the following posts:
Simple Models of Player Performance
What Wins Produced Says and What It Does Not Say
Introducing PAWSmin — and a Defense of Box Score Statistics
Finally, A Guide to Evaluating Models contains useful hints on how to interpret and evaluate statistical models.
Wages of Wins Journal 
PJ
April 8, 2008
Dave, here’s something you might watch out for: How often do commentators say, “well, Kobe is the best player in the league,” and then go on to explain why someone else deserves the MVP, or does more for his team, or such like? I get the impression that when mainstream commentators say “Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA,” they don’t mean he’s the most productive player; they don’t mean, he has a bigger impact on his team than any other player has on his. They mean something different. Something like, “Kobe is the most all-around athletically gifted player,” or perhaps, “Kobe is the most graceful player,” or something like that. “Best” does not equal winning for these guys, necessarily. It means something else. Or so it seems to me.
DonD
April 8, 2008
It’s the usual bias: scoring is overvalued. Disregard percentages, effect on teammates, turnovers and pay attention to point total, streaks, and spectacular plays (spectacularity? we need this word). For the great many who think scoring means greatness, KB probably is the greatest in the game.
TOMO
April 9, 2008
Well it’s a popular debate because for me Kobe has been the best player in the league for the past 3 year (along DWade in 2006/07 and LBJames in 2008) but he wasn’t playing for one of the best team in the league, can we really give the MVP to a player from an average team, I don’t thing so. This year the Lakers are at the top of the league and obviously the question is : Does Kobe deserve to be MVP this year? Well as Prof. Berri said in a different post, he’s as good as he was last year but the players around him are just better (Gasol) or have improve a lot (Odom, Turiaf, Fischer….), my feeling is that KG or CP3 should be the MVP this year, both of them had a huge impact this year on their team, but I believe that Kobe should get more credit and we all should stop to hate him because no matter the past, he is one of the best player the game have seen….
Kevin Broom
April 9, 2008
The most astonishing tidbit in this posting is that someone — ANYONE — got clarity from reading Scoop Jackson.
Joe
April 9, 2008
Don’t read Scoop Jackson. He will just make you more dumber. He is racist too.
derf
April 11, 2008
Hey Joe… I think i’ll get “more dumber” by reading your post…
Logic
April 14, 2008
Kobe Bryant is the most productive player in the game today.
EP
April 30, 2008
I didn’t know a person could follow the NBA and be unaware of this phenomenon. Is there any other player about which an essay like this could appear in a generally reputable media-outlet?
“The Pleasure of Hating Kobe Bryant.”
http://www.slate.com/id/2141287