Is Kobe the Best Right Now?

I was listening earlier today to a sports talk show on the radio (I think it was ESPN). The question being discussed was who the best player in basketball is right now. The announcers settled on Kobe Bryant. One of them pointed out that, in last night's playoff game against New Orleans, Bryant made a couple of stunning plays to the basket that only he could make. And he was supposedly nursing an ankle injury!

Well, apparently there wasn't any ankle injury and Bryant had been using it as an excuse for his lackluster play against the Hornets so far. Then last night, in the second quarter (after a very slow first quarter), he suddenly "made his statement" and his Los Angeles Lakers won to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. But does that show him to be the best player right now?

Remember, the announcers were referring to the present and not to the span of a player's career. Kobe Bryant has a solid claim to a "career best player" for his impressive total of NBA championship rings. But his performance lately has been spotty and erratic, to say the least. For me, I place much greater store in consistent greatness. Chicago's Derrick Rose and Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, by that standard, have shown themselves to be much greater than Kobe Bryant. Right now.

Kobe Bryant, like Miami's Lebron James, has enormous talent, talent which at times is breathtaking. But much of the time in a game, at least as I see it, both of these superstar athletes simply won't play up to the level that they are capable of. It creates frustration for their teams' fans as they wonder when, if ever, their hero is finally going to get himself in the mood to "turn it on" in a game. For me, I come away from the experience with a feeling of having been manipulated somehow. I certainly wouldn't elevate someone like this to the title of "best".