Dime Magazine Names Kobe Bryant Player of the Century

In their latest issue, Dime Magazine named Kobe Bryant the Player of the Century in their cover article. Not surprisingly, this sparked a little debate as Dime reported thousands of fans trying to make the case for his or her favorite player.

Personally, I think it’s a tad early to be naming someone the Player of the Century when there have only been 12 years in said century, but I don’t make the decisions at Dime so my opinion really doesn’t matter.

Our best player is Kobe Bryant, the cover subject of this issue, and we’ve already heard from plenty of people who are speaking up for their own favorite player in that debate.

If we are going to sit and talk about which player has been the Player of the Century (so far) Bryant seems like a pretty good choice. Since 2000 he’s won five championships, two Finals MVPs, one regular season MVP and much more.

Off the top of my head here are some of the others worth considering for the label so far:

- Tim Duncan (4 NBA championships)
- Shaquille O’Neal (2000 MVP, 3-time Finals MVP, 4-time champion)
- LeBron James (3-time MVP, 2012 NBA Finals MVP, NBA champion)

Other than that there aren’t many players that compare to Bryant’s body of work over the past 12 years. So, in an effort to completely fair and impartial, I say good choice Dime Mag.

You can pick up the latest edition of Dime Magazine on newsstands now.

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This week’s edition of Locker Room Talk discusses who defenses will double-team this season.
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