Unparalleled -- Kobe the virtuoso

By Mason Williams Sports Central Columnist

Over the course of the past few seasons, different players have been anointed the title of "best player" in the league. Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Jason Kidd, and Shaquille O'Neal have all worn the crown. Now writers and the basketball illuminati are foaming at the mouth over LeBron James as if he is the messiah.

Meanwhile, the best player has steadily improved his game to an unparalleled level. Kobe Bryant is the games' best player, its most exciting player, and the best ambassador the game has.

Kobe has averaged 40 points in the past seven games. He scored an easy 51 against Denver on Wednesday night in three quarters of work. It only took him 28 shots to get 51 points. It takes Allen Iverson and McGrady 28 shots to get 28 points. Bryant averages 7 rebounds and 6 assists to compliment his 29 points average. Not to mention, he plays alongside the most dominant force in the NBA, Shaq. The Lakers offense continues to position Shaq as the focus, but it is his partner-in-crime that puts opponents out of their misery.

Kobe is a seventh-year veteran at the age of 24. When he entered the league and hurled three horrific airballs against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 playoffs, critics doubted Kobe's ability. In retrospect, that moment defined Kobe's character. He was 18-years-old and surrounded by veterans on the floor and his instinct was to win the game himself.

Although he failed in that moment, he established in his mind and his heart that the ball belonged in his hands in crucial situations. From that moment forward, Kobe has continued to push himself in his pursuit of excellence. Three championships and an All-Star MVP trophy later, Kobe has distanced himself from his peers. Even Shaq proclaims Kobe to be his "MVP."

This year, the Lakers have gone from looking abysmal to looking like champs in a matter of seven games. The impetus behind this resurgence has been the stellar play of Bryant. Shaq lead the Lakers to the last three championships, but it will be Kobe who leads them to the next three. He represents a perfect blend of old-school dedication to the team aspect of the sport and new-school panache, flair, and rugged individualism.

Comparisons to Michael Jordan at the same age would be like comparing apples and oranges. Jordan, for all of his achievements and additions to the game, will forever be bound to the era that preceded him. Jordan is the end product of Magic/Bird era. Granted, he took what they gave to him and ran with it, but he was still running with the same ball Magic and Bird did.

Kobe, on the other hand, is an entire generation removed from Magic and Bird, and he has always downplayed comparisons to Jordan. He never strove to be the "next Jordan" as writers and fans would like to consider him. Instead, Kobe has always striven to be the first Kobe. He has reached his goal.

Kobe's ascendance to the pinnacle of basketball excellence draws closer ties to the evolution of jazz saxophonists during the 1940s to the 1960s. When be-bop master Charlie Parker revolutionized the art of the tenor sax, all other tenor saxophonists patterned themselves after him. They strove and strove to play like Parker, the "Bird," but none could replicate "Bird's" sound and style. Saxophone playing did not take an evolutionary step forward until the mid-1950s when John Coltrane decided to understand and embrace Parker's gifts to the art and combine those gifts with his own innate sense of genius.

Jordan's legacy is much like that of Parker's. We've searched and searched for the next duplication of Jordan, not realizing that there was another young player honing his chops and preparing to push the art of basketball further than it has been pushed. The ascetic virtuosity that Kobe displays on the court is a pleasure to witness especially when it seems like most of the sports are devoid of truly great players.

Thank you, Michael Jordan, for bringing us to this point. Thank you, Kobe Bryant, for taking us where we will be going.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.