Why Kobe Bryant may be slightly overrated?

Kobe is without a doubt the second-best shooting guard to ever play the game. He is also a top ten player of all time in my book. In his prime, blessed with athletic ability and godly footwork, he was a scoring machine.

Despite all his accolades though, he may be slightly overrated. Many people consider him to be the second best player to ever play the game after Michael Jordan. That to me is quite absurd. In this article, I mention two things that are not mentioned when talking about the greatness of Kobe Bryant.

#1 Poor field goal percentage

NBA Finals Game 7: Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers

Kobe Bryant took a lot of shots. naturally the more shots you take the more you make but at the same time, the more you miss. While Kobe does not have a bad field goal percentage but 45% is certainly not great.

In comparison, Jordan has a has a 49.7% field goal. Even Dwyane Wade who is below Kobe in almost all shooting guard lists, has a 48.3% field goal. Kobe simply was not the most efficient player in basketball. LeBron James, for example, boasts a 50.4% field goal percentage.

This can amount to the fact that Kobe often had to carry a load of an entire team on his shoulders. The other theory could be is that Kobe was not a willing passer. It probably was a mixture of both those theories.

Kobe is number three on the list for field goals attempted only beaten by Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Karl Malone. He also holds the record for the most shots misses in the NBA.

I do not mean to demean his greatness but simply would like to point out the fact that Kobe was a great scorer but not the most efficient scorer.

#2 Surprisingly not so clutch

When you think of clutch situations you think of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Kobe is also regarded as one of the most clutch players, just until you have a look at the stats. Kobe in the final 24 seconds of the game has a career 36/115 FG which amounts to 31.3%.

This stat alone cannot be looked upon to decide if Kobe is clutch or not. Kobe was definitely an assassin in the 4th quarter making sure that the game did not go till the last second. He led the league in points per fourth quarter in 2002, 2003, and 2008 playoffs.

He also led the league in True Shooting percentages in 2001 and 2002. He was second in 2008. Having said that 31.3% from one of NBA's most clutch players is not what you expect.

Kobe is a five-time NBA Champion. He is an 18-time All-Star and a two times Finals MVP. He also is a regular season MVP. No one should doubt the greatness of Kobe Bryant but one should not be ignorant to his flaws either. Even Michael Jordan was not perfect and neither is Kobe Bryant.