Kobe Bryant: This Is His Best Lakers Team of All Time

Kobe Bryant claims this year's 2012-2013 Lakers squad is the best talent he's played with in his career.  Considering that Bryant has been a part of five championship squads, this is a lofty claim. But could it actually be true?

At first, one may take the stance that it is a "carpe diem" attitude on Bryant's part. Surely, he is trying to live in today rather than reminisce about rings of the past, but even keeping that in mind—does Kobe truly feel this is the best Lakers team? Even better than the teams that won three straight with Shaq back in the early part of last decade? Here's what Kobe had to say about the squad: 

On its face, it's the best talent I've been around. Whether that translates into winning a championship remains to be seen. But just on paper, you're talking about Defensive Player of the Years, MVPs, All-Stars. You're talking about a myriad of things. Guys who are at the top of their position at one point or another. It's pretty dope.

Dope it is, Kobe. It's dope. And Kobe's right. At this point, the potential of the team exists only on paper. The thing is, it's hard to imagine this team not gelling; it's hard to fathom this team not being one of the best Laker teams of all time.

To determine whether or not this is the most talented squad Kobe has played with first requires determining which of his five championship teams should be the gold standard. Is it the 2000-2001 Lakers who rolled through the playoffs 15-1 en route to a title? Is it the 2008-2009 Lakers squad that finished 65-17 and defeated Dwight Howard in his first and only Finals appearance so far? For the sake of simplicity, we're going to compare the '00-'01 Lakers due to their impressive and unprecedented playoff record.  

Let's take a positional approach to analyzing the teams.



 

Backcourt

'00-'01: Derek Fisher, Brian Shaw, Kobe Bryant, Ron Harp...

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