2. Where would a healthy Kobe rank?
Arnovitz: Somewhere in the
10-to-12 range. Kobe put together a nice season before he went down. His true shooting percentage of 57 percent was his highest since 2007-08, and his assist rate was a career high. Would he have sustained that next season had he not torn the Achilles? Hard to say, but he had been incredibly resilient until his Achilles tore.
Elhassan: Healthy Kobe might be the
hardest player to appraise, as he's reached the point in his career where his team wins some games because of his individual exploits and others
despite his individual exploits. Still, at 100 percent, he remains a tremendous offensive weapon, so he would place somewhere between
6 and 10.
McMenamin: Somewhere in the 10-15 range. He proved last season that his offense wasn't going to suddenly fall off a cliff, but basketball is a two-way game and Bryant's defense had really started to suffer. To that point, two-way players like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Paul George, Tim Duncan, Marc Gasol, Russell Westbrook and Rajon Rondo (if healthy), as well as elite talents in or entering their prime like Carmelo Anthony, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose and Parker could reasonably be ranked above Bryant even if he wasn't coming off the Achilles injury.
Shelburne: Easily top 10. That sounds a little crazy for a 35-year-old, but that's how good of a season Kobe had last year. He averaged 27.3 points, 6.0 assists and 5.6 rebounds and shot 46.3 percent from the field -- all above his career averages. Over the years, Bryant has developed into one of the best post players in the game, much the same way Michael Jordan did later in his career. Those skills generally age well, and that's exactly what Kobe has done.
Stein: I was going to say top 10, but then I remembered he was as high as No. 4 in April when we rolled an in-season edition of #NBArank and No. 6 at the start of last season.
So it's conceivable he would still be a top-five selection, which tells you what sort of stigma is attached to the impact of a torn Achilles.