Vince Reed argues that greatness requires being well-rounded across multiple elements rather than excelling at only one. He uses Kobe Bryant as the central example, saying Kobe wasn't the most athletic nor the best shooter but had all components—mindset, shooting, passing (occasional), assists, rebounds, and steals—citing moments like a difficult over‑the‑top pass and a game versus the Celtics where Kobe led in assists, rebounds and steals despite an off shooting night. The contrast is drawn between Kobe and a role player ("the 12th man").
Chapters
It's almost like anything in life. Like you could be good at a couple things, but if one thing's off, it affects the overall performance of everything. And you know, if you just take like a basketball player like Kobe Bryant, right, no one's going to say he was the most athletic. No one's going to say he was even the best shooter. What they all say is that he was just well rounded in all of the elements of basketball. Let's just think about it. So you got mindset, right? There was no one more strong minded than Kobe, right? And you've got shooting, you got passing. No, he didn't pass. You know, that's a lot of people think. But if you think about the key moments in Kobe's career, think about the game where he threw the Yali OOP pass, the Shaq, they were down and he made a pass which I don't think very many people would have been able to make. I remember a game specifically like when we beat the Celtics and he was having an off shooting night, but I think I believe he led the team in assists, rebounds and steals that game. So all of the components of basketball Kobe had, right? And that's the difference between Kobe and that 12th man on the roster.
