The black Mamba!!

"Well the NBA is in great hands, but if I had to pick the single greatest player on the planet, I take Kobe Bryant, without hesitation." - Michael Jordan

"Kobe, in my opinion, is the best player in the NBA" - Stephon Marbury
Stephon Marbury on Kobe: "He's the only person on 'dis earth that can do 'dat. He guards people, like shuts 'em down. Then, to do 'dat on 'da offensive end. It's like 'Damn, I can't score on him AND he about to bust my ass.

"Kobe the best in the game right now man. Who better then Kobe?" - Amare Stoudemire

"Kobe is still the best player in the game." - Phil Jackson

"He's the best player alive".- Marc Stein

Lamar Odom said, "It's like God put Kobe here for us to watch him play basketball."

Kobe is the top player in the league." - Jason Richardson

"The MVP should be, when I look at it, I think it should be the best player in the league. Kobe is the best player in the league." - Chauncey Billups

TNT's Charles Barkley on who he believes are the best athletes in the world: "Kobe is the best basketball player in the world."

"If you want to find a player to build around, he's probably it. He's got great size for a guard, he's pretty impossible to defend, and he is hard to score against when he hunkers down on defense." - Nate McMillan

"I'm not saying that he's the most valuable player, but he's certainly the best player. And it's not even close. He is utterly dominant." - Mike D'Antoni

"Kobe is the best basketball player in the world." - Charles Barkley

"It was bitter that Kobe Bryant got injured. His presence alone would have been enough to win the tournament. That's the level I see him on. To me he is the best player in the world right now. That guy doesn't know fear at all. He doesn't care. He would have won it for the Americans single-handedly." - Dirk Nowitzki

"Kobe Bryant is the most talented player in the game today; he could do anything." - Alonzo Mourning

He's the best offensive player in the league, hands down," Bulls guard Ben Gordon

"Nobody can guard Kobe one-on-one. Nobody." - Del Harris

"I see a lot of myself in him. No doubt about it.' - Michael Jordan

Clyde Drexler was asked who the game's top player is today: "I love Yao (Ming), and I love Tracy (McGrady), but Kobe Bryant is by far the best."

"He looked wonderful," said James, who added nine assists and eight rebounds. "You didn't see him go down the middle and dunk? He looked great. I loved having him back. You always want to compete against the very best. That's my favorite player in the game."

"Of course not," James said. "They can never get back to that without Shaq and Phil (Jackson). They still have a quality team. They have the best player in basketball."

Horace Grant kept referring to Bryant as "No. 23," the number Jordan wore. It wasn't a mistake. "I knew what I was saying," Grant said.

"He's the best player in our game today, in my opinion" - Lebron James

"It's hard to guard somebody when he's feeling it. For 10 straight, he was feeling it." It?s always a big challenge battling against the best. - Vince Carter

"At the end of the day Kobe will go down as the greatest player to have ever played the game.""His mentality, his approach -- he tries to seek and destroy. There is really nothing he can't do on the basketball court. The main thing is his will. He is not satisfied with just beating you. He wants to put the dagger in you. I think that is a lost art to a certain degree in this league." - Mark Jackson

"He has no weaknesses." - Al Harrington

“He has already done legendary things on the court,” Tomjanovich said of Bryant at his first news conference as Lakers coach Saturday. “I truly believe he has a chance to become the greatest player ever to play the game."

"He's my hero." - Shaq

Kobe has a fire in his eyes like he wants to be the best," said Jamal
Crawford. "You can really see it."

"I give him all the respect in the world. He is the No. 1 player in the league, by far." Gilbert Arenas

"He ranks right there with Jordan." - Pat Riley

"He reminds me of Michael Jordan. "You look and they have similar games where they want to lead their team to victory, no matter if they have to shoot the ball every time or if they have to rebound or pass, they're going to find a way to win." I've always said that Kobe Bryant is the best scorer in our game today and he's definitely proving himself. " - Lebron James

Well, he's the best player, by far. Dirk or Nash don't really play defense. And you talk about LeBron (James), well, LeBron doesn't check Kobe, but Kobe checks LeBron. Kobe does pattern himself after Michael (Jordan) in that fact that he's going to check the best. I think that's why he's the best player, because he's one of the best scorers and one of the best defenders." - Chris Webber

That's the reason I'm here coaching, basically, because Kobe is here. I made that evident when I came back that if I was going to coach this team, Kobe is going to be here. He's in a league all to himself... He just smells blood in the water and he's going to go after it. ...That's what you see that you admire in Kobe is that he's going to attack. He's going to be in that mode. He's going to continue to go at a team until either you take him out of the ballgame or else they stop him." - Phil Jackson

"Kobe Bryant is the most complete offensive player that the game has ever seen." - Greg Anthony

Toronto's Jalen Rose:
"I'll be watching because I'm an NBA lifer -- I watch every game I can. We don't want to be the team that gave up 81 -- nobody wants to be looked at like that -- but we have to give Kobe his due. This is the best all-around player and competitor in the game. And the scary part is, he will only get better, especially with Phil Jackson on his side. He will go down as one of the all-time greats."

Cavs Guard, Eric Snow:
"Hats off, he's the best. It's hard to get 50 in a game. He did it in a half. It takes a tough player who works really hard. I think he's one of the best ever."

George Gervin:
"To compare it to anybody would be useless. He set himself apart from everyone else. Everyone looks for another Michael Jordan, and there probably won't be one. What Kobe did was establish himself as one of the greatest scorers of all time at an early age. He's a phenom. I'm a believer, man. Now we've got to sit back and wait and see if anyone scores 82."

Chicago Bulls G, Ben Gordon:" That should put all the questions to rest who's the most talented and who's the, you know, best offensive player in the league. You know if he would've had a decent first half, he might've got 100 points last night. I mean if anybody can go out there and score 25 points a quarter I would definetly say it's Kobe."

Chicago Bulls F/C, Tyson Chandler: "We're witnessing greatness right now. We need to understand that. (asked: "Is he the best of the best?") Yeah, definitely."

Mavs GM, Mark Cuban:
"It's amazing. Beyond amazing. He's on another level from any other player at this point. It's like he is toying with teams. If you push up on him, he just takes two steps back and shoots from further out. I hope the NBA adjusts its TV schedule so we all can see him play more. It would be fun to watch and fun to debate how far a one-man show can drag four other players in a team sport."

Orlando Magic Guard, Keyon Dooling:
"It's not just a buzz about Kobe, it's a holler. That guy is incredible. That's why he's the best player in the league

Orlando Magic Assistant GM, Otis Smith:
"Whether you like him or dislike him, Kobe is a special player. He has the killer instinct in him that a lot of the talented players don't have. When he smells blood, he goes for the jugular. That's a (Michael) Jordan-like quality."

Hornets Guard Kirk Snyder:
"I heard about it after I had finished hanging out with David West, and he called me and said that Kobe had scored 81. My first thought was is that I'm in the NBA with probably one of the best players ever to play in the NBA."

Jerry West:
"I don't know if anyone could have stopped him last night. It's so senseless to me to say he shouldn't take over like that. You give the same amount of shots to everybody else and they're not making that many, I know it. Players are jealous of greatness. Kobe is a unique talent and a unique person. His belief that he can jump to the moon is never going to change. But I admire him, what he's been able to overcome. You would think he would be a fair-haired man of the NBA with what's he's already done. But he's taken a fairly good battering.

Ex-Bull and now-Analyst Steve Kerr:
"I'm always one to credit the guys who win. I don't know if I would have given Kobe the M.V.P. last week. But what he did in the game last night, he's so clearly the best player out there“.