I have Kobe rated top ten. I do believe a few things could have gone differently, that would have catapulted higher. GOAT? Eeeeh. Don't know about that. Top 5 would have been doable, even top 3.
In the article it mentioned the athletic perimeter players Kobe was forced to score against that forced him to take tough shots. At times? Sure. In general? Bullshit. I have seen Kobe make an effort to stop firing tough jumpers and get the highest quality shot, and during those stretches of games, he'd be a 50+ percent shooter. I mean, it makes sense. Anyone that skilled, and with his athleticism, trying to get get looks, rather than constantly trying to add to his highlight real of tough plays, he's going to be very efficient. However, it never failed that Kobe would eventually revert back to deep jumpers, often seeming to purposely pick up his dribble prematurely, forcing him to pump fake three, four, five, even six times, only to still have to score of an outstretched defender.
What was also unique about Kobe is, he didn't seem to dial down the degree of difficulty at the end of games. Kobe was just as likely to take a quadruple pump-fake jumper one minute into the first quarter as he was 1 minute left in the 4th. I recall almost from the day Kobe entered the NBA thinking, 'Something is wrong with this dude. Why does he take so much unnecessarily difficult shots, and so damn often?" In all honesty, I had never see anything like that before him and nothing like that sense. It was like he was oblivious to agony he was causing teammates and fans at times. lololololol. I do recall reading that his father had a tendency to make the game harder than it needed to be, and apparently he passed along this mentality to Kobe.
People often criticize Kobe for his FGA's, but I would argue that if he had cared more for efficiency, and used his tremendous skill to get himself the best looks, people wouldn't have cared as much. While it is remarkable that someone could play the game in such a boneheaded fashion and still achieve that level of excellence, it can't be denied that that approach will diminish a players statistical output.
Now, somebody might ask, 'Why is Kobe your favorite player ever if you're so critical of his approach to the game?" I'm a skill-junkie. The more skilled a player is the more likely I am to fuck with their game. Also, hey ... while watching Kobe fire of tough jumper after tough jumper when he's cold can be cringe-worthy, it sure as hell is entertaining as fuck when they're going down.