I "love to hate" him. But I'm not talking about who you're thinking about.

Being from Los Angeles, I do not despise Kobe Bryant like the citizens of every other city in America do. But I can choose someone for whom I have those same feelings.

And that person is, without question, John Hollinger.

It’s amazing how this works: As much as Kobe is hated, the haters continue to watch him whenever he plays.

The same goes for me with Hollinger. As much as I disagree with him, I continue to read his articles on a daily basis.

And just as Kobe never lets down his haters, Hollinger never ceases to amaze me.

Kobe goes for 61 points, three rebounds and zero assists at Madison Square Garden, and the haters say he’s the same old selfish Kobe.

Hollinger claims LeBron James to be on Michael Jordan’s level, and I think this is ludicrous, seeing as how LeBron has zero rings and zero Finals wins. And it's not like the 2009 NBA Championship wouldn't put the "King" on par with Jordan’s pair of three-peats.

 

And to set the record straight on comparisons to Jordan, since day one, I have never compared Kobe to Jordan. Kobe, just like LeBron, will never be MJ.

I will agree with Hollinger that LeBron is having one of the best statistical seasons ever. He's a triple-double waiting to happen every time he steps on the court and should, without question, be awarded the MVP.

But at the same time, I absolutely loathe Hollinger's number systems. To me, PER, VA, and all his simulations are nothing more than over-analysis of box scores.

Does Hollinger’s system, AccuScore projections, or any other number system predict the Los Angeles Clippers beating the Boston Celtics?, the Charlotte Bobcats beating the Los Angeles Lakers, or the Washington Wizards beating the Cleveland Cavaliers?

The list of upsets could go on, which is why the games have to be played.

No number system can account for everything and each will in some way have a measure of unaccounted bias in certain areas. As ESPN’s TrueHoop acknowledged earlier today, the Celtics' defensive strategies and teamwork can never truly be reflected in any number analysis.

 

Following the Lakers victories over the Cavaliers and the Celtics, both on the road, Hollinger’s system kept the Lakers in third place in his Power Rankings.

He justified this by stating that “every game is just a binary result, a 1 or a 0, (so) a lot of information is lost.” This information includes many things, but he specifies scoring margin as one of the major factors in predicting success.

 

Just as Hollinger can over-analyze box scores, I can over-analyze Hollinger.

Having some background knowledge in computers, I’ll take Hollinger’s current rankings.

The Cavaliers have a scoring margin of 8.89 and the Celtics one of 8.21, which converts to 1000.11100011110101110000 and 1000.00110101110000101000, respectively, in a floating point conversion.

His same number system can be broken down to the same win or loss result—just a bunch of ones and zeros.

Everyone saying that this is ridiculous, unreasonable, unrealistic, preposterous, or any explicit words, well, that is exactly what I think of Hollinger’s system and my point is proven.

Regardless of the ill will towards Kobe’s game and style of play, the reasonable haters that don’t just say “rapist” at every turn will acknowledge Kobe’s professionalism, work ethic, and talent.

And I acknowledge that Hollinger is smarter than me on every level and is a statistical guru who is doing his best to develop a system that accounts for as many areas as possible.

But I still reserve the right to disagree with any number analysis.

 

In the end, I have it better than those who diss KB24.

Kobe haters have to spend unknown lengths of time hoping for the Mamba to have a game as a volume shooter, miss a clutch shot, be sued by a maid, or experience some other "catastrophe."

My wait is less than 24 hours away, as Hollinger’s PER Diem will be on ESPN’s NBA homepage by lunchtime tomorrow.

 

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