Is Kobe Bryant the Most Hated NBA Player? Here Are the Top 10 Candidates
Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD! THE Q SCORES ARE IN!!!! Can you believe it! It's the moment we wait for every, um, I'm not sure how often they come out, but when they do it's friggin' awesome!
It's like waiting for the College Football rankings or the Oscar Nominations. Time to get out your Q-Score Pool Sheets to see how you did this year!
For those of you whom have been living under a rock since 1963 when Q scores first started being used, let me clue you in.
A Q score is used to determine the familiarity/popularity of a TV show or Celebrity or in this case, professional athletes. What does the Q in Q score stand for you ask? Quotient. How sexy is that?!
The latest Q score revealed that LeBron James took a major hit in popularity. In fact he is now one of the six most disliked figures in pro sports.
Who could've seen that coming?! Whoever did, I bet you won your office's Q-Score Pool. However, LeBron still could not unseat the King of bad Q, Kobe "Jelly Belly Red's My Favorite Flavor" Bryant.
How could that be? Let's take a look at Kobe, LeBron and eight other NBA players that we all hate. This isn't based solely on Q-scores though.
While that will be a factor, this list was based off of K-Scores. What does K stand for you ask? Know. As in, "I know more than you". Which is what every "sports writer" thinks. And of course they are all wrong because they don't know as much as you
10. Vince Carter
1 of 10
Whose got two thumbs and is hated by all of Toronto? This Guy!!!!
Well done, Vince Carter. In fact, since Toronto is the only team Canada has, it's safe to assume that he is hated by an entire country.
Or at least everyone in Canada who actually pays attention to basketball.
Just be thankful you don't play hockey, Vince.
I bet there are a lot of Nets fans who aren't too fond of Vince, either. He never lived up to the hype. He never lived up to his nickname, "Half-man Half-amazing".
So Vince Carter might have landed on this list anyways because of being a perennial underachiever and shrinking in big moments.
But if you really want to get into the specifics of why he pissed off an entire city, and country, then you have to read this article written in 2007. Yes, I believe the hate has lasted this long.
9. Chris Bosh
2 of 10
Toronto doesn't hate Chris Bosh probably as much as they hate Vince Carter, but that's also because they've had a lot of time to hate Vince Carter. So how come Bosh has a higher K-score than Vinsanity?
Because he also pissed off a lot of other cities like Chicago, New Jersey, Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, and New York. Those are the teams that had, or at least thought they had, a legitimate shot to land Bosh this past summer.
By being Wade's lap dog, as Stan Van Gundy pointed out this summer, and bolting for Miami, Bosh entered himself into hated territory. He'd probably be higher on this list, but he just isn't that popular.
One because he played in Toronto his whole career and two because he really isn't that exciting of a player.
8. Dwyane Wade
3 of 10
No surprise that another Miami Heat player enters this list as they are definitely public enemy No. 1 in the NBA this year.
He lands ahead of Bosh because more people actually know about Wade. I personally feel he didn't take enough blame for his part in the Miami Heat hi-jacking.
Wade flirted with some teams this off-season which means he definitely lost some fans in Chicago, New York, and New Jersey.
If he had just stated outright that he was going to stay in Miami and try to actively recruit LeBron and Bosh then he probably wouldn't even be on this list.
The main reason Dwyane isn't higher on this list is because he is still pretty well liked by most people.
After all, he didn't crap on an entire city on national television, and he was the guy smart enough to bring his friends to HIS team. Plus the ladies love him.
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7. Shaquille O'Neal
4 of 10
Anybody that is extremely vocal and loves the spotlight is going to gain a few enemies in the process.
Shaq doesn't help his cause by publicly trashing his former teammates and organizations the second he leaves.
However, there are still enough people that love the big guy that keep him from getting a much higher K-score than this.
Maybe it's nostalgia from when he was a dominant player with the Lakers. Or maybe it's because he acts like a big kid sometimes and dresses up for All-Star weekend to dance.
Or maybe it's because his star has almost completely faded so he is not in the spotlight as much as he used to be.
So if we were compiling a list of the top ten most hated role players in the league, he might be number 1 or 2. It's sad because it's true.
6. Anderson Varejao
5 of 10
Ten Bucks Sideshow Bob is arguing a blocking foul in this picture after he completely flopped on the play. Any takers? You can almost see him begin to mouth the word, flop.
And that's why he lands on this list. Though a year from now, he won't be anywhere near the list because the only time anyone outside of Cleveland will see him play is when the Miami Heat are their opponents.
But for now he makes the list because of all the exposure he got from playing alongside LeBron.
Not quite sure why people hate floppers so much. It's much more frowned upon then when a shooter tries to draw contact on a play and completely overplays how much there was.
Maybe because people associate flopping with European players. Because Europeans play soccer and that's where the most flopping occurs.
Also, did you know that we call it Soccer because it derives from the term Association? Because I had to look that up. It's the SOC part in football association.
Isn't that weird? When you say association, you don't hear soc in it.Why isn't it called Sosher?
You know what else has Association in it's name? That's right, the National Basketball Association. Holy crap, Soccer is popular in America after all!
5. Joakim Noah
6 of 10
I hated this goofball on draft night when he showed up in his bow tie clown suit. I didn't think he cared about basketball, just the show.
After all, he came from a wealthy background and didn't really need basketball. Throw in his stupid hair, all the chest pounding and screaming and you can see why this guy is really, really annoying.
As the seasons went by I started to see that Joakim Noah actually did care. He cared a lot and he was always hustling down the floor and trying to make the play.
That made me like him, but that's because I'm a Bulls fan. If I was a fan of another team, I would still hate him.
He flops. He looks goofy. He complains. He's good without really being skilled (or I should say without looking like he is skilled).
That's what's annoying. When someone on the other team makes plays that beat you, and you say to yourself, "How?! He looks totally uncoordinated! Look at how he shoots his free throws? How do they go in?!"
Plus he is public enemy No. 3 in Cleveland after Art Modell and LeBron James for the comments he made about the city when the Bulls played Cleveland in the playoffs. Maybe I am overvaluing his K-score.
He is not that well known of a player. But you don't really need to know him or have seen him play. We all judge books by their cover and one look at this guy will make you not like him.
4. Rajon Rondo
7 of 10
This is where my bias REALLY comes in. I'm not sure if Rondo is as hated by everyone else as he is by me.
And I can't really give as much evidence or reasons for other people hating him as I have for everyone else on this list.
I thought about putting someone else here like Gilbert Arenas. Someone who is probably more hated by his own fan base then he is by anybody else's.
Which is extremely rare and a hard feat to pull off. But is Arenas really the person Wizard fans hate, or is it his contract?
If it's the latter, then hate the organization for giving that to him. In fact, that just gave me my next article. Top ten hated contracts in the NBA.
Back to Rondon't. Wait, that's Hedo's new nickname. Okay, back to Ron-doodoo. You know, as in poo.
Okay, that was lame as well, but you have to believe me that this guy deserves your hate.
He's so arrogant that after being arguably the best player on his team two seasons ago, the Celtics looked to trade him.
Now why would that be? Could it be that he is so annoying and arrogant that even his own teammates don't like him? That's my guess.
The sad thing is that I have to admit that Rondo is good. If he wasn't then I wouldn't care about the guy and he wouldn't be on my radar. But the fact that he is good makes me hate him even more.
I want to see him fail. I want the Bulls to play him and Derrick Rose to dominate him. I LOVED it when he didn't get picked for the Olympic team and Rose did.
I hate Rondo. Probably more than anyone else on this list. He most likely doesn't deserve to be this high, but his K-score has landed him here.
3. Kevin Garnett
8 of 10
Since my personal bias landed Rajon Rondo so high up on this list I thought it only fair that I put a player I really really like but everyone else seems to hate higher up on this list.
Even my ex didn't like the guy and she hated watching basketball. When I was watching the NBA playoffs she was immediately scared by Garnett.
"Whoa, who is that guy? He looks mean." No, he's just intense. "He looks like a wolf. He's scary. All the Celtic players look mean. They look like bullies. I hope they lose."
Well, at least I agreed with her last sentence.
I love that Kevin Garnett has a true passion for this game. I love that he hustles. I love that he is the anchor of the Boston Celtics defense.
I love that he stayed loyal to a fault to the Minnesota Timberwolves and never asked for a trade.
I love him even more for that now when players like Carmelo and Chris Paul are trying to bully their teams into trading them so they can be like LeBron.
I know, I know. Garnett's advice to LeBron was not to let loyalty get in the way and that if he could do it all over again he probably wouldn't have been so loyal to the Timberwolves.
But the fact is, he was that loyal. And I love him for it. Even though they weren't my team.
However, people hate him for the same reasons I love him. He pounds his chest, lets out primal screams, and talks the most trash out of anybody in the NBA.
They see all that chest-pounding as showing off instead of him being extremely passionate.
We're supposed to suppress our emotions in this country, not let the world know how we feel. Especially if you are a male athlete.
So while I don't agree with it, even though I am the one making this list, Kevin Garnett probably is one of the most hated players in the league.
Especially now that he plays for the Boston Celtics. If he were still wasting away in Minnesota then I'm sure people wouldn't hate him as much. But I'd still love him just the same.
2. LeBron James
9 of 10
I thought this photo pretty much summed up one of the main reasons LeBron is hated. This is a Nets fan, not saying please come to New Jersey, but saying "Please Not Miami."
So as a Nets fan, Miami was more heartbreaking, disconcerting, aggravating then if he chose the rival Knicks?! That's saying something.
I truly believe that if LeBron had chosen anywhere else but Miami that he wouldn't have been as hated as he is now (not that "The Decision" helped his case at all).
Why was Miami the worst possible team for him to choose? Because we anointed him the King. Because we all thought he had the chance to become one of the greatest ever if not THE greatest ever.
And now he took that away from us. He took that away from himself. It doesn't matter how many championships he wins. He will never be the same player he was in Miami. He can't be.
The team dynamic won't let him. He doesn't have to dominate day in and day out for his team to win. He doesn't have to be the best player on the court for his team to win.
LeBron said he spoiled people with the way he plays. Maybe this was his way of showing us all what he meant.
I have many more thoughts on this, but it's already been talked about to death. The death of LeBron James' popularity that is. Ba-Zing!
1. Kobe Bryant
10 of 10
I know Kobe, you just can't understand it. Why are you hated so much? Because you're a Laker? Probably. Because you're a winner? Yeah, sore losers definitely exist.
Because you're cocky and talk the second most trash in the NBA? Double yes.
Because you are fixated on Jordan, sometimes being borderline creepy with how you imitate him? Yeah that probably pisses some people off.
But the main reason Kobe will always be most hated in the NBA is because he can't win back the majority of people that hate him.
Eagle, Colo., will continue to haunt Kobe and he will never be able to erase it from the majority of the women in this country. A lot of people only know Kobe from a few characteristics.
1) He plays basketball.
2) He raped a woman.
I know, I know, the case was settled and he never was actually convicted of rape. But it doesn't matter. A lot of people DON'T know that.
And even when you tell them that little fact they say, "Well, he's still a cheater." So they will continue to hate Kobe. Because if you are not a basketball fan then he can never win you over with his play. It sounds messed up, but it's true.
I always hated Kobe. As a Bulls fan it was my duty to hate anybody that wanted to dethrone Jordan as the Greatest of All Time.
But over the years Kobe has won me over. Especially in light of the whole LeBron debacle.
While I can't say that Kobe wouldn't have gone on TV to announce his decision like LeBron, I can say that he wouldn't have picked the same team.
Because Kobe is the ultimate competitor and he works harder than anybody to try and be the best player ever. I respect that.
He developed a low post game in one season while Dwight Howard still has yet to develop a single move. So with his play, and a little bit of a changed/humbled attitude, Kobe has won us over.
Example No. 2 of how sports can influence our love/hate. I hate LeBron and was glad that he didn't come to Chicago because I didn't want to root for him.
But if he was in Chicago then I WOULD root for him, I would try and defend him. That's the power of sports.
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