Kobe Bryant and the 10 Greatest Athletes of the Last 10 Years

The last 10 years have been something special, as we've some of the greatest athletes in the world rise to the surface in various sports, be it golf, hoops, baseball, football, or soccer.

These are the greatest of the last 10 years, those who stood out the most in their sports, and how they rank compared to one another.

In considering the top 10, I considered several things. How much did they play the last 10 years? How much did they win? How big is the player pool internationally? From the various sports, I chose one athlete to be their sports representative and then ranked them accordingly.  

NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson, without question, is the most dominant NASCAR driver of the last decade, dominating the sport like few in history. He has finished in the top five for the Sprint Cup every year and is the only driver who has never missed the Chase. 

If that's not enough for you, he's won the last five Cups. 

Johnson is lower on the list in spite of his dominance, however, because of the fact that the field of athletes is relatively small. It's not like every kid grows up driving stock cars. 

Gymnastics: Nastia Liukin

Arguably, this among all sports is where the women's competition is more elite than the men's. Adding to this is the amazing fact that calling "women's" gymnastics at the most elite level a competition of "women" is playing fast and loose with the word "women," as the most elite in the sport are more aptly described as girls.

The amount of courage displayed by these youngsters, sometimes a scant 16 years old, is just amazing. With the hopes of entire nations residing on their slender shoulders, they need to continuously perform flawless routines that take amazing strength, agility and grace.

Among the greatest of these athletes it Nastia Liukin, who managed an eight-year career while few last more than four or five. In all, she has won nine world championship medals and won the gold medal in the All Around competition in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Liukin's placement in this top 10 shouldn't be viewed as some sort of politically correct nod but as a result of her being the most elite athlete at her level in one of the world's most prestigious sports for the better part of a decade.  

Swimming: Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps isn't just the most dominant swimmer over the last decade, he's the most dominant swimmer in the history of the world. In fact, you could make a very valid argument that he's the most dominant Olympic Athlete in the history of the world. 

He has 16 total medals, second most in history. Of those, nine are individual gold, most in history. 

Furthermore in the course of his swimming career, he has set 39 world records, six more than anyone else in history (Mark Spitz set 33). 

Being the best in the history of the world is enough to land him a spot on this top 10 list. 

NHL: Martin Brodeur

In the last 10 years, Brodeur has won the William M. Jennings Trophy three times, bringing his career total to a career record four times.

The all time leader in both wins (625), shutouts (116), games (1029) and minutes (60,235), Brodeur has no problem making the case as the best goaltender of all time. He did the bulk of his damage over the last decade.

Brodeaur has also won three Stanley Cups and two Olympic Golds in that time frame.

It's not hard to make a case for him as the greatest hockey player over the last 10 years.  

ATP: Roger Federer

If you've filled out your profile on Bleacher Report, you know one of the questions that is asked is "Federer or Sampras." It's one of the most hotly debated questions in sports.

It's  apparent why Federer is in the debate when you look at his career accomplishments. He has six Wimbledon titles, five US Opens, four Australasian Opens and one French Open. That's a PGA record 16 Grand Slam titles.

From 2005 to 2010, he appeared in the finals of 18 of 19 grand slam tournaments. He has made it to at least the quarterfinals of the last 29 grand slam tournaments, another ATP record.

While he has recently descended all the way to third in the world rankings, he's still the most dominant tennis player over the last decade.   

PGA: Tiger Woods

Before Thanksgiving, 2009, Tiger Woods could easily have been at the top of this list. However his marriage infidelities seem to have affected his game, as since then, he just has not been the same golfer as he was before that. 

That was a golfer for the ages. Still, in sum, over the last decade Woods has been the most dominant golfer in spite of his recent woes, totaling 41 tournament wins, eight of them majors over that span, and netting almost 70 million dollars in earnings. For most of the decade, he was the world's top ranked golfer.

He is not dropped down on this list because of his infidelity; he is dropped because of the effect that infidelity has had on his game.  

NFL: Peyton Manning

This was probably the most difficult decision on this list in terms of determining who was the most dominant athlete in his sport. This was a choice between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. In the end, I had to take Manning. 

The arguments for Brady revolve around his postseason success. However, the fact is that in the same number of postseason games, Manning has passed for about 1,000 more yards and has a higher postseason passer rating than Brady. 

There are those who will point to Brady's Super Bowl rings. However, doing so is pure sophistry. Brady has played well in the Super Bowl, but not exceptionally well. He's averaged only 250 yards and 1.7 TD passes per game. 

The fact is that "Brady's success" is more a result of the Patriots defense than it has been Brady's passing. Brady has averaged 233 yards and two touchdowns in his postseason wins. In those games, the defense has yielded only 16.4 points per game. 

In games in which he has lost, the defense has yielded 28.6 points per game and Brady has averaged 258 yards and only 1.4 touchdowns. In games where the defense has yielded 22 points or more, Brady's record is only 2-4 as a starter. 

In other words, it's been the defense, not Brady, who deserves the bulk of the credit for those wins. 

By comparison Manning is 3-5 when his defense yields 22 or more points. In such games he has averaged 40 more yards, .35 more touchdowns, and .15 fewer interceptions. 

When the onus of the game has been on the shoulders of the quarterback, not the defense, Manning has passed for a higher completion percentage, more yards, more touchdowns, fewer picks, and yes, more wins.

This conversation simply cannot be honestly held without accounting for what happens when the quarterback is not on the field. Unless Brady is out there making tackles, he doesn't deserve credit for what his defense has done. 

At the very least, it should be conceded that the postseason supremacy of Brady is overstated, as are the postseason "struggles" of Manning.

Certainly the difference doesn't mitigate the absolute dominance of Manning in the regular season over the last decade. Manning has 314 TDs to Brady's 261. Manning has passed for nearly 8,000 more yards. Manning's rating over the frame is 97.8 to Brady's 95.2.

If it's clutch you want, Manning has 47 game winning drives to Brady's 34 over the course of their careers. 

On top of all of this is that while Bill Belichick is the mind behind the Patriots offense, while Manning is the mind behind his own. 

Does Brady deserve some credit for the Patriots three Super Bowls? Sure. It's hardly the case that he deserves all of it though, or that he's set the field on fire in the Super Bowls. He's hardly Joe Montana. 

There's just not enough that Brady, specifically, has done in the postseason to offset what Manning has done in the regular season and postseason himself. 

FIFA: Ronaldhino

Ronaldhino's placement here is a difficult one. You could make an argument that he's never been the best footballer in the world, or at best his tenure at the top was short lived. 

For the first part of his career, the distinction generally went to Ronaldo. For the last part of his career, the distinction has gone to Lionel Messi. However, over the entirety of the 10 years, Ronaldhino has probably been the world's most consistent, greatest player. 

He has twice won the FIFA World Player of the Year. He has 116 senior goals over the last decade.

Over the course of his career, he has participated in winning both the Championship League in 2006 and the World Cup in 2002. 

While he is selected as the top performer in the world's most popular sport, his placement here is somewhat precarious, therefore it's hard to justify placing him higher.  

NBA: Kobe Bryant

Over the last decade, Kobe Bryant has scored nearly 2500 more points than anyone else in the NBA. He has more assists, more rebounds, and more steals than any other shooting guard over that same time frame.

He has made every All-Star game, winning the MVP of that game four times. He has won three championships in the last decade, five total. He has won the Finals MVP twice. He has won the NBA MVP once and the scoring title twice. 

There's little question that Kobe is the NBA's greatest player over the last decade. 

In terms of the greatest decades in history though, he's not in the conversation for a 10 year span. Players like Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, and Wilt Chamberlain have easily had more dominant decades. 

MLB: Albert Pujols

Albert Pujols first 11 years in the Majors are arguably not only the best opening 11 years in the history of the game but includes what may very well be the best 10 year stretch in the history of the Majors. 

Over the last 10 years, Pujols has more home runs, more RBI, more runs, more doubles, and more extra base hits than anyone in baseball.

Among players with 3,000 or more at bats, he has the highest slugging percentage, the highest batting average, the highest OPS, and the second highest on base percentage of any player in baseball.

He has been to two World Series, winning one. He has been voted to the All-Star game every year but one. He has won three MVPs, the most by any player in history in their first 10 years. He has also become the first National League player in 80 years to win the career triple crown. 

None of the conventional stats really indicate Pujols' dominance though. To fully soak in how dominant he has been you have to look at the sabermetric stat, Wins Above Replacement (WAR), which accounts for things like differences in lineups, leagues, runs scored per year, and so on. 

In essence, it's a stat that indicates a player's value relative to the rest of the league. 

Over the last 10 years, Alex Rodriguez is second among all Major League players with a WAR of 60.3, nearly 25 percent more than Carlos Beltran, who is third in the majors with 48.4.

Albert Pujols by comparison has 80.3, nearly 33 percent more than Rodriguez. A-Rod is head and shoulders above anyone in the Majors except for Pujols but isn't even within shouting distance of Pujols.

Pujols can easily be argued as the greatest slugger and the greatest contact hitter of his generation, perhaps the only player in baseball that fits that description. 

In the second most played sport in the world, which has the most documented record book, Pujols has dominated the game over a decade arguably better than anyone in the history of the game. As such he deserves the top spot on this list.