Kobe Bryant named Player of the Decade

With 55 percent of the vote, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant edged out San Antonio's Tim Duncan in an informal Sporting News poll.

Of course that could have a lot to do with Bryant's recent success, the popularity of the team he plays for, etc., but it's still a nice honor.

The article, written by the excellent Sean Deveney, has a really interesting quote from Shaquille O'Neal on Bryant.

``The thing about Kobe is that, over the course of my career, I have never played with anyone who was as fierce as he is,'' O'Neal said. ``By fierce I mean just having that extra killer instinct that you know when the game is on the line he is not going to shy away from the big shot, he is not going to make excuses. If we would go into the fourth quarter, playoffs or just some game in the season and we were within a little bit of the other team, Kobe was not going to shy away from the challenge of getting the win. He was going to take the shots."