Kobe was hated around the entire league and not thought well of for the vast majority of his career. He was a me first player that didn't care about winning if it interfered with his numbers.
At the end of his career he started to figure it out, but that is the player you are hailing. I lived through the Kobe years. I have lived through the Lebron years. I am not a fan of either. Lebron is world's better than Kobe ever was. Not in the same hemisphere.