rookie, I'd definitely take the following players ahead of Kobe:

MJ
Magic
Kareem
Wilt
LeBron
Duncan
Shaq

And I'd probably take the following players ahead of Kobe:

Bird
Hakeem
Russell

And a case could be made to take the following players ahead of Kobe (although I probably wouldn't):

K. Malone
Oscar

So that puts Kobe at about #11 on my list.

As a talent, Kobe would rank much higher. But his downfall is the damage he did to his team due to his selfishness.