I was watching the Boston Celtics-LeBron James game last night (there were some other players involved too, I think they were from somewhere in Ohio) when I was struck by a shockingly irrelevant thought. The announcers were discussing other ongoing playoff series when they came to the injury status of Kobe Bryant.

It was at this point that the strangely irrelevant thought came, for no particular reason I could fathom at the time: You know what, I bet he wasinnocent.

Now, that statement comes not because I had previously presumed him to be guilty, though like most people I probably have a tendency to read too much into the hubbub before any celebrity trial. Nor was it because I suddenly put all the pieces together in Holmesian fashion, deducing at long last that perhaps LA’s brightest star couldn’t possibly have been guilty of sexual assault in 2003.

No, my understanding of that case is entirely superficial and my shift in thought came more from just a gut feeling than any basis in fact. As Stephen Colbert might say, I found something “truthy” and latched on. It was particularly irrelevant in that it didn’t give me a new appreciation for Kobe at all. He is still a great player whose personal life probably shouldn’t be emulated by children (one way or another, after all, it is pretty clear that Kobe at the very least cheated or attempted to cheat on his wife).

But rather it was the realization yet again of just how true it is that perception is reality, especially in the media-rampant environment of professional sports. Because I bet I’m not alone in moments like these — when you suddenly see an athlete in a slightly different light and realize just how much perception, as opposed to fact, has to do with his public image. Because now, five years after the incident in Colorado, I think Kobe is finally being forgiven both for his hotel indiscretions and for his much publicized rift with Shaq that ended up in the Big Fella being shipped off to Miami.

It’s like Kobe had to be the anti-hero for a while before people could come back and realize just how talented he is. You’ve got to fall from grace to be redeemed, and if Bryant and the newly rejuvenated Lakers can make enough noise in this postseason, I think that journey will be complete. Because even playing through an injury, Kobe was the most important player in his most recent game against the Utah Jazz. That’s just the kind of player he is, and now that he has a decent supporting cast once again, he seems like he’s out to prove it to the world every night.

It’s similar to an analogy Steve Young uses often as an analyst on ESPN — in sports, you are what you seem to be. The “fiery leader,” like Brett Favre for instance, doesn’t have to make a tremendous Knute Rockne-esque style speech before every big game because his teammates, presumably, already view him as a leader.

A simple word or two, a nod, or even a glance was enough to get his teammates to fall in line behind their veteran quarterback. Contrastingly, if Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones so much as sneezes in the presence of a law enforcement officer in the coming year and the NFL or the media gets wind of it, his career could be over.

In the postseason, though, where legacies are truly born and sustained, it’s all the more obvious how Kobe’s legacy is being reshaped even as we watch. His presence on the court, obviously, is practically beyond compare. You could make an argument for perhaps a handful of players being more valuable than Bryant, in part because they are younger — LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Dwight Howard come to mind.

But I don’t think you can make the argument that anyone means more to his team’s chances this year than Bryant, regardless that he is currently hurting. That’s why he’s the MVP. And the fact that he may just be, not only the most valuable, but also the most talented and the best player on any court any given night only adds to the sense of awe that has suddenly returned in watching Lakers games. Before, it was all about Kobe and Shaq. Now it’s about Kobe and Co. Big difference.

To be sure, I don’t expect the re-appreciation of a truly astounding athlete to happen overnight. Nor do I expect that everyone will someday decide overnight that maybe Kobe has been judged a bit unfairly for various off-the-court accusations. But it is enough to make me wonder what would happen if Barry Bonds had been young enough that he’d been caught up in the steroids controversy in the middle of his career rather than at the end.

If Bonds had enough years left in him to continue playing past the point at which people will inevitably realize that heaping all the sins of an entire generation of baseball players onto Bonds’ shoulders, maybe that perception would shift as well. As it is though, that ship has probably sailed.

But Kobe’s? Well, in the court of public opinion, maybe his has just come in. Again.

Denis Griffin is back on the Kobester’s side. Email him at djgriff@stanford.edu if you are too.