You can fantasize about Bam being really good all you want but it won't change the fact that his skating was never that good. Sure he was good but hype carried him farther that skill. Next thing you'll be going on about how Dave Mayhew really did shut down NYC all those years ago.
Why did the line cook just yell, "I never liked Bam, but I do like the Strokes."?
He was really good too, just not in the cool guy way slap likes. He cared more about flipping his board and technically progressive stuff, not style or doing east coast lines or whatever.
Of course Bam's hype carried him farther than he would've gone on skill alone, but he also could do nollie 540s and other innovative stuff.