WTF? Isn't Sasha KB's backup? They don't even play at the same time! If you want credit for role player's development, put it in the Zen master. The Cavs have bad players because their GM sucks. I don't know what scrapheap they got Varejao and co., but our 30% roster would beat the crap out of their team 11 times out of 10 (just like wade). Shaq is old and like 37 already. Father time catches up to the best of them. Also PER is a measure of usage. It measures how effective you are when you have the ball. LBJ has ridiculous PER because he has the ball a lot AND he does a lot with it. You talk about LBJ being a ball dominator but the Lakers never had a playmaking pg, and Kobe has never been an off the ball scorer ala Rip Hamilton. The only difference is PJ's system promotes equal opportunity and the Lakers have a ton of good players, while the Cav's offensive system is non existent and having LBJ go iso 100% of the time is better than him giving the ball to his sucky teammates.
Odom is not just starter, he's borderline all star material. That's miles better than the scrapheap LBJ brought against the Spurs. Plus take into account the age factor. Kobe's already in his prime and started backsliding already, LBJ hasn't peaked yet.
athleticism eventually dies out with age, this is why i think if lebron doest develope a shot, his stats will drop quickly as he reaches and past 30
LBJ uses his physical man power to dominate sometimes Kobe uses grace/athletecism (sp)/finess (sp) Melo > LBJ btw.
Kobe Bryant has played in the same number of Finals (6) as James has played full seasons in the NBA (6). The truth is, the knees are the first to go, with age. The older a player is, the closer he plays to the basket. The best example is '96 Jordan, but even '96 Magic who was old, fat, and 4 years removed from basketball, returned and played in the low-post (half-court). Here is vintage footage, watch him back-down the smaller players with ease: 03/27/96: Lakers at Heat, YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IL9Rs0c5cY Bryant has already found his nitche in the post: 11/04/09: Lakers at Rockets, YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1ZEJc29-8Y
no doubt kobe is getting older, but yea for the talent deal, kobe did take the lakers with smush parker and kwame brown, both bench warmers on every other team into the tough west playoffs which woudl've had a top 4 record in the east that year...so hes been there and done that and its truth to it, any star or big talent who comes to the cavs will be minimalized to a role player if he plays with lebron, so you say he needs more talent, but you bring in dwade...what happens to dwade he waits around watch es lebron and becomes a jump shooter then....people ike to see per and averages no one takes into account possessions, lebron's stats are inflated last year he had more possesions per game by a large margin than any other player in the league, the offense is run for him to drive or kick and is best suited surrounded by shooter and defenders...you put him with wade and so on and that doesn't equal championship that just makes the other star have less of a role, hes much better off playing with a michael redd than a dwade along his side...its just truth, bball is about cohesion and fit more so than jsut stuffing talent together(isaiah...) its like joe johnson leaving the suns, he had the 'priveledge' to play with nash but he was aching to leave there bc he knew he had more talent and with nash dominating the ball, even if its for assits, players just run around him and wait to get the ball for open shots, and that works for certain type of players, but for others who feel like they could do more, it just limits them(joe johnson wanted out rightfully, marion wanted out bc he thought he was better tahn he actually was, even amare talks about wanting to be the first option) kobes skill, mastery of the game, his midrange and watching him adjust to getting older is a thing of beauty to watch....
LeBrawn has two things going for him: athleticism and pound-for-pound strength. His only two offensive moves are to maul whoever is in front of him on his way to the basket or jack up a shot and hope it falls in. Brandon Jennings is a smart guy because the two best players in the NBA right now are Kobe and Carmelo. If you want to ask who is the most entertaining, hyped, marketed, etc then the cake goes to LeBrawn.
yea thats truth also in terms of reliance on athleticism, you take kobe 30+ and hell still find a way to dominate with his mid ragne and killer instinct, MJ the GOAT did it, and even as a wizard he at 40 still averaged over 20 bc of that mid range and understanding of the game...lebron wihtout as much athleticism..it would be an ugly game for him....so yea, lebron more athletic, kobe is more skilled...and i respect skill more even though lebron gets his dues.(espn gives him much more than dues, for god sakes they had a lebron flu watch over the summer to give daily updates on his cold....and then on his 24th birthday nba tv had 24 hours of lebron, they did nt even do that for MJ....thats just sad, it makes you almost not want to like him bc dude hasn't won a title yet, but hes considered to be one of the best of all time? and as for the kobe is nothing with out Pau, you do realize that they were number one in the west for most of that season BEFORE they got Pau..? so theere goes that
yea thats a good point, brand jennings along with the majority of the legends and majority of coaches or players have given kobe his dues as the best in the game right now, those guys play against them go to battle with them every night, they should be the ones deciding mvp, not media with their biases and really rarely have much more knowledge than us right here on clutchfans(for the most part). I remember hollinger when kobe had 35 ppg and led the lakers with two bench warmers in kwame and smush to playoffs said in the end of the day a mediocre team with great stats won't cut it....so he voted for guess who, lebron that year then i remember a year or two later, lebron had a team that was top 4 in the east, but it was only ranked 14 or so in the nba, so around the middle, and said his team is not the best, but his stats are just too great so ihave to give him te thumbs up, these idiots change the definition of mvp with their biases from year to year, let the coaches and players vote
"Well if you take Kobe off of the Lakers squad they'd still make the playoffs whereas the Cavs would suck w/o LeBron" True but since when did GM moves became a determining factor on who's the best player in the NBA? Is it Kobe's fault that the Lakers went out and got all those pieces? Or are we giving Cavs management a pass and give LeBron a pat on the back because they've given him less talent to work with?
if your an idiot like smush, who is out of the league by the way, got cocky after a chance to start on the lakers and apparently never made it back, eh didn't realize that just kobe being on the court kept attention off of him and allowed him to be good...kobe is demanding, as was mj, and some of the great who focus and work as hard as they do, they won't put up with bs as far as being a teammate, we all know kobe is an intense mofo and just not going to baby anyone, but if your willing to listen and learn, hes there http://www.ocregister.com/sports/bryant-59921-ariza-gasol.html
and another thing, if you switched kobe to the lakers, gave him the ball he wouod throw up crazy stats too and theyd be competitive, if you put james on lakers with triangle, they would probably be worse bc they are more dependent on shooting and defense, and although james is great for defense high ligths, he still has subpar defense awareness(getting those amazing cool blocks doesnt mean hes a great defender, thats more of a testimony to his amazing athleticism), and most of all his jump shot in the equal opportunity offense and playing offball, not to mention having bynum and pau clog the payment(like shaq is doing for him now which is why his stats took a hit this year) would probably lead to a less effective team than people would think
i always forget how much clutchfans is lebron haters central. the number of ridiculously off-base comments in this thread almost staggers the mind. thankfully the guy who makes the rockets roster moves seems to have the right idea.
The fact that people are even comparing Kobe to a freak of nature like Lebron is a testament to Kobe's passion for the game combined with his hard work.
In the only year Sasha played well, he played well at 2 when KB moved to 3. That's how Lakers closed out the game. Hughes was a borderline all star before he came to Cavs, and he sucked there. Shaq had much better stats in Phoenix than in Heat, an a deserving all start in west last year. And then all of sudden start suck in Cavs? Coincidence? When you are a ballhog like LBJ, all other players are forced to be spot up shooters. They can't have the ball enough at their sweet spot to create, and their ability diminish, that's what happened with Hughes and Shaq. Can PER account for that? Kobe's not offball as much as Hamilton. Sure. But he does set screen, fight position down low in weak side to attract attention, something never saw LBJ doing. Tell me how PER accounts that? In fact, the only year Kobe has 6+ assists, they're in Lotto. But I bet you PER will award that. Yep, LBJ plays for stats, and Hollinger feeds on stats. What a good combo. For the rest of the league, the ring is the only thing counts. LBJ hasn't proven he can let his teammates excel. Carry a team to finals in a weak conference, then get ass kicked can prove LBJ is as good as AI. And that's nothing to write home about.
