always said it: lebron is the better player in general, that is obvious. although the debate really goes in terms of clutch-ness. that is kind of tough, i have seen really tough clutch shots make by kobe. AKA that killer instinct larry bird mentioned. if i had to pick a player to build around it would be lebron, there hasnt been a player with his court diversity since magic.
Lebron is better. It's not a knock on Kobe, because he is great too but let's be real here. Lebron is the BEST player in the world.
So it's a tradeoff. If you play with another star, you get more rings but your individual stats suffers, and vice versa. LeBron used to be called a choker when he was in Cleveland. Now he is playing with a good team and is dominating, both as individual player and as a team, there is really no question he is a better player than Kobe.
Hard to believe this is even a debate. You'd have to be a serious Kobe-homer to think his game up to 28 was better than Lebron's. The effciency alone is so much better...without Shaq, Kobe's efficiency would've been even worse than it is was. Teams would have to design their entire defensive scheme around trying to contain Shaq which included a lot of double teams and cheating ...without playing with one of the greatest low post presense in the game (MDE?) he wouldn't have gotten near as much room. Who knows what kind of player he would've become without Shaq. You see how Kobe whinned after 2 years without a great team around him...who's to say what he would've become if he had a bad team like lebron 7 years in a row? What if he grew up having to be the #1 while constantly failing like he did those 2 years instead of having someone's coattails to ride to a championship?
You can't say that Kobe's championships didn't owe a lot to the fact he played with one of the most dominant low post players ever. It's a fact that Lebron is a more efficient scorer and better rebounder, and passer than Kobe...you swap their situations...put Lebron with Shaq there is a huge probability he wins those rings too. You put Kobe in Cleveland with that crap around him...you think he gets to the finals? Hell, you think he wins a series? Looking at his 2 years without all-star big men around him...maybe not? I think that's why some folks are giving the barkley/Gasol references. Using rings to say one player is better than the other, when the one with fewer rings actually leads their team, while the other one was a contributor...a big contributor, but still just a contributor. Also you're using Kobe's entire career to compare what Lebron's done with 7 less years in the league. If Lebron stays on his constant pace and doesn't get any better (which he still can ) he'll easily surpass Kobe when he retires...it won't even be close. Hell, he'll probably surpass Jordan too. I think he will. But this is sports...it just takes one bad fall to change a career, he'll need a lot of luck like Bryant has enjoyed his in career (except when he visited Colorado ).
Jordan At Age 28, regular season Points: 19000 Steals: 1594 Blocks: 623 Assists: 3507 Rebounds: 3697 FG%: 51% Games Played: 589 If you decide to Adjust it for Games played, Jordan would crush all of them aside from Assists and Rebounds and he wouldn't be too far off.
This guy also said Lebron had the greatest support in NBA history. LOL, yep he follows the NBA really closely :grin: Don't feed the trolls...
explains a lot. This current Lakers team is the biggest stockpiling of talent as it has ever been done in NBA histroy.
Please never post again. Kobe had Shaq. Kobe currently has Dwight, Nash, Gasol, MWP and pretty good role players. Kobe won chips with the best frontcourt and the GOAT coach. Anyway the best argument against Kobe is that he was never ever the best player in the league. 97-04: Not even the best on his own team. 05: Didn't have a particularly great season. 06: Lol. Kobe's "best season" but he had little team success and had a PER under 20 in the playoffs against a Suns team that didn't even play D. Wade and Dirk were a lot better than Kobe this season due to postseason and team success. 07: Dirk despite his playoff meltdown. Was completely dominant in regular season. Led league in winshares. 08: CP3 deserved the MVP. Lead his significantly less stacked team to 2nd best in the West. Lebron was also better. 09: Lebron, Wade, CP3 all better. 10-12: Lebron(Dirk in 11 playoffs).
no Shaq no rings. Lebron still had the ability to win a ring even if he didn't have Wade, he showed that when the Cavs reached the Finals in 07 when he was like 22.
As of this season, Lebron. He has been extremely clutch, have you even been watching the games? Lebron is more efficient, is much more willing to pass to a better shot IN CLUTCH TIME. As a fan of team basketball, or true basketball, I would much rather have a star that doesn't feel obligated to shoot the last shot and just wants the best shot for the team and when Lebron does shoot, he makes it. Kobe throws up shots, and he does make a good number of them, but he misses his fair share too.
