It's significantly easier to get rings when you have a prime Shaq on your team. And what does it say about Kobe when he was unable to lead his team to the playoffs? Prime Shaq. You don't get bonus points for winning 2 titles in a row... Kobe has never advanced out of the first round without having the strongest front-court in the league. Kobe missed the playoffs in 2005, and the Lakers barely made the playoffs this year with a star-studded lineup. I thought you were talking about the Kobe/Duncan generation....not the last 6 years?
Lol, Majority of posters here can't handle the comparison objectively. I don't care for Kobe as a human but as a basketball player he is more accomplished than Duncan.
Duncan is the greatest PF of all time for a reason. -Great teammate and leader who MOTIVATES his team to do better. -Great post game and deadly mid ranged jumper. -Solid on both ends of the court and superb rebounder to boot. -Very good and willing passer (unlike Kobe who passes to get assists) - 4 Championships as the best player on the team. - Underrated clutch and playoff performer. Kobe is a good defender when he feels like it but he can't impact a game defensively like Duncan. He scores a lot but takes a lot of shots. He only wins championships with a dominant front court. He is an overrated clutch performer because when he actually does make a game winner, he does some fancy fadeaway or stepback jumper that you don't think has a prayer but actually goes in once in a while. The very fact that two of the star players that played with him don't like him is a reflection of what kind of teammate he is. He's a great player but he's no Duncan.
Educate thyself http://chasing23.com/the-myth-of-playoff-kobe/ Kobe aint clutch at all. As of 2011, 36/115 on game winners. Jordan was 33/58.
Did you miss the entire Grizzlies - Spurs series where Duncan took over offensively and defensively in both overtimes? And <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/trdsKp94Io0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Before, the Derek Fisher 0.4 shot, Duncan hit an insane shot to give them the lead too
What's better? Being able to hit clutch, last second shots? Or ensuring your team puts the game out of reach so it isn't necessary?
How so exactly? He has less MVPs, less Finals MVPs, has carried teams to less titles and has carried teams to the lotto or near lotto more. They both have stellar numbers and individual accolades (all nba teams) for their respective positions.
2001 NBA playoffs http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2001_WCF.html Kobe: 33 points/7rebs/7 assists Shaq: 27 points/13 rebs Duncan 23 points/12 rebs 2002 NBA playoffs http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2002_WCS.html Kobe: 26 points/5rebs/5 assists Shaq: 21points/12 rebs/ Duncan 29 points/17 rebs/ 5 assists 2004 NBA playoffs http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2004_WCS.html Kobe: 26 points/6.3 rebs/5.8 assists Shaq: 22points/15 rebs Duncan 20 points/12 rebs 2008 NBA playoffs http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2008_WCF.html Kobe: 29 points/ 5.6 rebs/3.8 assists Duncan: 22points/ 17.4 rebs/ 5 assists Shaq as a teammate or not.Kobe still destroyed Duncan's Spurs and had a ton of success vs them. 04/05. Kobe missed 16 games, 2 other games he left in 1st Q so technically 18 games missed. Odom the 2nd best player missed 18 games. When a team's two best players are missing that amount of team its really frickin hard to make the playoffs especially when the rest of the team was as inexperienced/not talented as they were. This isn't the (L)Eastern Conference. Kobe 1-0 vs Duncan without Shaq in playoffs Actually you do. Defending titles aint easy and Kobe has done it 3 times Strongest front court is arguable. They're not great without Kobe. Look how Odom looks next to CP3 and Dirk as teammates now playing the exact same role he did in LA? Bynum doesnt seem interested in playing basketball anymore. And you can sure as hell bet Gasol wont have the same success anywhere like he did when he was a teammate of Kobe's Already addressed 2005 earlier, he missed 16 games, Odom 18 games. Rest of roster inexperienced. Duncan barely plays 30 mins a game, from player No. 3 to 11 San Antonio has a better roster than the Lakers right now considering age + health. And looks like Parker had a better 2012/2013 campaign than Howard who was coming off major back surgery (he was all nba 3rd team, Parker was 2nd team) Of course has a generation matters but what they've done recently matters too, cant just pick and choose their primes 1 more point 2004 Olympics. Duncan led a chokesquad
Seriously. If you had a choice of building your franchise around one player, who would you pick, Kobe or Duncan? /thread.
Kobe never led a championship team in win shares. He quite literally may not have been the best player on a championship team.
As previously mentioned the question should be, who would you pick to build your basketball team around. Not right now, rather at the peak of their careers. I have a feeling if you did a nation wide poll asking the same question all states ,but Califroinia, would go with Duncan.
You can try to marginalize it all you want, but having a prime Shaq makes a huge difference. Can you imagine if Duncan were paired with a teammate better than himself? And he also missed the playoffs. No, you don't. Titles are titles. No, it's not. Shaq by himself gave the Lakers the best frontcourt in the league. And later on, Gasol/Bynum was better than any other PF/C combo out there. Rationalize it all you want. Prime Kobe played 66 games, and his team failed to make the playoffs. That's how history will rightfully remember it. That's exactly what you're doing. Cherry-picking a certain span of years.
Can you imagine if Duncan were drafted by the Lakers? How many titles would he and the prime version of Shaq won? He wouldn't have had beef with Shaq and Shaq would have stayed a Laker.
