Prime Kobe or Prime Durant

But you can't ignore the obvious gap in talent levels on the those teams. Leading a .500 plus team with Smush Parker, Jim Jackson, Aaron McKie, Stanislav Medvedenko, Devin Green, Kwame Brown & Chris Mihm as your supporting cast deserves an award in itself coming in the Western Conference. None of Lebron's Cleveland teams were CLOSE to the suckery on this Lakers team. I'd take Big Z & Mo Williams over ANY of these guys ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.




My guess is you know this, but hate Kobe SO MUCH you refuse to admit it

 

Why do you keep leaving out Lamar Odom? He was a better player than anyone LeBron ever played with in Cleveland. He was arguably better than anyone Durant is playing with currently, now that Westbrook is hurt.

 

Switch these players...is there a different result? Will the Lakers become a more winning team??

The only players that are even comparable in talent level from the 2005-2006 Lakers would be Lamar Odom(compared to Serge Ibaka now) and Andrew Bynum(at that time comparable to perhaps Steven Adams now). Every other player on that team is completely inferior to this current OKC team in almost every aspect. People minimizing Kobe's impact is what is shocking.

I do not disagree that Durant is a much more efficient NBA player than Kobe Bryant. Durant is a very special talent. And at his current trajectory will become one of the leagues greats. This thread is about comparing Prime Kobe vs Prime Durant...And now I ask yall to switch this "present Kevin Durant" and put him on that 2005-2006 team. I just dont know if he still has a better outcome. If someone can statistically prove that Durant would've led to more wins with that team, I may just change my opinion. Hate the Lakers, but sure as heck the legacy Kobe Bryant left on the league.

 

This is a very simple way to do this, but Kevin Durant's current win shares per 48 minutes is .322 while Kobe's best season in 05-06 was .224. Replace Kobe's 3277 minutes with Durant's superior production you get 3277*(.322-.224)/48 = 6.69 wins.

So there is some evidence to suggest that replacing Kobe's best year with Durant's current year statistically yields 6 to 7 more wins.

 

I love how people throw Mo Williams name out there. FYI He wasn't on the team that Lebron carried to the Finals, do some research before mouthing off about something you clearly have no clue about. Even if he was, when Lebron left Mo Williams turned right back into the streak shooting bench player he's always been. I think you just want to marry Kobe so bad you're blind to the truth.

 

Huh?

Big Z & Mo Williams have been allstars before. How many allstar games has Lamar Odom been too? Now he wasn't always a crackhead scrub, but he's at the most a average role player.


But just like any Kobe hater, your NBA history is a little misguided

 

It doesnt matter anyway, because half of Kobe's team was TRASH and no longer in the NBA. ATLEAST, he played with a former allstar in Ilguskas.


Ilguaskas>Kwame Brown, Brian Cook, Ronny Turiaf, Stanislav Medvedenko

 

nowhere else will i ever find as much hate/insult made on Kobe as I do here....

 

Your damn right. Everybody outside of Odom (who's now a crackhead) and Bynum (who's currently launching 80foot 3pt shots in practice) has made any type of significant difference on any team. Yet Kobe's had so much help

No other HOF has played with any TRASH like that 06 Lakers team, PERIOD

 

There is clearly a logic deficit with this stat...
Using this stat:
here are the following NBA players of all positions with more than 500 min played in this season that has produced better WP48 than Kobe Bryant in 2005/6:

CPaul
Durant
Drummond
James
DJordan
ABogut
KLove
BWright
GDragic
LStephenson
TChandler
Chris Andersen
ADavis
SCurry
KLowry
Noah
AIguodala
Jordan Hill
A Varejao
N Batum

So you are telling me that if you can insert any of these players into that lineup, you would statistically make the Lakers win more games???? OK...if you say so...

 

Anyone with half a brain would take Lamar Odom over Mo Williams for an NBA Finals Matchup. All Star Gmae appearances isn't the best way to judge help in the Playoffs/Finals. But just like any Kobe overhyped media sheep you'll stop at nothing to make him out to be more than he was.

 

It's Lebron's unselfishness and ability to do anything and everything he needs to that got the Cavs past that Pistons team. Kobe would have lost vs the Pistons that year and it's not even close.

 

The kobe fanboi agenda is so obvious here. Why are Ibaka/Big Z/Marion/etc included as teammates but Odom mysteriously omitted? Odom is comparable or better than those guys and was huge in the playoffs when Kobe willed his team to an amazing first round appearance, which, as we know, is so hard in the nba.

Kobe is a good player-- top 30 for sure-- but he simply is not elite like LeBron and probably Durant. He's more in the Nique tier. Nothing wrong with that. I'm glad that as time is going on and the fanbois are less vocal (due to the bandwagon jumping surely) people are starting to realize this truth. Still a few hangers-on though. Preach on!

 

Ilgauskas was trash.

Mo Williams wasn't on the team that made the finals.

 

I hate Kobe. Durant's no saint but, knowing his skills, I'll take him on personality alone.

 

Tracy McGrady's 2003 playoff supporting cast, led to 4-3 first round exit (just like Kobe)
Darrell Armstrong
Gordan Giricek
Jacque Vaughn
Andrew DeClercq
Pat Garrity
Chris Whitney

 

Ilguskas was a allstar

 

If Odom is that much better of a player, how many allstar games has been too?

 

This isn't a good argument. Do you not understand that...