IMO, this was just a puff piece intended to placate people whose lips are permanently embedded onto Kobe's backside. If win shares and basketball reference are to be believed, LeBron's last season was the 14th best in history. LeBron has had 3 years in which his individual performance is ranked in the top 100. Kobe has 1, and that year he was ranked 95th. Kobe is a good player, an All-Star, perhaps a HOF player, but hardly the best. he wasn't the best in the league in his best year. LBJ is putting up Win Share stats that haven't been seen since Michael Jordan. So what if LBJ loses style points? Shaquille O' Neal was devastatingly effective at his peak and he hardly was 5 feet from the basket, if he could help it. In a word, Kobe is overrated. LBJ is hated, because he's effective and boring, sort of like that Tim Duncan guy. DM.
Kobe can play with a post player, LeBron can't. Kobe can play off ball, LeBron can't. And if you want to win a championship, you need to able to cooperate with a quality bigman. LeBron put "check my stats" on his chest on fishing boat while Kobe's business is about counting the rings.
And yet we have another poster who doesn't look at stats and only goes by rep Check the %s, LBJ has been connecting at a higher clip than Mr. 24.
Remember Kobe's shots are CONTESTED and Lebrons jumpers are almost ALWAYS OPEN. they play lebron from attacking the basketball....where as players could get in kobes face as kobe is not as quick and athletic anymore.
And that's LeBron's shortcoming that he is open because defenders fear his drive? It's like saying Reggie Miller wasn't really such a good shooter because he would have been blocked all the time if he wasn't so good at losing his man off the screen.
For the sake of argument, let's assume the above to be true. Now, let's ask ourselves just why is Kobe taking contested shots in the first place, which would appear especially egregious when he has exemplary teammates such as Paul Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum (to name just the stars), and also Ron Artest who, surprisingly, is a quality spot-up shooter. Sure, Kobe is known to convert remarkably difficult shot attempts into made field goals — if one wishes to look at this as a skill, I'm not one to disagree — but what is less acknowledged is the fact he makes so few of them. It's great television when they go in, but its impact on productivity and efficiency cannot be disregarded in any serious debate. An aside: Frankly, I think both Lebron's and Kobe's shot selection is suspect at times.
LeBron scores more in transition then Kobe does. Kobe has more offensive moves. That would seem to be what he is implying.
i'd simply say Lebron is the most athletic player on the league this the rules benefit him and allow his driving which is his primary way of scoring, but kobe is the most skilled played in the league
So what if Kobe is more skilled? The fact of the matter is two trick pony LBJ shoots more and yet makes more at a higher percentage, hence the "pure scorer" label should go to him rather than Kobe, esp. since LBJ gets the other team's entire attention on the Cavs while Kobe has Odom, Gasol and Bynum as other legitimate offensive threat.
Drives have always been allowed in the NBA. In fact if you reverted to the old rules where handchecking was still allowed Kobe would be more affected than LBJ because he isn't as fast anymore and wouldn't be able to lose his man as easily as he once could.
kobe has a much nicer shot than lebron, his fg percentage is inflated because he shoots alot of layups and dunks, he is not a bad shooter, but he certainly isn't as good as kobe, kobe is such a good shooter they dont play his drive, they would much rather get a hand in his face and play rotating defense than allow him to knock down wide open jumper after jumper. you can give lebron a few extra feet, not kobe ... numbers don't tell it all
hello and welcome to the present day, it's the 2009-2010 season and LBJ's jumpshot isn't weak anymore.
