The Lakers are 1-10 when Kobe scores 30+ points, so you can make an argument that he's hurting the team. By no means am I saying that, but he definitely needs to use more ball movement.
Currently - 16-5 (NY) 18-4 (OKC) record. Miami is also only 14-6 which is just 1 game behind in the loss column on NY. The hype Melo is getting is simply because he is actually playing basketball this season like everyone has wanted him to for the past 4 years. Regarding Lebrons defense on court v off court you have to take into account the pace of the game. When Lebron is on the court he is a 1 man fast break train. The pace of the game picks up when he is on the court.
Criticising Lebron's defence is a fool's errand. This man can defend anything, from a 5 ft point guard to a 7 ft center. There is a reason many people consider him the best perimeter defender in the league, 2nd best defender behind Howard just in general. I am pretty sure this guy could stop a flea from flying. It is a hard feat, I promise.
He can't defend back to the basket PFs. He's got strenght, but he doesn't have length. Best perimeter defender by far is Tony Allen. They you have Shawn Marion, Loul Deng, Thabo Sefolosha, Andre Iguodala, Gerald Wallace who are considerably better than Lebron.
His strength and athleticism go a long way. I guess you don't remember when he shut down Pau Gasol or Derrick Rose. Or Paul Pierce, or Danny Granger, or "insert name here". He was one of two people holding his opponents to under 30% shooting for a WHOLE YEAR. The other person was Iguodala. But Iguodala cannot guard bigs, and has problems against some quick guards. He was also the top vote getter for all-defensive team last year. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/spor...-23/LeBron-James-all-defensive-NBA/55170844/1 This list is comprised from all the coaches in the league, and they know considerably more about bbasketball than both of us. So I will side with them, and my own observations agree with them.
Melo is having a great season...but voters will most likely give Durant his first MVP..i think for him its time...Melo will need something extraordinary to take the MVP
