And this is why TMAC scored so much. He was the only player and thus got the ball 100 percent of the time. He was damn good but put Kobe on the Magic team's TMAC had and Kobe scores more than he did. Remember when Kobe was scoring 40 night in and night out when the Lakers were bad a few years ago. People called him a ball hog and that is the saem thing everyone called TMAC when he was in orlando. I used to hate TMAC and was pissed when we made the trade because I like Stevie but over the years I have grown to really like TMAC and support him. Let me put it this way. These are what Kobe averaged in the two years that the Lakers were bad (two years before this one) and what TMAC averaged the two years he led the league in scoring. Kobe: 33.5 pts 5.5 rebs 5 assts and shot .450 year one .464 year two TMAC: 30 pts 6.3 rebs 5.5 assts shot .457 year one .417 year two It's certainly close but Kobe averaged more points while shooting a much better percentage. Plus his average for the two years is higher than TMAC's career high. So TMAC's best two years are slightly worse than Kobe's. TMAC's best year is pretty easily worse than Kobe's best year. Any longer period of time and the gap only grows.
Sad that everybody agrees that T-mac is already past his prime while Kobe just won the MVP. I think at his prime, T-mac is better offensively-everything looks so much easier for him than it does for Kobe. Defensively, Kobe just has more intensity and energy.
If you think about it a prime is not a specific age it is the point in your career when you are at your best. For bball players usually its when they have improved alot skill wise but still have alot of atheleticism from when they were younger. For Kobe that is still happening. For Tmac in never really did. Tmac started loosing so much atheleticism so quickly that by the time he developed alot of his skill he actually looked worse than he did when he was 22. Its not like he's the first guy to miss his prime because of injuries. The other orlando wings, Hill and Penny would have been really good in their primes w/o injuries too.
I think they are both very talented players but Kobe without a doubt is one of the best players of all time and maybe better than Jordan.
oh no no no no. Kobe is great I agree. Mac is also one of better guards on this planet but you can't compare them to Jordan. You know, 2nd Jordan is LeBron <lol>
Come to think of it, early this season, t-mac looked really great-even being one of the top scorers in the league... so if he's fully healthy, he still really great... Agree, Penny and Grant could have been all-time greats, too...
kobe avg 28 shots and 26 shots the 2 years he avg those pts. tmac never avg more than 24 shots a game. so no, kobe got more touches/shots than tmac did when playing solo (hence the assist #s b/c tmac had less talent)
Tmac is my favorite player so....I refuse to answer the question Tmac in his prime was just as good as Kobe is now. I think its a toss up really. I just wish Mac can stay healthy like earlier in the season. And now for your viewing pleasure a pretty good mix <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5QnqqMWjSvo&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5QnqqMWjSvo&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
Smush was waived by Heat, Kwame can't find backup time in Grizzles. Both are worst teams in the league. These 2 were supposed to be their 3rd and 5th best player in the two years Kobe got his scoring titles. And you still want to say Kobe had more to work with?
That argument would work except Kobe had a better shooting percentage. And you might what to proof read your stats. Kobe averaged 27.2 shots and 22.8 shots per game in those two years for an average of 25. TMAC was 24.2 (is that higher than 24 I'm not sure) and 23.4 for an average of 23.8. SO the difference is 1.2 wow what a massive difference compared to the 3.5 pts more Kobe averaged.
Smush is playing a Key role with the clips, and Kwame was never their main center, it was amostly bynum even in his rookie yr
When Kobe had Shaq all the attention wasn't focused on him, its hard when night in and out your the only option and no one on the opposing team gives a damn about covering your teammates. Find a magic game and watch the Kind of shots Tracy had to make, very difficult with 2 or more defenders on him
Please Please PLEASE do me a favor and look up things before you post. Prepare to look like an idiot. Bynum played a whopping 7.4 minutes a game his rookie year averaging 1.6 pts. Plus he played in only 46 games. What did Kwame do that year? He averaged 27.5 minutes (over 3 times more than Bynum) and 7.4 pts. Bynum's second year and the last year in the Kobe best years/Lakers sucking years he averaged 21.9 minutes but got a lot more minutes because Kwame was injured. That's how got to start. What did Kwame do? Still averaged more minutes with 27.6. Now Smush playing a key role with the Clips? Yes he is. He's a big reason why they didn't do well. He shot a wonderful 36% with them in 19 games this year.
This thread actually breaks my heart. If t mac had that same fire he did the first season with us or orlando and some serious help we'd be somewhere and this question would be so much harder to answer. As much as the Lakers organization pisses me off I have to hand it to them that they will definitely pay for a championship. Tmac is not even 30 so I wouldn't say he is past his prime. He doesn't play as relentless as he did in Orlando with what seemed to be no offensive plan. It looked like he just ran ran and ran. What we need is to get Mcgrady some help. Is it just me or do we have one of the cheapest owners...
What are you talking about? I meant that they could always goto him, Bynum as a rookie showed major potential and came through the games Kwame didn't play. Smush isn't as bad as you say, the great thing about great players is that they have the knack to exemplify the players around them. Kobe DID NOT make anyone around him better the first 2 yrs after shaq left. It was an "ALL ME" show. I won't argue about Kwame, his attitude alone would never have gotten him anywhere even if he played along side Jordan but Kobe did NOT make the rest of his team better don't even bother arguing that
Smush was an NBDL player, signed a 10 day contract with a short-handed Suns and waived. The next 2 seasons he played with Lakers in every game, 30+ minutes, 10+ ppg. with OK fg%. .436 and .447. He then was picked up by Heat, signed for 2 years and waived. Kobe earned him $4M, fool other teams Smush could play NBA. That's how Kobe made Smush better. Not Nash, not Wade or O'neal can do that.
can we stop with this thread? kobe > tmac right now. move on. jeez, so many obvious threads being started right now.
