<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/who%20cares" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii254/ben5sing/who_cares-coleman.jpg" border="0" alt="coleman Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eBYh4R2gIsA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eBYh4R2gIsA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> this is why lebron would beat kobe in a 1-on-1 game. see 3 times where kobe lined up lebron near the 3pt line for man defense and gave him some space, lebron still beat him off the dribble all the way to the rim for layups. now take away all those big men help and those are DUNKS. kobe cannot stop that. no one can. and you want to play street rules w/ lebron's size/strength/quickness? really now? lebron can drive all day.
Clearly you just don't understand Kobe's will to win. If he played Lebron 1-on-1, he'd be turning that dial all the way up to 11. That negates any physical advantages Lebron has. Lebron can't match that.
so we're going to declare Lebron a better shooter off of percentages for one year? C'mon now.... If you can't see kobe is a better shooter than lebron, i dont know what to tell ya. It's laughable to say Lebron is better because he barely beat his % this year and wasnt too far behind in the past. i know stats are useful, but since when did we stop watching actual basketball? Guess what, Lebron is also a better shooter than Novak
i'd appreciate it if you didnt direct the "kobe's will" comments towards me. I've never mentioned that or agreed with it throughout this post. If you're too lazy to read and differentiate between posters, then maybe you shouldn't reply.
Kobe would have the will the read the whole thread. LeBron would have quit after the second page. :grin:
Even if they did have a 1 on 1 competition during the all star break Lebron would never agree to it. He doesn't even agree to join a slam dunk contest let alone a 1 on 1 w/ Kobe. Lebron's stock continues to drop at a rapid pace.
You said that Kobe was a significantly better shooter than LeBron, especially from 3. Those were your words. Don't put up a strawman, I never said that LeBron was a better shooter, just not a significantly poorer shooter than Kobe. The only way to judge the effectiveness of 3 point shooting is through statistics, I don't know what else to tell you. It's not like one guy is a spot up shooter and one guy shoots them off the dribble. Both guys take around 300-400 3 pointers a year and they both end up with the same makes on the same type of attempts, how can you argue that one is a much better shooter? On what basis is "well, I think it's going to go in when Kobe shoots it" a good argument? This is not based on a one year sample size, they have been roughly the same 3 point shooter their entire careers. You bring Steve Novak into the conversation based on last year's numbers, but the sample size in attempts for the season (387 of James to 71 of Novak) is not a statistically valid comparison and Steve Novak is a career 40% shooter on 467 attempts. He's a significantly better 3 point shooter than James, but not because "he just is." He has the numbers to back it up, and if he shot 400 attempts a year and had a lower percentage than James, he wouldn't be. I don't know why there's this belief that LeBron is inept from long range. Like most perimeter scorers, he can go cold but he can regularly light it up too. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tyd4NPvzKQg?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tyd4NPvzKQg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Like A Breath....that's my fault then, i read Shaud's response and unconsciously responded to his comment as well....and im not saying Lebron is a bad shooter....i actually posted that video earlier to make other points, which would have not been very smart on my part if i was claiming he was a poor shooter.
That's ok. By the way, I agree with you that basketball can't be measured in statistics and that you need critical analysis of it (watching it, noticing trends, effort level, situational responses, etc.) to understand it. However, your eyes can lie to you and you can only watch so many games in a year. For example, if statistics weren't measured I would swear that Shawn Marion is the worst 3 point shooter in the NBA. It feels like it's luck every time he makes a 3 and it's ugly when he doesn't. However, based on him shooting over 2,000 3 pointers and actually hitting them as a decent clip, there is undeniable proof that my eyes have in fact lied to me. While something like defense can't be measured in blocks and steals, shooting can actually be measured in statistics. Either you make the shot or you don't. And it is remarkably consistent from year to year in both 3 point shooting and free throw percentage. It is a true measure of your skill level in that specific basketball action. It is one of the most objective elements of the sport, which is why I don't get it if someone feels that someone is a better shooter "just because."
That wasn't the point of the video, it was to show that LeBron does have hot streaks from long range. Of course, that's the thing with showing videos as examples - they are 1 part of 1 game out of an 82 game season. This is why showing a video of James missing two jump hooks in practice as insulting to our intelligence. However, LeBron does it often enough where it is a specific element of his game to go trigger happy. His shot selection suffers because of it and he tries and take stupid shots like the one where he dribbles hard to the baseline and tries a fadeaway behind the backboard. Honestly, LeBron's overall game is a lot better off when he doesn't have hot shooting bursts. However, that isn't to say that he doesn't have them or that he isn't a capable shooter. 33% 3 point shooting for a career is admittedly average, but it's still comparable to other notable perimeter scorers like Kobe and T-Mac and better than Melo and Wade.
My problem with it is using stats attained in the NBA, within a team game. I just dont believe you can directly transfer those stats, even shooting, and say it'll play out the same in a one on one matchup, without defensive help, no shot clock, no picks, no full court momentum, etc... I believe Lebron uses those things to his advantage a lot more than Kobe, which is fine, he's allowed to do it and a great player because of it...but in a direct matchup a lot of those things go out the window and it comes down to pure shooting ability (i dont necessarily mean the outcome of the game comes down to shooting, just the shooting efficiency). Kobe is a lot more technical when it comes to shooting...he's taking into consideration if his shot has been short or long, who the defender is, will the defender try harder or not, will there be help coming from one side, etc...yes most players take this into consideration, including lebron, but Kobe is such a control freak that he's going to be analyzing this constantly, from shot to shot even. This is why he's able to go from a cold shooting night or bad stretch to closing out a game and/or hitting timely shots, including game winners. When someone is that technically detailed and you take away numerous distractions and variables that come into play in the NBA it's only going to increase his efficiency. I dont believe Lebron is quite there yet and is still mostly just going out there and playing off of instincts. He's likely to get there as ages, but as of now he's not, therefore i dont think his efficiency will increase as much...so it's not that i think Lebron is a bad shooter, but that Kobe's shooting would improve more in a one on one situation, than what NBA stats show.
The variables you mentioned absolutely make Kobe a superior midrange shooter. Kobe also has the ability to pick a specific spot on the floor (corner of free throw line for example) and get there to release a shot at the end of games. His muscle memory in those specific areas is legendary, I agree. What I was talking about was 3 point shooting, where I still insist that they are extremely similar. I also still believe that Kobe's edge in shooting could not overcome LeBron's strength, speed, and finishing ability in a one-on-one game. It is really, really easy to score in one-on-one when you're facing someone less athletic than you. LeBron gets to the rim at will against 5 man defenses, even a good defender like Kobe would have no chance.
What are you talking about? You count fast break as well? The only one close to it was from right side, when LeBron received the ball from the corner and drove immediately. And you can see Kobe wasn't set when LeBron drove, not gonna happen in 1on1. The one time playing one from one when both set the feet, LeBron had to settle for jumper.
