Kobe Bryant was not anywhere near a HOF baller in the Lakers first championship year. If his career had ended then, he would not have been a HOFer.
people use the term "coattail rider" bc they don't like lebron. coattail rider is someone like what gary payton or malone did with the lakers. they clearly were WAY past their prime and can only produce 2/5 of what they could do in their prime. they were the 3rd or 4th best players AT BEST on that lakers (and that's not every night either). lebron is the best player on the planet. if he's a coattail rider... well...
Lebron is the most HYPED player in the league. If he was the best, you'd think he'd be able to get out his own conference.
Yea right talk about re-writing history to make your point. Fox was coming off the bench in 1999/2000 Kobe definitely didn't guard the best perimeter player on the other team all 48 minutes but he sure did take them the majority of the time (SG/SFs) and some times PGs too (Jason Kidd/Damon Stoudamire). Otherwise dude wouldn't me making all NBA defensive 1st teams Clyde did it once, Pippen did it once and they never came close to replicating across the board numbers like that...a young Kobe did it 3 years in a row. Easily he could've been considered the best player in 2000/2001 look at those stats, he was averagin 29, while Shaq got 30. Every single year he'd be the one destroying San Antonio not shaq
MJ was the best players for years before he won his championship. kobe was the best player in 05-06 and he blew a 3-1 lead. what's your point?
I think as a player, you can't argue that LBJ is greater than Kobe-Kobe has just accomplished so much more at this point in time. So in terms of greatness- Kobe>>>>>LBJ However if you're talking about who is BETTER, its got to be LBJ. He has gaudier stats, brought a crap team further than Kobe has, and has the backing of DM, whose player evaluation skills I value more than Michael "Kwame Brown Adam Morrison" Jordan.
Convenient to ignore the way Kobe went out in game 7 in Phx and Game 6 in Boston. Played worse and went into a shell more than we have ever seen out of Lebron. Right now Kobe has the rings and more seasons of excellence--so he has had the greater career. But Lebron is the better player right now and we can check back on this in 8 or 9 years.
yea we saw how that went when he was matched up full time vs AI (the only Laker loss in that postseason)
Based off what? I'm sure Kevin Durant might average more points per game next year than Kobe, but does that make him BETTER? No it doesnt. Bottom line Kobe has won the last two rings in a HARDER conference. If Lebron was the better player he wouldnt have had so much problems getting out of his own conference (which is MUCH weaker). At the end of the day, Lebron is the most hyped athlete in the history of sports. Unfortunaley hype doesnt win rings. When you guys realize this, it's obvious Kobe's the greatest player playing.
Of course ignore that Kobe had shaq, and then Gasol to win those rings, while LBJ had Mike brown and Mo Williams. When you compare how much they do individually though, its not even a comparison. Only a Kobe die hard homer like you continue to be blind to the facts. If LBJ and Kobe played on a team equal in every other way, LBJ's team wins 100 times out of 100. Fact is can you put Kobe on the Cavs roster and see them winning 50+ games? He had a much better roster in LA pre-Gasol he barely cracked o.5!
